How would the Bulls Dynasty fare against the teams of today?

[LeHeat_Dynasty]

Its a serious question that requires great attention for basketball fans.



On one end you have Jordan, Pippen, Rodman and a solid all around cast of Harper, Kukoc and Steve Kerr or you can choose the 1st three Peat team which IMO is better (Prime version of MJ, Pip, Horace Grant, BJ Armstrong, Paxson, Bill Cartwright)


And on the other you have the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic.



Do you think any of the teams above can dethrone any of the Bulls dynasty?

[Darrin]

Mentally, they are 10x stronger than any team out there today. I think Jordan would still get his shot off, but Pippen would look more pedestrian. Their size issue with Rodman aging and using Longley and Wennington at center would hurt them against the contenders today. Perimeter players, the great ones, have learned from Jordan so they would know him as well. The respect of the whistle would go in their favor. I think they would be contenders, but they wouldn't dominate. They were designed to beat the bruising 90s that focused on defense, not running teams.

[21_Blessings]

2010 Lakers in 6 or 7 assuming full health.

First of all, the Lakers would pound the living stuffing out of em' inside. Kobe is capable of matching Jordan offensively. Artest is the same dude that broke MJ's ribs in a pick up a few years back. :lol So MJ can forget about posting up 260 pounds of crazy.

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Naturally, Pippen has always been Kobe's bitch. So Pip would collapse mentality like the baby he always was and that's the series. Game ova. The current Lakeshow dynasty aint no weak ass expansion era team.

[Chieflion]

According to 21_cuckolds, Dennis Rodman doesn't exist. Maybe Horace Grant doesn't exist either in his mind. By posting a video of Kobe Bryant "owning" old and out of his prime Scottie Pippen really made people think the Lakers are suppposed to beat the early 90s or late 90s Bulls easily.

[Killakobe81]

Are you kidding me?
The 2011 Heat would DESTROY those Bulls ...
Lebron is wayyy better than Pippen
MJ is only slightly>Wade

Bosh shits on Rodamn or Horace ...

Joel Anthony = Longley

Mike Miller and house dominate Kerr, Paxson or Hodges ...


NOW I step away from the crack pipe...and Bulls dominate all of these teams.

Current Lakers maybe give them a battle but until Lakers win 6 in 8 years you give the edge to those Bulls ...

2001 Lakers might of been better for a season ...
80's Lakers and Celtics .. definitely in the mix Also must include:

99 Spurs
2004 Pistons
2008 Celts
Bad boy pistons all would of given them a tough test ...I also think 2nd Rox team would of been a tough out for Bulls ...

[21_Blessings]

According to 21_cuckolds, Dennis Rodman doesn't exist. Maybe Horace Grant doesn't exist either in his mind. By posting a video of Kobe Bryant "owning" old and out of his prime Scottie Pippen really made people think the Lakers are suppposed to beat the early 90s or late 90s Bulls easily.

Please. What the fuck is old man Rodman going to do? Pau forces him to defend the jumper while the Lakers lob it to Baby Drew in the paint for easy finishes.

Odom's rebounding > Kukoc's shooting.

[LeHeat_Dynasty]

Mentally, they are 10x stronger than any team out there today. I think Jordan would still get his shot off, but Pippen would look more pedestrian. Their size issue with Rodman aging and using Longley and Wennington at center would hurt them against the contenders today. Perimeter players, the great ones, have learned from Jordan so they would know him as well. The respect of the whistle would go in their favor. I think they would be contenders, but they wouldn't dominate. They were designed to beat the bruising 90s that focused on defense, not running teams.

This is a great post Darrin. I wholeheartedly agree with this, specially your observation about that Bulls team being specifically built to battle the bruising and physical defense of the 90's in particular the Knicks and Pistons.


I'll chip in my 02 cents as well and say that I think the Heat's overwhelming power cast is going to be too much for the Bulls to handle. I'm not a homer or anything but even if Mike can contain Wade, I think the Bulls will simply have no answer for Lebron. I can see Jackson putting Pippen or Rodman on Lebron but I'm not sold that either can stop him.

[TheKingOfMIA6]

Bulls would still beat all those teams listed

[LeHeat_Dynasty]

Are you kidding me?
The 2011 Heat would DESTROY those Bulls ...
Lebron is wayyy better than Pippen
MJ is only slightly>Wade

Bosh shits on Rodamn or Horace ...

Joel Anthony = Longley

Mike Miller and house dominate Kerr, Paxson or Hodges ...


