If you just had a 7-game series between 2016 or 2017 Warriors and 95-96 Bulls the Warriors would have a big advantage. And with KD I don’t think it would be that close. The main reason is that the Bulls never faced a faced a team with an offense like the GS that was built around 3-point shooters. If Phil Jackson never saw the Warriors play he would not know to create defensive schemes to try and lock down the perimeter.
Sure, Jordan could guard Curry, but he would still need to chase him all over the court for 40 minutes. Or Pippen would. No one else could guard him. There was nothing like the Warriors off-ball movement in the 90s and it would catch the Bulls defense completely off guard. And 7 games is not enough time to figure it out. OTOH, Kerr understands the Bulls offense and defense of the 90s as well as anyone coaching today. And you are underestimating the Warriors defense. Bogut was a good rim protector, Green is more versatile than Rodman, Iguodola was a lock-down defender in his prime and Klay was one of the best 2-guard defenders in the league before his injuries.
A few other points: Jordan was only a 32.7% career 3-point shooter, Pippen 32.6% and Kukoc 33.5%. The Bulls were not a great 3-point shooting team, but that didn’t matter in their era. Yes, Kerr was accurate, but he was mostly shooting open 3s. He wasn’t shooting 3s off the dribble or 30 foot step-backs over 7-footers.
Pippen, Rodman, and Jordan could easily shut down Curry, Klay, and KD. Reggie Miller ran around the court way more than Curry, and teams in the 90s had much more sophisticated off ball movement than today.
If you move the Bulls into todays era, they would be able to add more depth thanks to the increased influx of international talent, and USA talent.
You are assuming Pippen, Rodman and Jordan would be allowed to play grab and hold hand check defense. Sophisticated ball movement? Bulls of old took a lot of 10 to 15 ft. jump shots. The math guys working for every team today: dunks, layups and three point shots. Today is not the era of 10 to 15 ft. jump shots.
I once saw a half court press vs magic. Harper, Jordan, pippen.. it looked like they were holding hands like a volleyball net. they were so quick - there was no getting the ball over half court.
rodman played out his mind. took on 70lb heavier Mr. Shaq. his energy was the energizer bunny that season and real mvp as Jordan has said.
there's a reason the planet stopped to watch Michael. it was his killer instinct. and he was poetic about it. his will was abominable. the numbers, metrics, strategies, rules.. don't reflect.
I watched some highlights from that year and my God, they stink compared to nowadays. I've seen high school teams with better skills than these guys and I swear I am dead serious.
Yes, they were GREAT for their time. Key words: "for their time". But honestly, if you put that team in today's league, I don't think they'd win a single game all season. Just the dribbling alone from back in that time period looks so beginner.
The sad part is, we'll never get to see it, so old people will continue to say that this team is the best ever. My advice: watch film from back then.
Trollol I know but you could say that about any great team from any past era because human performance and athletic excellence is on a constant improvement.
I mean have the running world just broke 27:00 for 10,000 meters last night and it’s like, ok cool.
I watched some highlights from that year and my God, they stink compared to nowadays. I've seen high school teams with better skills than these guys and I swear I am dead serious.
Yes, they were GREAT for their time. Key words: "for their time". But honestly, if you put that team in today's league, I don't think they'd win a single game all season. Just the dribbling alone from back in that time period looks so beginner.
The sad part is, we'll never get to see it, so old people will continue to say that this team is the best ever. My advice: watch film from back then.
Trollol I know but you could say that about any great team from any past era because human performance and athletic excellence is on a constant improvement.
I mean half the running world just broke 27:00 for 10,000 meters last night and it’s like, ok cool.
I love statements like "great for their time." The greats would be great in any era. Players as a whole might be better but the 39 year old Lebron, the aging Durant are still among the best in this era. When you put 3 hall of famers and good shooting role players on a team with a great coach you'll have a great team.
The best player today is a slow unathletic looking guy who doesn't jump. Some how he passes the eye test. In his case it's not about athleticism but basketball IQ. The Bulls players were well coached and played intelligently.
In an era long long ago, Bill Laimbeer would've picked up Steph Curry and carrot-snapped him in half and tossed the pieces up over the backboard...
