Rodman: Bulls would've 'easily' won 1999 title if not dismantled

Dennis Rodman believes the Chicago Bulls would've won a fourth straight NBA championship in 1999 if the team hadn't been broken up.

"When (former Bulls general manager) Jerry Krause said he didn't care if we won 82 games, you're not coming back, I think that hurt Phil Jackson more than anything in the world. And I think that hurt Scottie, that hurt Michael," Rodman said Monday on ESPN's "First Take."

"For me, I was just more there for the ride, pretty much. I wanted to win championships with these guys. I would go to war for these guys any time of the day. It was just sad the fact that we could have come back and won a fourth championship very easily."

The San Antonio Spurs would go on to win the title that year, while the Bulls finished with a 13-37 record and failed to advance to the playoffs following the departures of Jackson, Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman.

The 1997-98 Bulls team is the focus of the ESPN documentary series "The Last Dance," which premiered its first two episodes Sunday night. Rodman is expected to be featured in the third episode.