NOW I step away from the crack pipe...and Bulls dominate all of these teams.

Current Lakers maybe give them a battle but until Lakers win 6 in 8 years you give the edge to those Bulls ...

2001 Lakers might of been better for a season ...
80's Lakers and Celtics .. definitely in the mix Also must include:

99 Spurs
2004 Pistons
2008 Celts
Bad boy pistons all would of given them a tough test ...I also think 2nd Rox team would of been a tough out for Bulls ...


Some good points on both sides so far. I'm on the fence about the Bulls dominance as well, Do I think they are a great team capable of winning championships in this era? Absolutely. Do I think they are going to dominate these teams like they did during their dynasty years? Not a chance.


The Heat for me is just too much for those Bulls. They never faced a better and much explosive perimeter than Lebron and Wade. I'm going to cancel out Bosh because I think Rodman or Horace Grant can hold the fort just fine and win the battle down low, but I think Haslem's intagibles bring so much in the table to a point where he can actually offsets Bosh's soft mentality.


The Magic should be no problem for Chicago though. They dismantled a much better version in 96 (Penny-Shaq) with ease. Boston? Tough frontline, but Jordan's 91-93 form will have no problems attacking them. If Wade last year shredded Boston's defense, I don't see any problem with MJ doing the same with a better efficiency.


The Lakers? I'm not sure. Depends on who has HCA. Lakers are tough to beat at home. Despite of Gasol's brilliance, I think Rodman will get into his head eventually and he'll lose his composure, if the refs allows Rodman to play his game, he'll take Gasol out of his game, if they won't allow physicality, then Rodman will be sitting on the bench throughout the entire 4th quarter. Artest and Jordan matchup is going to be spectacular. Jordan is going to have his way on Artest and I believe him and Pippen can shut Kobe down with ease on the other end. The Bulls IMO are like the Celtics in 2008 but with amuch much better offensive firepower.

[Killakobe81]

Some good points on both sides so far. I'm on the fence about the Bulls dominance as well, Do I think they are a great team capable of winning championships in this era? Absolutely. Do I think they are going to dominate these teams like they did during their dynasty years? Not a chance.


The Heat for me is just too much for those Bulls. They never faced a better and much explosive perimeter than Lebron and Wade. I'm going to cancel out Bosh because I think Rodman or Horace Grant can hold the fort just fine and win the battle down low, but I think Haslem's intagibles bring so much in the table to a point where he can actually offsets Bosh's soft mentality.


The Magic should be no problem for Chicago though. They dismantled a much better version in 96 (Penny-Shaq) with ease. Boston? Tough frontline, but Jordan's 91-93 form will have no problems attacking them. If Wade last year shredded Boston's defense, I don't see any problem with MJ doing the same with a better efficiency.


The Lakers? I'm not sure. Depends on who has HCA. Lakers are tough to beat at home. Despite of Gasol's brilliance, I think Rodman will get into his head eventually and he'll lose his composure, if the refs allows Rodman to play his game, he'll take Gasol out of his game, if they won't allow physicality, then Rodman will be sitting on the bench throughout the entire 4th quarter. Artest and Jordan matchup is going to be spectacular. Jordan is going to have his way on Artest and I believe him and Pippen can shut Kobe down with ease on the other end. The Bulls IMO are like the Celtics in 2008 but with amuch much better offensive firepower.

LeHeat Im gonna give you props here. I dont think you are right ... because we have no idea how good these Heat will REALLY be.

But unlike the OTHER heat fans you actually are giving solid reasons why you feel the way you do. Unlike the Heat fans that just post crap about how they will win 6 straight years ...

[BlackSwordsMan]

lebron is half of what jordan is and no one can really stop lebron

[MR.SILVER&BLack]

Jordan still on top. lakers would lose in 5 and heat would lose in 6. the team really had no weaknesses.

[Brazil]

Are you kidding me?
The 2011 Heat would DESTROY those Bulls ...
Lebron is wayyy better than Pippen
MJ is only slightly>Wade



I stopped reading here

[Chomag]

Bulls as great as they were then would not be built right to play against top teams of today. The lakers size and versatility up front would murder theirs, same goes for Miami They would be too strong for the bulls frontline. Scottie and MJ just could not get away with just them two alone being good like they could back in the day.

[21_Blessings]

Bulls as great as they were then would not be built right to play against top teams of today. The lakers size and versatility up front would murder theirs, same goes for Miami They would be too strong for the bulls frontline. Scottie and MJ just could not get away with just them two alone being good like they could back in the day.

