that bulls team would kick this warriors team's ass. A sweep or 4-1 in a seven game. Playing under whomever rules you want.
Green's defensive value comes from his pick and roll defense(ability to switch, trap and recover quickly), versatility, excellent and timely rotations. Yes, he's an excellent one on one post defender, but that's not where his true value comes from on the defensive end.
The Warriors wipe them out easily under 2016 rules, to be honest. A team used to playing under pre 2004 rules, wouldn't even have a chance against Curry.
How much does that really help against a team that isn't running a ton of pick and rolls plays or run and gun 3's like the modern day NBA? If Green isn't guarding Pippen or Jordan (and I don't think he has much of a shot at guarding Jordan), his defense seems to be going to waste.
2nd best guard of all time and a top 8-10 player easily. Still sucks his career had to end this way but the Lakers do need the top 3 pick or the Suns get it. I'm still holding out hope for a comeback if the Lakers can get something going with the FAs and Simmons.
Well, considering the fact that the Triangle isn't as effective as it was twenty years, since it basically eliminates dribble penetration, I think the Bulls would run more PNRS and if it isn't an emphasis having Green eliminates yet another aspect of the Bulls offense; you can't shut fown a great team, but eliminating layers of their offense is huge. With the rule changes and shift in the game from 96 to 2016 , it's difficult to project how each would play. But I can't agree with the people who think the 96 Bulls would dominate the Warriors at their own game.
These generational comparisons really aren't fair. Steph is the first of his kind kind of player. Pippen was the best defender of all time arguably. It'd be a great matchup, in these fantasy la la la land scenarios.
who in the hell is going to stop Jordan? especially with the new rules. any team that would beat them in a series would need have a stopper for him. GS hardly plays defense. Those bulls did. Easy series victory under any rules. we are only having this conversation because Golden State broke their record, but that doesnt mean shit really in terms of how good they are historically. It just means they won 73 games against current NBA teams. Today we have teams tanking on purpose. Teams resting starters just because. A weakened league overall. Those Warriors might not have won 60 games in some years. Also I would argue that there have been teams in years since Jordan's Bulls that I would pick as having a better chance against them any day. Shaq & Kobe's Laker team would've given them a hell of a series Lebron's Heat team only because Lebron would've challenged Jordan Some of those Spurs teams hell I'd take my chances with that Boston big 3 team over this Warriors team.
I think the rules part is a good argument, although not for Jordan. They call them the Jordan Rules for a reason, he was the one getting them when he was playing. Now the rest of his starting squad would, too, just like the Warriors.
The Warriors are one of the best defensive teams in the league, and they were the best defensive team in the league last year according to advance metrics. I said this before, but the defensive schemes in the NBA are more complex. Teams overload the strong side, and have even more coverages to defend pick and rolls. Also Who would guard Curry from 30 feet out? How would the Bulls stop the Warriors shooting? How would they deal with the Warriors pace? After all, is three is greater than two, and the Warriors are the greatest shooting team in NBA history. And the league isn't weaker. The Bulls played in an expansion league and traveled 20,000 fewer miles than the Warriors did over the course of the entire season. The Warriors won 67 last year, and were winning 50 plus games in 2013 and 2012 with a bad head coach, yet you're saying they wouldn't win 60 in some years? Give me a brea.k They're the greatest team of this era by a wide wide margin.This is their second year being THIS dominant. Even the Spurs can't hang with these guys. I don't have a prblem with one saying the 96 Bulls are the superior team but to say the Warriors aren't even in the discussion is silly. Assuming they win the title, at the very least they are the second greatest team ever.
This team has a ton of heart and focus and intensity, but they pulled a lot of games out of their asses that they should have won easily if they were the ultra dominant team that you are painting them to be. Taking it to the wire against the 76ers and the Mash Unit that are the Grizzlies are a couple of examples. They deserve a shit ton of credit for pulling out so many wins, but they have definitely shown a lack of focus in games that a truly dominant team would have cruised away with. I'm not impressed with the lack of focus the Spurs played against them with in the regular season, and the Spurs also lost and barely won some games that they should have closed out easily... But to say they can't hang with them, you're probably going to regret that statement at some point during this playoffs.
