Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 6, 1993 TAG: 9311060176
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Sorry for the formality, but Dwayne Schintzius, you aren't. Just wanted to tell you what you missed when your home team visited your home state Friday night to start the season.
You missed working overtime.
Maybe you were sitting around in your Hanes, drinking Gatorade, and saw the game televised on TNT. Without you, the buzz in the Hive had to be provided by the 406th sellout in the Charlotte Coliseum's 411-game NBA history. It was so loud, you'd think this was a football town.
Even before the game, it was obvious the defending champion Bulls were lacking an Air apparent. There were more players than reporters in the locker room.
Remember when the Bulls were known as Michael Jordan and the Pippens? Well, Scottie said before the game that the defending champions were excited about the opener "and establishing that we are a team that can play without Michael."
Chicago did that, blowing a lead in regulation, then rallying for a 124-123 victory over Charlotte in overtime.
So, it isn't a radical notion to say the Bulls have a playoff team. However, this Chicago Seven isn't deep enough to win a title, and obviously there's no one who can be like Mike, four-peat sake.
The closest the Bulls will get to a repeat is Pete Myers, who has your old starting job in his seventh NBA stint with his fifth team. That doesn't include his CBA glory days in upstate Illinois. Just check the Rockford files.
Your Bulls would have been 2-1 favorites to win the title again. With you off going one-on-one with Oprah, Bryant and Larry King, the odds are 25-1. Then, you do appreciate a real gamble, right?
Sounds like Chicago may not even be the Second City in the Eastern Conference. New York, Cleveland, Orlando, even Charlotte? In the West, Phoenix, Seattle, Houston, Portland and San Antonio may be better teams.
Speaking of the Spurs, have you seen Dennis Rodman's hair? Does he have a Clorox endorsement, or what?
This is no bull. This is the season Phil Jackson proves he's a great coach. Your former teammates do miss injured John Paxson and Scott Williams. You have Pippen, Horace Grant and B.J. Armstrong for starters, and Croatian comer Toni Kukoc off the bench. What your old club really needs is some middle relief.
Bill Cartwright starts his 14th season with sore knees and a sore back. He once was a hoss, but now he seems older than Lorne Greene would be if he were alive. The Bulls need help at center in the worst way, and backups Will Perdue and Bill Wennington really are centers in the worst way.
Wennington played in the Italian League last season. Now, he's the Sitting Tower of Chicago. There's talk of dealing Stacey King for a needed guard. Steve Kerr is with his fourth NBA team, and Jo Jo English has been waived twice by the Bulls and played last season for a CBA team nicknamed the Chinook.
Does that sound fishy? You should also know the league's salary lid has stretched so much that it would even fit on Charles Barkley's head.
Four teams are paying Chris Webber, Shawn Bradley, Anfernee Hardaway and Jamal Mashburn - that quartet has played a combined three NBA games to your 667 - more than $220 million over a combined 44 years.
If you decide to come back, what will Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf have to give you, his White Sox? And you've been rumored as interested in playing in another country.
Here's a tip: You probably could make the Toronto club in 1994-95.
As for your home state team, Charlotte probably is one rebounder from 50 victories but also one significant injury - to Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning or Tyrone Bogues - from missing the playoffs.
The Hornets will have to shoot their way to success. Defensive forward David Wingate is out for four to eight weeks after knee surgery. Second-string playmaker Tony Bennett is back from an injury, but Charlotte brought in Atlanta castoff Steve Henson as another backup to muppet Muggsy.
Dell Curry has a goatee. He laughed and said he grew it "so no one would recognize me." Maybe he should have had one when he guarded you. Asked about that, Dell said, "You can't guard Michael anyway."
Well, it's time to get in one of those media circuses you always loved. Maybe you don't miss basketball, but I'm missing deadline. Here's hoping you'll be back next season.
Yours in bull,\ Jack B. Quick
by CNB