Larry Bird was a badass
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You can't be serious.
Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish
All three are in the Hall of Fame
If they never played another game, Curry, Thompson, and Durant would all make the HOF. Iguodala and Draymond will probably end up there too. It’s not that difficult to get into the basketball HOF - that’s not a good barometer. That Warriors team had 4 of the best 25-30 players in the NBA at that time, with Curry and Durant both being top 5 players.
FiveThirtyEights ELO ratings have the ‘17 Warriors as the greatest team ever, the ‘96 Bulls second. It’s not really going out on a limb saying that Golden St had the best squad of all time. They were a 73 win team that replaced a solid starting forward with the second best player in the league.
And he used to be an MVP. The Warriors had a pretty damn good sixth man themselves.
I love how the new school gets the benefit of the doubt if they were to play in another era. But heaven forbid jordan, bird et.al play in the modern era with modern training and health care. Hell those guys actually played full seasons, they didn't take 10-15 games off a year to save on mileage. Imagine bird if his back never gets hurt. Imagine jordan playing in a time where he isn't forced out by the gm.
Many of those guys didn't work out in the off season, that's just not done today.
Many of those guys didn't work out in the off season, that's just not done today.
Yes - he was still pretty good is the point and played with 4 other HoFers. I'm not sure which team was best but to dismiss the Celtics out of hand is short sighted.
I’m not in any way saying they weren’t a great team. The ‘86 Celtics are high up on my list of greatest teams of all time, certainly top five.
Here’s my list of top teams of all time, where teams had multiple year runs I took the best version without trying to slot each iteration.
‘17 Golden St (with the ‘15 version close)
‘96 Bulls (with ‘97 close)
‘86 Celtics
‘87 Lakers
The fifth spot is tough for me, I don’t like going earlier than 1980 but the ‘72 Lakers would be in the running. The ‘83 76ers, the ‘01 Lakers but that wasn’t a great regular season team, LeBron’s Heat teams had a similar problem, their best regular season and post season version weren’t in the same year. The ‘91 Bulls would be up there too.
‘17 Golden St (with the ‘15 version close)
‘96 Bulls (with ‘97 close)
‘86 Celtics
‘87 Lakers
The fifth spot is tough for me, I don’t like going earlier than 1980 but the ‘72 Lakers would be in the running. The ‘83 76ers, the ‘01 Lakers but that wasn’t a great regular season team, LeBron’s Heat teams had a similar problem, their best regular season and post season version weren’t in the same year. The ‘91 Bulls would be up there too.
Totally disagree. Warriors couldn't guard any of those 3. Who's guarding Magic? Kareem? Worthy? Who's guarding Jordan and Pippen? Either one can go into the post on GS guards. Horace Grant? You act like the Bulls role players sucked. Pick a 3 peat team...they all had guys who knocked down huge shots in the finals. Rodman would be inside Green's head by halftime of game 1.
I love how they act like Rodman couldn’t guard Durant. Bulls win in 6.
The Warriors match up fine against the Lakers, Draymond on Kareem, Durant on Worthy, Iggy or Klay on Magic. But I don’t think mid 80s Kareem would even be able to stay on the floor against Golden St. They would have him in pick and rolls all day.
We’ve already been over the Bulls match up. They have three really solid defensive wings in Klay, Durant and Iggy to rotate against MJ and Pippen, plus you’ll have Draymond to help if he’s guarding Rodman who is a total non factor offensively. Post possessions aren’t the most efficient ways to score, if that’s the Bulls strategy it’s not gonna end well for them.
Rodman didn’t guard a lot of guys who were 4” taller than him, a great ball handler and had the ability to shoot from anywhere on the floor. Pippen on Durant is the better matchup, Jordan on Curry and Harper on Thompson.
He guarded pippen, bird, magic, and Jordan. That is a pretty amazing resume.
Gw are not the Pistons on defense. Jordan lit them up despite them literally trying to kill him on the floor. I'm sure he would be so very scared and ineffective against gw.
4” doesn’t mean as much on the perimeter. Rodman would have been just fine.
Yeah, the 2x defensive player of the year and 7x first team defender couldn’t slow down Durant.
The Rodman in ‘96 was not the same Rodman as the Bad Boy era Pistons, he was heavier and older and was guarding a lot fewer perimeter guys.