...and the refs MIGHT MIGHT have called a foul after conferencing for 5 minutes to discuss whether it should be a jump ball...and even then only a 1-and-1.
These game of today would see 3-pt percentages would drop by 20%+ in the 80s/90s NBA game because they kept getting punched in the nutz repeatedly by Rodman, Mutombo, Oakley, the entire Detroit Pistons, et al. -- usually using brass nuckles...
The game today is nothing but primadonnas and nancyball...
Such a horrible OP. It’s really dumb to compare across eras. The games are completely different between then and now. Back then, you could play defense: hand checking, more contact allowed. The game was more physical. Today, you can’t hardly touch anyone without being called for a foul. Would the Bulls be as successful playing with today’s rules. Likely no. But, they would surround Jordan with a different supporting cast. And he’d still dominate. Would today’s teams be successful playing the 90’s game. Nope. They get bullied and see fewer open looks. 90’s teams would destroy modern teams down low and from the midd-range.
the 90s were only a few years into the "get away with traveling" era. Similar to the end of baseball's dead ball era, it took a while for the game to adjust.
If they started calling traveling again, all today's teams would lose to teams from the 70s.
basketball is inherently a sissy sport with silly rules eliminating anything physical and heavily favoring offense. It would be vastly improved by making dribbling illegal, and you can only pass the ball, as it was originally.
While there’s definitely some egregious traveling that’s gotten away with, at least officials generally try to call it. The gather step is a new rule, but I feel it was somewhat allowed implicitly before. I watched a lot of NBA in the 90s but not before then so I can’t really say about the 70s though. The REAL change is in carrying/double dribbling, look how Maravich and guys from that era had to dribble compared to players from the 90s and today (say AI and Luka). So that change had already happened by the 90s. Every crossover today would be called as a carry in the 60s or 70s.
Pippen, Rodman, and Jordan could easily shut down Curry, Klay, and KD. Reggie Miller ran around the court way more than Curry, and teams in the 90s had much more sophisticated off ball movement than today.
If you move the Bulls into todays era, they would be able to add more depth thanks to the increased influx of international talent, and USA talent.
You are assuming Pippen, Rodman and Jordan would be allowed to play grab and hold hand check defense. Sophisticated ball movement? Bulls of old took a lot of 10 to 15 ft. jump shots. The math guys working for every team today: dunks, layups and three point shots. Today is not the era of 10 to 15 ft. jump shots.
But if they were hypothetically playing today, that means they also would have evolved their styles and pivoted away from 10 to 15 foot jump shots.
In the 90s it was INFINITELY more difficult to score in the paint because there were real defenders. Olajuwon, Barkley, Shaq, Alonzo Mourning, Ewing, David Robinson, Mutombo, Karl Malone, Kemp, Rodman etc.
If you think Jordan, one of the best dunkers of all time, would struggle to adapt in an era with worse interior defense and a bigger emphasis on dunking, you are crazy. Pippen used to dunk on EVERYONE too.
You are assuming Pippen, Rodman and Jordan would be allowed to play grab and hold hand check defense. Sophisticated ball movement? Bulls of old took a lot of 10 to 15 ft. jump shots. The math guys working for every team today: dunks, layups and three point shots. Today is not the era of 10 to 15 ft. jump shots.
But if they were hypothetically playing today, that means they also would have evolved their styles and pivoted away from 10 to 15 foot jump shots.
In the 90s it was INFINITELY more difficult to score in the paint because there were real defenders. Olajuwon, Barkley, Shaq, Alonzo Mourning, Ewing, David Robinson, Mutombo, Karl Malone, Kemp, Rodman etc.
If you think Jordan, one of the best dunkers of all time, would struggle to adapt in an era with worse interior defense and a bigger emphasis on dunking, you are crazy. Pippen used to dunk on EVERYONE too.
It's amazing how little younger fans know about 90s NBA. Here are two lists that have Pippen, Rodman and Jordan listed as among the top defenders of ALL TIME.
It was a different era. Bulls were good for their era. Twenty-five years ago, N.B.A. rules allowed for tough perimeter defense. Twenty-five years ago it was fashionable to take open (12 to 15) ft. jump shots. Triangle offense was about getting the ball to open intermediate jump shooter. Today, 3 point shot, dunks and layups. Bulls roster, 25 years ago didn't have enough quality 3 point shooters to complete today.