Regardless of rules I still see Jordan having a lot more success vs. whomever is guarding him than Curry would facing a combination of Harper/Jordan/Pippen. Not to mention Pippen played essentially like LeBron with less athletic/physical dominance. If you guard Pippen with Draymond Green you're going to get absolutely destroyed on the offensive boards by Rodman, who averaged nearly 6 offensive boards a year on those Bulls teams. He'd average 10 if he only had to box out Iguodala over the course of a series. The matchups favor the Bulls in terms of who guards who a lot more IMO. I like Draymond Green a lot, but I really think his defense is overrated at this point. He's a very good help defender, but he's not that good on the ball because he doesn't move laterally well enough. The Bulls also gave up 92 points/game, the Warriors 104. Chalk it up to rule changes all you want, they're nowhere near the class that Bulls teams seemed to be defensively.
As much as I enjoyed reading the debate in this thread over the best team ever, I'm surprised that unlike previous seasons, there hasn't been any prediction threads. It starts in just a few hours officially, and I want to throw down a playoff prediction, so without further ado... EAST Cavs over Pistons in 5. (I don't care the Pistons won the series this year, it's playoff time.) Boston over Hawks in 6. (I think Boston is being too overlooked.) Miami over Hornets in 5. (I just don't get how the Hornets even made the playoffs.) Toronto over Pacers in 6. (The Raptors are the primary Lebron competitor in the East, but they're overrated imo, however better than Indiana still.) Cavs over Celtics in 7. (I think it will come down to the final quarter of game 7, and they'll survive.) Toronto over Miami in 5. (Bleh, don't care much because...) Cavs over Toronto in 5. (Yet another finals appearance coming for James, no surprise here...) WEST GS over Rockets in 4. (The sweep won't be domination, but they should squeeze by in all 4 games with no score being under 100.) Clippers over Blazers in 5. (Great year for Blazers, Clippers just have more talent right now..) OKC over Dallas in 5. (I try not to be bias, but Dallas just isn't that great, and is banged up.) Spurs over Grizz in 4. (The Spurs just defy my beliefs every year, never falling out of the picture when I expect it. Best coach in the league..) GS over Clippers in 5. (Yeah I think they'll actually lose one here.) Spurs over OKC in 6, (I'm getting used to the heartbreak, and it seems fitting that it's a great series but ultimately ends short again, and I'll say at home.) GS over Spurs in 7. (This should be the best series in the playoffs. It could go either way, but logic says GS.) NBA FINALS GS crushes Lebron in 5. (The Cavs aren't as good as the Spurs, or Thunder, and I'm guessing this repeat is more anti-climatic than last year.) Hope I'm wrong, but we'll see. Can't wait!
Could that be a sign of coasting/ boredom with the regular season or mental fatigue? I feel as if that happens with every great team that's on a second championship run. It happened with the Bulls towards the end of their campagin in 96... eventully the regular season takes a toll on you when you're chasing a record as 72-10. The '01 Lakers coasted throughout the entire Regular Season and procceeded to destroy everyone in the playoffs. Yet we still call that team an ultra dominant club.The '08 Celtics, who BrowningNagle said he'd take over the Warriors, weren't even able to dominate "cupcake" teams in round one. I won't write off the Spurs quite yet, but I'm not entirely sure how they can beat this team, as constructed currently. I'm seeing a six or five game series.
I've enjoyed this debate, but we're basiclLLYy running in circles at this point. However I will address this: the Bulls gave up fewer ppg, because they played at a slower pace than the Warriors. A better metric for determining the quality of defenses is defensive effiency which accounts for pace. But as Goerge Karl said, the Bulls were probably little better defensively and the Warriors are a litte better on offense.
Not an unreasonable feeling. They just popped a giant zit called 73 wins, and they're definitely going to lose a few games this playoffs that they should walk away with. They're also probably going to repeat, though.