Your point makes sense about the Lakers size but not Miami. The Heat don't have any real size or versatility up front. Unless Lebron and Wade find a back to the basket game their offensive roles become redundant. Bosh has no interior presence and will basically become a spot up jump shooter in the predictable "let Wade or Bron drive and kick" offense.

The Bulls and Lakers were both well balanced and superb defensively. The Heat lack any true basketball balance and are completely unproven defensively.

[Venti Quattro]

Celtics lose
Magic lose
Heat lose
Lakers lose
Every other of the 30 teams lose

[TE]

Bulls would win against any team, reason being because their talent level on all fronts was all around. Pick any of the two three peat teams and pit them against these contender teams of today, and you have the Bulls winning in five to six games (against the stronger teams, Lakers & Heat). This 21_Blessings poster is probably some little kid who started watching the NBA during the Laker greatness emergence of the 2000's.

You can talk about today's Lakers as having some size, which is true to a point. But how do you think they would fare against this team? You can't rightfully predict their size would catapult this Laker team to a win, case in point these last three years. This current contending Lakers team should have, would have lost a couple of games but due to sheer basketball luck, they got past obstacles hurled at them.

In 2008, they were bullied and manhandled, partially to blame for this is Bynum's injury. But I still think the Celtics would have prevailed cause of their defense.

In 2009, they should have lost to a Rockets team who had Yao Ming, go out with a broken foot, they should have lost to a Nuggets team who were weird shit out of luck when it came down to crunchtime, and they should have played a stronger Eastern Conference opponent.

In 2010, they should have lost to a young and inexperienced Thunder team who forgot that blocking out on defensive rebounding was important, they should have lost to a Suns team who was an overtime away from beating the Lakers IN Los Angeles. Why do I say this? The Lakers had dominated all of the second half of that game only for the Suns to chip away and control the momentum leading up to the final minutes. Had Artest not done that putback, the Suns would have beaten the Lakers.

Funny how in those short paragraphs I, along with any other true avid basketball observer, and not any arrogantly ignorant Laker fan, can rightfully claim that size wasn't an issue. The ball bounced the Lakers way (as it should for teams that win championships), and without that bounce, we could be having a vastly different conclusion.

Back to the poll
Trust me kids, and trust in Jordan.



A prime Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, rest of a prime Bull's team would not lose to any of these teams of today let alone this Lakers team.


They were just too damn good, in an era that required mental toughness.

Aside from Kobe, I can confidently say the rest of the current Lakers team are not up to par with what the Bulls brought to the table.

[Darrin]

This is a great post Darrin. I wholeheartedly agree with this, specially your observation about that Bulls team being specifically built to battle the bruising and physical defense of the 90's in particular the Knicks and Pistons.


I'll chip in my 02 cents as well and say that I think the Heat's overwhelming power cast is going to be too much for the Bulls to handle. I'm not a homer or anything but even if Mike can contain Wade, I think the Bulls will simply have no answer for Lebron. I can see Jackson putting Pippen or Rodman on Lebron but I'm not sold that either can stop him.

For all his talent, can Lebron James put his team on his back and carry them to wins? I think the Heat are suspect inside and that would be where the Bulls would dominate.

Remember, they were able to beat up PJ Brown and Alonzo Mourning in 1997. Dale Davis and Antonio Davis couldn't do anything against Rodman in 1998. Can you imagine Bosh doing better against Rodman? I think mentally, Bosh wouldn't be able to handle Rodman's ferociousness, or keep him off the boards.

[Darrin]

Bulls would win against any team, reason being because their talent level on all fronts was all around. Pick any of the two three peat teams and pit them against these contender teams of today, and you have the Bulls winning in five to six games (against the stronger teams, Lakers & Heat). This 21_Blessings poster is probably some little kid who started watching the NBA during the Laker greatness emergence of the 2000's.

You can talk about today's Lakers as having some size, which is true to a point. But how do you think they would fare against this team? You can't rightfully predict their size would catapult this Laker team to a win, case in point these last three years. This current contending Lakers team should have, would have lost a couple of games but due to sheer basketball luck, they got past obstacles hurled at them.

In 2008, they were bullied and manhandled, partially to blame for this is Bynum's injury. But I still think the Celtics would have prevailed cause of their defense.

In 2009, they should have lost to a Rockets team who had Yao Ming, go out with a broken foot, they should have lost to a Nuggets team who were weird shit out of luck when it came down to crunchtime, and they should have played a stronger Eastern Conference opponent.

