Break Up The Bulls?

As for Rodman, he used to say he'd retire if the Bulls didn't re-sign him; now, after making a splash in Hollywood with his costarring role in the film Double Team, he talks about joining the Lakers. But L.A. doesn't have salary-cap room to sign the Worm, even if it were interested in him.

Rodman, who will become a free agent alter the Bulls' last playoff game, knows his days in Chicago could be numbered, if we don't win it all, I doubt I'll be back," he says. Sources close to the team say it's likely Rodman won't be back even if the Bulls do win. Rodman infuriated the league hierarchy and earned an 11-game suspension when he kicked cameraman Eugene Amos during a game in Minneapolis on Jan. 15, but he had previously incensed Reinsdorf even more when he used expletives in a live SportsChannel interview after the Bulls' Dec. 8 game against the Raptors. Reinsdorf says he wanted to suspend Rodman for 10 games but decided on a two-game suspension after he and NBA commissioner David Stern discussed the incident.

"I hope Dennis doesn't start to believe he's the thing he created," Reinsdorf says, alluding to Rodman's flamboyant persona. "I see signs of it. It's sort of like Howard Cosell at the end. He started to believe his own b.s." Meanwhile, Chicago is grooming Caffey, whose playing time has steadily increased.

And whither All-Star swingman Pippen? He can become a free agent in July 1998. That gives the Bulls two options: trading him before that date or handing him a lucrative contract extension after they put their other pieces in place.

Assuming Jordan retires after next season and Rodman isn't re-signed this summer, the Bulls could have the following players and salaries for cap purposes in July 1998: Randy Brown ($1.3 million), Caffey (he would be a free agent, so the sum for cap purposes would be 150% of his salary at the time, or $1.6 million). Ron Harper ($5.3 million), Toni Kukoc ($4 million), Luc Longley (he too would be a free agent, making his figure $4.5 million) and Pippen (another free agent, $4.5 million). The total: about $21.2 million. The '98 cap is expected to be about $28 million, so if the Bulls renounced the rights to a free agent such as Longley, they would have a truckload of cash to woo free agents from other teams, like the Timberwolves' Kevin Garnett. Then, once Chicago was done acquiring new talent, it could take advantage of salary-cap rules and pay its own free agent, Pippen, any amount it wanted.

In the past Reinsdorf has resisted suggestions that he give superstar money to Pippen, who this season has been relatively underpaid at $2.25 million. "But now Scottie is the complete package," Reinsdorf says. "He has grown up. You don't read any dumb comments anymore, no more girlfriend problems, no gun incidents. And he'd have Kukoc to help. Toni is a young guy [age 28], and we could give him the ball. I'm not suggesting that's the way we'll go, but it's a viable alternative."

So is trading Pippen. In fact, when Krause showed up recently at a Bucks regular-season game, speculation ran rampant that he was scouting All-Star forward Vin Baker, who is unhappy in Milwaukee and can walk after the 1998-99 season.

Reinsdorf admits that he's less excited by the Bulls' success this year than in 1995-96. "Last year was incredible," Reinsdorf says. "Every night in the locker room was like the seventh game of the World Series. We were going for 70 wins [the Bulls ended up with a league-record 72], it was Michael's first full year back.... This year doesn't have the same intensity. If we hadn't won last year, it would have been a tremendous downer. If we don't win this year, it won't be."