I just published a survey of NBA championship defenses from 1983-84 through 2024-25 (I started with 1983-84 because that was the first season the NBA used its current 16-team playoff format). By “championship defenses,” I mean team stats for teams defending their championships. These stats include relative defensive ratting, so I suppose we can say that the survey includes championship defense defense. I did not need to study the stats to know which team had the worst time defending their championship. The 1998-99 Bulls were left to defend three consecutive championships without the top three players from those three championship squads: Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman (also notably missing was starting center Luc Longley). They did return the super sixth man from their previous three championship teams, Toni Kukoč and starting point guard Ron Harper, but that would not be enough for a good season. The Bulls finished 13-37 in the lockout-shortened 50 game season and were fortunate to win even 13 games given their team stats (Pythagorean record 9-41, SRS -8.6, Net Rating -10.6). The 98-99 Bulls were not only an underwhelming team defending its championship, but also awful in a broader sense. The 1998-99 Bulls were the first defending champion to miss the playoffs since the 1969-70 Boston Celtics (coming off the loss of Hall of Famers Bill Russell and Sam Jones). However, the 1989-1999 Bulls are arguably best remembered for setting the still-standing record for fewest points scored in the game in the shot clock era, which began with the 1954-55 season, in an 82-49 loss to the Miami Heat on April 10, 1999.
Based on the foregoing, I knew going into my survey that the 1998-99 Bulls were not only the least successful defending champion since 1983-84, but also in NBA history. Given the gulf between the 98-99 Bulls and the next worst defending champion since 1983-84, the 2006-07 Miami Heat, I assumed that the Bulls would have been the worst offense and defense among defending champions. As you may infer from the fact I am writing this article (much less if you read my preceding article), this will turn out to not be the case. But before continuing, we must pin down what we mean by “worst” offense and defense. There are different ways to evaluate this.
In my survey, I measured the offense and defense of defending champions using relative offensive rating and relative defensive rating. Offensive rating and defensive rating are simply points scored per 100 possessions and points allowed per 100 possessions. The per-100 possessions component helps us adjust for pace. In an earlier article examining whether defense wins championships, I used the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors as an example of why adjusting for pace is important. The Warriors allowed 99.9 points per game (unadjusted), which was the 15th fewest out of 30 teams in the NBA. Without adjusting, one may think the Warriors’ defense was mediocre. However, the Warriors averaged 98.3 possessions per game, which led the NBA. They allowed 101.4 points per 100 possessions, which was the fewest in the NBA. Thus, adjusting for pace revealed that the Warriors defense was not only elite, but also the best in the NBA on a per-possession basis.
Of course, comparing offensive and defensive rating across eras can also be misleading. The league average offensive rating in the just-completed 2024-25 NBA season was 114.5 points per 100 possessions. Conversely, the league-wide offensive rating in 1998-99 was just 102.2. The best offense in 1998-99 belonged to the Indiana Pacers, which averaged 108.7 points per 100 possessions. In 2024-25, only three teams averaged fewer than 108.7 points per 100 possessions (Brooklyn Nets at 108.5, Charlotte Hornets at 107.3, and Washington Wizards at 106.8). Were I to just use offensive ratings in my surveys, one could be left with the impression that the 1998-99 Pacers had a poor offense when they were in fact 6.7 points better per 100 possessions than the league average. The same idea applies in reverse for defense. The 2024-25 champion Oklahoma City Thunder led the league in defensive rating in 2024-25, allowing 107.5 points per 100 possessions. That was seven points per 100 possessions better than the league average, a historically elite number. However, in 1998-99, only three of 29 teams allowed more than 107.5 points per 100 possessions (Vancouver Grizzlies at 107.9, Los Angeles Clippers at 109.7, and the Denver Nuggets at 110.4), and those teams had a combined record of 31-119. (That the 1998-99 Bulls are not on this list will soon be relevant.) Was the Thunder’s championship winning defense in 2024-25 only about as good as the 8-42 Grizzlies’ defense in 1998-99? Of course not! The rules and league environment were significantly different.
For comparisons across seasons, I use relative offensive rating and relative defensive rating, which compares how a team performs against the league average in a given season. Thus, by this metric, while the 2024-25 Thunder had a defensive rating of 107.6 and the 1998-99 Grizzles had a defensive rating of 107.9, the Thunder’s relative defensive rating was 7 points per 100 possessions better than the league average while the Grizzlies’ was 5.9 points per 100 possessions worse, meaning the Thunder were 12.9 points per 100 possessions better on defense than the Grizzlies against their respective league averages.
(Note that relative offensive and defensive ratings do not necessarily resolve which team is the best in a vacuum in some sort of cosmic era-vs-era comparison. In the end, we can only know for sure how teams performed in the games they actually played.)
But I digress. We have nailed down our criteria. Let us return to the 1998-99 Bulls.
The 1998-99 Bulls’ Net Rating was -10.6. Net Rating is simply offensive rating minus defensive rating. Net Rating will also always equal relative offensive rating minus relative defensive rating. In light of the fact that the next worst defending champion after 1983-84 had a Net Rating of -1.0, I had reason to believe the Bulls would be at the bottom of both the relative offensive and defensive rating charts for 1983-84 through 2024-25 NBA champions (we may as well tack in 2025-26 since the Thunder’s Net Rating is an absurd +16.1 through 17 games).