In 2010, they should have lost to a young and inexperienced Thunder team who forgot that blocking out on defensive rebounding was important, they should have lost to a Suns team who was an overtime away from beating the Lakers IN Los Angeles. Why do I say this? The Lakers had dominated all of the second half of that game only for the Suns to chip away and control the momentum leading up to the final minutes. Had Artest not done that putback, the Suns would have beaten the Lakers.

Funny how in those short paragraphs I, along with any other true avid basketball observer, and not any arrogantly ignorant Laker fan, can rightfully claim that size wasn't an issue. The ball bounced the Lakers way (as it should for teams that win championships), and without that bounce, we could be having a vastly different conclusion.

Back to the poll
Trust me kids, and trust in Jordan.



A prime Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, rest of a prime Bull's team would not lose to any of these teams of today let alone this Lakers team.


They were just too damn good, in an era that required mental toughness.

Aside from Kobe, I can confidently say the rest of the current Lakers team are not up to par with what the Bulls brought to the table.

The Lakers' frontline wouldn't be able to handle Rodman. They don't have someone with that kind of motor, I wholeheartedly agree. Remember the frontlines these teams beat--Horace Grant and Shaquille O'Neal. PJ Brown and Alonzo Mourning. Karl Malone and Greg Ostertag.

[JamStone]

The two best Chicago Bulls title teams were the 1995-96 Bulls and the 1991-92 Bulls, in my opinion. A little bit different from each other. I think the 1991-92 Bulls were a little better as a whole and from top to bottom, but the 1995-96 team had that 72 win record regular season and their top players after Jordan and Pippen were better with Rodman and Kukoc as opposed to Horace and BJ Armstrong as the third and fourth best players.

That 1995-96 Bulls team would still be a very good team today. And defensively, they would still be a great, great team. But Rodman would have a tougher time with some of the big, agile, and versatile PFs in today's NBA and Luc Longley would have his struggles against some of the more athletic and stronger centers on some of the good teams in today's league.

Against Boston: the Bulls would really be hurting in the front court because Boston has size and girth and length and they're dirty. Boston plays like late 80s early 90s NBA defense. They'd also have trouble containing Rondo because a broke-knee Ron Harper had the majority of the minutes at PG on that team. Kukoc could be a nice advantage off the bench but Kukoc didn't play particularly well in the playoffs that year. How much KG has declined and his ability to be at least something like a 15-18 ppg scorer and 8-9 rpg guy would be vital for the Celtics to have a chance. I think Michael Jordan's greatness would still be too much for the Boston Celtics, even if they were completely healthy.

Against the Miami Heat: I think it would be a really great match-up. The two teams are similarly built but we really don't know what to expect from this Miami team yet since we've yet to see them play together. I think LeBron/Wade would hold their own and perhaps even out-play (1996 playoffs) Jordan/Pippen in some games. The supporting cast would be key. Without yet knowing how the current Heat team will mesh and how their role players will fit in, I'd give the edge to the Bulls. But LeBron and Wade both in their prime and with their explosive athleticism and potent scoring, I think they'd give the Bulls fits. Rodman was a great individual defender and Longley is big but as great as that 1996 Bulls team was, they didn't have an intimidator in the paint. Dennis wasn't a great shot-blocker. Longley wasn't athletic. Pippen and Jordan and Harper can do only so much keeping Wade and LeBron from constantly attacking the basket. I give the edge to the 1996 Bulls, but it would be interesting.

Against the Lakers: I think the Bulls would have the most problems because of the size and length and talent of the Lakers front court. None of the Bulls teams faced a front court with not only that much size but with that much depth of talent. And when they did play teams with a good front court player, it would only be one player in the front court, like Shaq or Ewing. That 1996 Magic team had a beast in Shaq, but they didn't have much depth after Shaq. Horace Grant didn't really strike the fear on anyone on the Bulls, especially since they knew his game well. And the Magic back-up bigs were guys like Joe Wolf and Jon Koncak and combo forward Donald Royal, who was really a small forward. The Bulls would have to contend with Gasol, Bynum, and Odom. All starting caliber players. Each capable of scoring 20+ points in any given game. Each capable of pulling down 15+ rebounds in a game. The Bulls had Rodman, Longley, Kukoc, and Bill Wennington. I think the Lakers front court is far superior to the Bulls front court. Jordan is much better than Kobe. And especially at this point in Artest's career, while he's still a very good defender, he's wildly erratic and inconsistent on offense so Pippen would have an edge in actual production. If Artest defends Jordan, he'd make things more difficult but Jordan is still going to be dropping 30 on Artest with ease. Jordan would be the best player on the court but I think the front court makes a huge difference. I don't think Rodman contains Gasol. And I think Odom would be a really tough match-up for Kukoc because Odom has similar size and length, plus he's quick and athletic. Despite the Lakers superior front court, with respect to Jordan's greatness, I'll call it a toss-up. But with 72 wins, the Bulls would have game 7 home court so I'd give a tiny edge to them. It would be extremely tough though.