Apparently he hasn't heard of Magic, Worthy and Kareem either.
4” doesn’t mean much? It means it’s a hell of a lot easier to shoot over someone. And see my above post.
Yeah I def didn’t already cover this like five posts ago. Go back and watch some YouTube clips of how Kareem was moving in the mid 80s and reevaluate.
Kareem performed just fine in the mid 80s, it was later in the 80s when he started to decline.
Teams that lose in the Finals are immediately disqualified from being the best team ever
Yeah he was fine, but I don't think the '86-'87 version of Kareem is going to be able to do anything to stop a Golden St pick and roll. The '17 Warriors death lineup has five guys who can initiate the pick and roll, they can force Kareem to guard the ballhandler, if you get him in a Draymond-Durant pick and roll, it's over.
That's an interesting point. However, I don't think the '17 Warriors would be able to keep pace with the Lakers track meets of those days. They were up and down the court at a furious pace. I would take them over a gassed Warriors team.
Bulls defense on Golden State is an easy lineup to set.
Harper was a damn good defender, put him on Curry.
Jordan on Klay
Pippen on Durant
Rodman on the nut kicker and draws enough TFs from the head case that Green misses at least a game.
Longley in the paint, and can swap him out for Kukoc if GS goes small.
Modern rules, Jordan and Pippen in their prime are pretty much unstoppable on offense. 90's rules and the Bulls definitely don't shut down, but restrict GS's scoring more than any team in 2017 did.
Those Bulls beat the best pick and roll combination of all time in back to back Finals, plus a damn good Sonics team. I'm not saying it is a no-brainer, but I wouldn't bet against Jordan in a 7 game Finals series.
Harper was a damn good defender, put him on Curry.
Jordan on Klay
Pippen on Durant
Rodman on the nut kicker and draws enough TFs from the head case that Green misses at least a game.
Longley in the paint, and can swap him out for Kukoc if GS goes small.
Modern rules, Jordan and Pippen in their prime are pretty much unstoppable on offense. 90's rules and the Bulls definitely don't shut down, but restrict GS's scoring more than any team in 2017 did.
Those Bulls beat the best pick and roll combination of all time in back to back Finals, plus a damn good Sonics team. I'm not saying it is a no-brainer, but I wouldn't bet against Jordan in a 7 game Finals series.
The Lakers did play faster, 101.6 to 99.8, but not by a ton. If they use Mychal Thompson or AC Green in place of Kareem it probably gives them a much better match up against Golden St. and they can push it even more then.
Hot take, the Warriors have better pick and roll options than Stockton and Malone.
The Bulls can put out good defensive and good offensive lineups against Golden St, the problem is it's not the same lineup. Golden St's best lineup is great on both ends. With modern rules, I think that lineup you have really struggles to score. They have basically three non-threats on the offensive end, with how much teams can help, that makes it tough even with two all time greats out there. I mean those Bulls teams weren't lighting up the scoreboard in the late 90's Finals. They were scrapping by with terrific defense and just enough offense, against a team not nearly as athletic as the '17 Warriors.
But also remember that if we're playing today's rules, Jordan and Pippen are going to have a lot more freedom and space in which to operate.
Agree with everything you said but I'd put Jordan on Curry every day of the week. I'd be half tempted to have Scottie on Klay and Rodman on Durant. Draymond isn't winning series and his dumbass would probably get kicked out of a few games.
Let's be honest.. in the end, it boils down to one thing that GS doesn't have -> Michael Jordan. That's why the Bulls teams win every argument. Conversation over before it starts
With which lineup? Not with Harper and Rodman and Longely. That's going to be like the OKC teams with Durant and Westbrook facing multiple help defenders every drive. Chicago with Kerr and Kukoc in there is a real nice offensive line up but who do they guard on the other end?
Also, Kerr trying to play and coach the other team is definitely a major conflict of interest.
The Bulls couldn't break 87 points the last three games against the Sonics. They took two games off Chicago, the Warriors didn't lose two games the entire playoffs.
Well, since we're talking fantasy land, I wasn't going to address that point.
It would be interesting. I do think each team playing the version of ball from their own era would have an advantage....especially if the teams matched up under 90s grabbing and shoving rules.
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