The Bulls ran away with the title of worst relative offensive rating. The 1998-99 Bulls scored 92.4 points per 100 possessions, a whopping 9.8 points worse than the historically offensively challenged 1998-99 league average. The next worst offense in 1998-99 was the aforementioned 8-42 Vancouver Grizzlies, but the Grizzlies scored 98.4 points per 100 possessions, 6 points per 100 better (or less bad) than the Bulls. While worst offenses ever would be a project unto itself, we can say with some confidence that the 1998-99 Bulls fielded one of the more offensive offenses in NBA history. It should thus come as no surprise that it was by far the worst offense by relative offensive rating of any defending champion between 1983-84 and 2024-25:
Relative Regular Season Offensive Ratings for Defending Champions From 1983-84 through 2024-25 (42-34)
- 42. 1998-99 Chicago Bulls: -9.8
- 41. 2020-21 Los Angeles Lakers: -2.4
- 40. 2006-07 Miami Heat: -2.2
- 39. 2011-12 Dallas Mavericks: -1.3
- 38. 1983-84 Philadelphia 76ers: -0.8
- 37. 2003-04 San Antonio Spurs: -0.7
- 36. 2004-05 Detroit Pistons: -0.5
- 35. 2007-08 San Antonio Spurs: -0.3
- 34. 1993-94 Chicago Bulls: -0.2
But what if I told you that the Bulls’ putrid offense offers reason for hope? Recall I said that net rating is always relative offensive rating minus relative defensive rating. If the Bulls’ net rating is -10.6 and its relative offensive rating -9.8, its relative defensive rating must be -0.8. Sure enough, this is the case. The 1998-99 Bulls allowed 103.0 points per 100 possessions, good for 17th out of 29 teams that year. Four playoff teams actually had worse defensive ratings than the 13-37 Bulls (Milwaukee Bucks -0.8, Sacramento Kings -0.9, Phoenix Suns -1.1, Los Angeles Lakers -2.1, and the league-best offense Indiana Pacers at -2.2). The 1998-99 Bulls defense was certainly not good (much less the unprecedented juggernaut it would have had to have been to compensate for the team’s offensive futility), but it was relatively inoffensive. Since it was better than five of the 16 playoff teams that year, might it also be better than at least one of the other defending champions from 1983-84 through 2024-25? I am happy to report that the 1998-99 Bulls were better than not one but three defending champions between 1983-84 and 2024-25:
Relative Regular Season Defensive Ratings for Defending Champions From 1983-84 through 2024-25 (42-31)
- 42. 2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers: -1.8
- 41. 2016-17 Cleveland Cavaliers: -1.5
- 40. 2002-03 Los Angeles Lakers: -1.1
- 39. 1998-99 Chicago Bulls: -0.8
- 38. 1995-96 Houston Rockets: +0.2
- 38. 2021-22 Milwaukee Bucks: +0.2
- 36. 2022-23 Golden State Warriors: +0.4
- 35. 1987-88 Los Angeles Lakers: +0.7
- 31. 2018-19 Golden State Warriors: +0.9
- 31. 2017-18 Golden State Warriors: +0.9
- 31. 2013-14 Miami Heat: +0.9
- 31. 1994-95 Houston Rockets: +0.9
(Note: Plus and minus refer to points allowed better or worse than league average. The 2000-01 Lakers allowed 1.8 points per 100 possessions more than the NBA average while the 1994-95 Houston Rockets were 0.9 points per 100 possessions better than the league average. Technically it would make sense to show the Lakers as +1.8 and the Rockets as -0.9 since we are discussing points allowed, but I reversed the signs to make the table more immediately intuitive.)
The 1998-99 Bulls were not the worst in everything. Now before anyone celebrates too much, I will note that the 2000-01 Lakers won the championship and the 2016-17 Cavaliers made the NBA Finals after starting the playoffs 12-1. The list includes three other eventual champions: the 1987-88 Lakers, 2017-18 Warriors, and 1994-95 Rockets. Moreover, every team on the above list except for the 1998-99 Bulls had a winning record and made the playoffs. There is likely no defense good enough to turn an offense 9.8 points worse than the league average into a playoff team, although the 2003-04 San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons (especially the playoff version of the 2003-04 champion Pistons) may have been able to give my assertion a stress test. But the Bulls’ offense, which was capable of scoring 49 points in a 48 minute professional basketball game with a 24-second shot clock, masked a fun fact about that largely forgotten Bulls’ season: The defense was not only just slightly below average but also “better” than the NBA champion just two seasons later. Of course, this is granting that better comes with all kinds of caveats ranging from an awful offensive environment in 1998-99, the fact the Bulls were involved in more garbage time minutes than a good team, and the Lakers fielded an elite defense when they woke up in time for their dominant 15-1 playoff run.
I knew going into my NBA defending champions survey that the 1998-99 Bulls would stand out from the pack. But one fun part about conducting these sorts of surveys is that you never know what you may discover. Here, we learn that the 1998-99 Bulls’ defense was—while not good—respectable. It was the Bulls’ offense, rather than their defense, which placed them among the three worst teams in the NBA that strange season.
