1996 Chicago Bulls

Jordan had returned late in the previous season and lost in the second round. The response was the best regular season any team had ever played. Chicago went 72-10, breaking the 1972 Lakers' record of 69 wins, and led the league in both offense and defense.

The roster had turned over since the first three-peat. Pippen was now a co-star, Ron Harper had become a defensive guard, and Steve Kerr, Toni Kukoc, and Luc Longley filled out a deep rotation. The gamble was Rodman, signed despite his reputation, who led the league in rebounding at 14.9 a game and gave the Bulls a defender for any frontcourt.

Seattle pushed them in the Finals. Chicago won the first three, then the Sonics took two behind Gary Payton's defense on Jordan before the Bulls closed it out in Game 6 on Father's Day. Rodman tied his own Finals record with 19 rebounds in the clincher, eleven of them on the offensive glass.

Jordan's emotional collapse on the locker-room floor after the game came on the first Father's Day since his father's murder. The title was the franchise's fourth in six years, and the 72-win mark stood for two decades.