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It was a different era. Bulls were good for their era. Twenty-five years ago, N.B.A. rules allowed for tough perimeter defense. Twenty-five years ago it was fashionable to take open (12 to 15) ft. jump shots. Triangle offense was about getting the ball to open intermediate jump shooter. Today, 3 point shot, dunks and layups. Bulls roster, 25 years ago didn't have enough quality 3 point shooters to complete today.
You can't assume they weren't quality 3point shooters when they rarely ever put up three pointers. Jordan showed he was a clutch shooter in his freshman year at UNC. Rodman was their only player who couldn't shoot.
It was a different era. Bulls were good for their era. Twenty-five years ago, N.B.A. rules allowed for tough perimeter defense. Twenty-five years ago it was fashionable to take open (12 to 15) ft. jump shots. Triangle offense was about getting the ball to open intermediate jump shooter. Today, 3 point shot, dunks and layups. Bulls roster, 25 years ago didn't have enough quality 3 point shooters to complete today.
You can't assume they weren't quality 3point shooters when they rarely ever put up three pointers. Jordan showed he was a clutch shooter in his freshman year at UNC. Rodman was their only player who couldn't shoot.
They shot enough 3s over the course of a career to determine if they were very good or not. Jordan, Pippen, Kucoc, and Harper were not consistently good 3-point shooters. It goes without saying that the lumbering bigs like Longley, Perdue, and Wennington (whose sole reason for existing was to set screens for MJ) couldn't shoot to save their own lives.
The Bulls starters could probably improve their shooting with practice, so I don't want to hold that against them. But until the 96 Bulls improved their shooting or acquired more shooters, I think they would probably get shot off the court by most modern teams. Everyone says they hate all the 3-point shooting today, but there's a reason teams do it. It's simply a more efficient way to score.
It was a different era. Bulls were good for their era. Twenty-five years ago, N.B.A. rules allowed for tough perimeter defense. Twenty-five years ago it was fashionable to take open (12 to 15) ft. jump shots. Triangle offense was about getting the ball to open intermediate jump shooter. Today, 3 point shot, dunks and layups. Bulls roster, 25 years ago didn't have enough quality 3 point shooters to complete today.
You can't assume they weren't quality 3point shooters when they rarely ever put up three pointers. Jordan showed he was a clutch shooter in his freshman year at UNC. Rodman was their only player who couldn't shoot.
We have career stats to review, do we not? Jordan, 32.x% career 3 point shooter and Pippen, 32.x% career 3 point shooter. Not great by today's standards.
These comparison are not really fair. We have no idea how well Steph Curry and Klay Thompson would play if they were in N.B.A. from 1985 to 199x-something. Reggie Miller, Jordan and Pippen took a physical beating.
It is the same thing comparing N.F.L. QBs to N.F.L. QBs fifty years ago. QBs today do not face steel curtain of Joe Greene, LC Greenwood, Dwight White & Ernie Holmes and rules of 1974.
You can't assume they weren't quality 3point shooters when they rarely ever put up three pointers. Jordan showed he was a clutch shooter in his freshman year at UNC. Rodman was their only player who couldn't shoot.
We have career stats to review, do we not? Jordan, 32.x% career 3 point shooter and Pippen, 32.x% career 3 point shooter. Not great by today's standards.
These comparison are not really fair. We have no idea how well Steph Curry and Klay Thompson would play if they were in N.B.A. from 1985 to 199x-something. Reggie Miller, Jordan and Pippen took a physical beating.
It is the same thing comparing N.F.L. QBs to N.F.L. QBs fifty years ago. QBs today do not face steel curtain of Joe Greene, LC Greenwood, Dwight White & Ernie Holmes and rules of 1974.
Career percentage doesn't tell you much when you're only taking a couple a game and often at the buzzer, not part of the offensive flow. If they practiced threes as part of their offense it's quite possible the percentages would be higher.
If those players played now, meaning they were if playing age, they would have the added size and speed that have developed over the years. Their skills would still be superior.
