Rozner: 'Last Dance' began with Jordan's abrupt departure

Jim Lefebvre did not think he was getting fired.

He had the support of Cubs players. He had the support of Harry Caray - which was no small item back then. He had the support of Tribune Co. overlord Stanton Cook. And he had a winning record in 1993, something the franchise had managed only twice in the previous 20 years.

While Larry Himes had a strained relationship with the manager, it was the general manager the previous winter who had tossed aside Greg Maddux in favor of several free agents that didn't work out very well.

And it was Himes that kept harping on a winning record being important for a fourth-place team.

So there was reason to think Lefebvre would survive into the final year of his contract, and with a Cubs decision coming down late on that Wednesday, I called Daily Herald sports editor Jim Cook the morning of Oct. 6, 1993, and told him I could shelve my duties as Cubs beat guy for a few hours and help out Bulls beat writer Kent McDill at the Berto Center, where Michael Jordan was holding his retirement news conference.

Seemed like a good idea at the time.

It was a wild scene, with hundreds of reporters and cameramen descending on the Bulls' practice facility.

Most memorable was not Jordan's happiness to be escaping the mob, though he did appear completely relieved. It was the look on the faces of GM Jerry Krause, coach Phil Jackson and teammates like Scottie Pippen, Scott Williams and B.J. Armstrong that you couldn't forget if you were there that day.

It was a look that said, “Now what do we do?”

While Williams was in tears, no one was more stunned than Toni Kukoc, who was whiter than white, and brushed past reporters saying only, “I'm surprised. I didn't know anything (about) this.”

Kukoc had come to America and the NBA, leaving behind riches in Europe, to play with the GOAT and the world champs.

Pippen was nearly as shaken, saying, “We don't have the greatest player who ever played the game anymore. It'll be tough without him.

“The first time I heard about it was last night. He always said he'd leave while he was on top, and I knew that. But I thought he'd play one more year.”

As for the sudden burden of being the top dog instead of Jordan's wingman, Pippen didn't need 1.8 seconds to offer a prescient response.

“I feel there will be a lot of pressure on me to be the leader,” Pippen said. “I'm going to be asked to keep the team together on and off the court. I think the shocking thing right now is you wonder, how are you going to replace the greatest player who ever lived?”

Well, you don't. And they didn't. But on that day, Jordan was departing even if he seemed less than convinced that he would never return to basketball.

Meanwhile, I returned home to find an answering machine - remember those? - with a furiously blinking red light and many messages.

And that's never good.

Yep, Lefebvre had been fired. So yeah, that was a bad call.

The result was I needed to make about 10 phone calls related to the Cubs, and at the same time plow through my notes on Jordan.

I made my calls on the Cubs, put away baseball for a couple hours, wrote four Jordan stories, and then turned around and wrote four Cubs stories, for what I believe is a career-high eight in one night.

Meanwhile, Himes was busy writing his own epitaph, the decision to fire Lefebvre based on little more than ego and jealousy, and after the atrocious 1994 season Himes was sent packing as the entire Cubs hierarchy turned over yet again.

Oct. 6, 1993, was an unpleasant day in many respects, but Jordan's return 17 months later removed for many the bad taste left over from his departure.

The loss to Orlando in '95, the rejuvenated Jordan, the emergence of Kukoc and the hiring of Rodman led to a second three-peat.

And ultimately, “The Last Dance.”