[Cane]

Bulls, especially in their prime, would be the favorites and would abuse the Lakers and all the teams today although its pretty stupid to think of this shit since Phil Jackson would be coaching against...Phil Jackson. Thats some paradox bullshit right there. Although I do think the Bulls Phil Jackson would've been able to abuse the likes of Gasol and Kobe (especially mentally) with his Bulls roster. Not only did they have MJ and Pippen but throughout the dynasty years they had key roleplayers that formed the most legendary teams of all time. Their dominance was incredible both statistically and from an intangibles standpoint imo:




http://a.imageshack.us/img69/3749/bullss.jpg
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2010/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=Finalists1-10)
http://a.imageshack.us/img683/7440/bulls2q.jpg
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2010/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=Finalists1-10)
http://a.imageshack.us/img440/8517/bulls3.jpg
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2010/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=Finalists1-10)


:worthy: :worthy:

[Phenomanul]

Why do people consistently undervalue Pippen's game? The dude could beast it up against anyone...

[Booharv]

I'm currently watching those 95-96 Bulls games via a ton of games I downloaded from a great NBA torrent site that has literally like thousands of old games. The first thing that stands out about those Bulls teams is their fitness level. It's unbelievable. That team was all over the court literally every game. The constant movement is freakish compared to today's game. Harper is way more athletic than I remembered, and could stay in front of point guards very well. I really was surprised by his foot speed. His dropoff in stats is remarkable if you look at his career chart, but it appears to be mostly from changing roles. He literally went from a 20 ppg scorer to a Bowen/Michael Cooper role as soon as he arrived on the team. It doesn't really appear he lost a ton of foot speed though. Rodman is more athletic than I remembered and the speed with which he worked to get the ball inbounded on made shots is impressive, he literally sprinted to inbound the ball. He also was a very good outlet passer who every game threw a few Quarterback like passes down the court. And he always was a great outlet passer from rebounds. His quickness in defensive rotations also stands out. That and his frantic inbounding/ouleting factored into this teams relentlessness. I mean that team runs a ton.

Pippen is also an intense athletic freak, I've uploaded some clips to youtube on him from just the first three games I watched:

V0ff3ldeow8

tsueEjLv5eo

He make plays all over the court every game. What Bill Simmons said in his book is dead on:


"Of anyone I’ve ever seen in person, Pippen was the best defender. We always hear how Bird and Magic played “free safety,” a nice way of saying that they always guarded the other team’s weakest offensive player, then used that advantage to roam around, sneak behind low-post guys and jump passing lanes. Extending that analogy, Scottie was a strong safety out of the Ronnie Lott mold, a consistently destructive presence who became nearly as enjoyable to watch defensively as Jordan was offensively. Nobody covered more ground or moved faster from point A to point B. It was like watching a cheetah in a wildlife special—one second Scottie would be minding his own business, the next second he would be pouncing. Everyone remembers Kerr’s jumper to win the ’97 Finals, but nobody remembers Pippen tipping Utah’s ensuing in-bounds pass, then chasing it down and flipping it to Toni Kukoc to clinch the game. No other player
except for Jordan, LeBron and maybe Kobe had the physical gifts and instincts to make that play."

One thing that's worth mentioning is that Kukoc, when Rodman was out (which was frequently--he missed like 20 games a season in that three-peat) played as a stretch four and was great at it. He could hit the three, make plays for others and rebound decently. He also played 15 mpg as a stretch four when Rodman sat almost every game. Really if you look at old tapes, the stretch four everyone is jerking off about now, was already in evidence with Horry on the Rockets teams after they traded Thorpe and those Bulls teams 15 years ago. Also, Randy Brown was a very athletic and solid defender as a backup, who had very good foot speed and athleticism (as pictured in the above youtube video). His offense was mediocre but he really was a defensive pest. So far, I've been very impressed with them even if the competition is at times mediocre.

[Darrin]

Why do people consistently undervalue Pippen's game? The dude could beast it up against anyone...

He was killer, but he feasted on people assuming certain things because of his size. That wouldn't happen today. 2-guards are 6-8, 6-9. The shitty ones are that big.

[Booharv]

Here's some more Simmons Scottie love:


"Only Jordan was a better all-around player in the nineties … and that was debatable.1 From ’91 to ’95, Pippen averaged a 20–8–6 with 2.4 steals, shot 50 percent and doubled as the league’s top defensive player. In the playoffs from ’91 to ’98, he averaged 17–23 points, 7–9 boards and 4–7 assists every spring and consistently defended the other team’s best scorer. During MJ’s “sabbatical,” Scottie (20.8 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 5.6 APG, 49% FG) dragged the Bulls to within one fecally pungent call of the Eastern Finals 2 and should have been our ’94 MVP runner-up behind Hakeem. The following year, he became one of four postmerger players (along with Cowens in ’78, Kevin Garnett in ’03, and LeBron in ’09) to lead his team in total points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks in the same season. And he redefined the “point forward” concept during the nineties, allowing the Bulls to play any combination of guards without suffering in the ballhandling/defense departments. 3 Chuck Daly created a great term to describe Scottie: a “fill in the blanks” guy. If a teammate was getting killed defensively, Scottie had his back. If you needed rebounding, Scottie went down low and grabbed some boards. If you needed scoring, Scottie could create a shot or attack the rim. If you needed a turnover, Scottie had a better chance of getting it than anyone. If you needed ballhandling, he could do it. And if you needed to shut someone down, he did it. Like the Wolf in Pulp Fiction, Scottie specialized in cleaning up everyone else’s mess. When Magic was running amok in the ’91 Finals, Scottie put the clamps on him. When the Knicks were shoving an MJ-less Chicago team around in the ’94 playoffs, Scottie dunked on Ewing and stood over him defiantly. During the Charles Smith game the year before, Pippen and Horace Grant were the ones stuffing Smith and saving the series. When the ’98 Pacers nearly snuffed out the MJ era, Jordan and Pippen crashed the boards in Game 7 and willed themselves to the line again and again, two smaller guys dominating the paint against a bigger team. They just wanted it more."

Here's some more on Pippen from Simmons book including some Chuck Daly love:


"During the Dream Team practices, Daly called Scottie his second-best player and told David Halberstam, “You never really know how good a player is until you coach him, but Pippen was a great surprise in Barcelona—the confidence with which he played and the absolutely complete nature of his game, both on offense and defense. No one else really expected it.” According to Halberstam, MJ returned to Chicago after the Olympics and told Phil Jackson, “Scottie came in as just one of the other players, and none of the others knew how good he was, but then he kept playing, and by the end of the week it was clear that he was the top guard there—over Clyde and Magic and Stockton. It was great for people to see him in that setting and see how good he really was.” For those of you scoring at home, that’s sixteen combined rings paying homage."

[JamStone]

Check Toni Kukoc's three point shooting in the 1996 playoffs.

He shot the ball great in the regular season and then crapped the bed in the playoffs as that stretch four. Fortunately for that Bulls team, it wasn't something that would stop them from winning a title.

For as great a defender as Pippen was, imagine his 215 pound frame checking LeBron who is the same height, has as much or more athleticism, quickness, and agility, and has about 40 pounds of pure muscle on him. In today's NBA, Pippen would still be a great player but there are a lot of wing players who have similar size and athleticism to do a similar job as to what he did defensively (not both defensively and offensively, but at least defensively).

[Kai]

Awesome poll, I voted for everything.

[HarlemHeat37]

I hate these comparisons, because the league is always changing..building a team in the 90s required a different strategy than building a team in 2010, so I don't know how you can fully compare teams of different eras..

The Lakers started the collusion era, or we can just call it the "salary dump" era, where more bad teams than ever would move good players on their teams so that they can make money when the franchise needed it..the economy is obviously different in this era..you can't compare under these circumstances, when such moves were unheard of(they happened once in a while, but not even close to as frequently as we've seen them since the Gasol collusion)..


As for the 2010 Lakers, Blessings is really overrating them, as usual..they struggled to beat Boston, and it took them 2 buzzer-beaters in 6-game series' vs. OKC and Phoenix, 2 playoff teams that don't really stand out..they obviously deserved the title, but they weren't even close to being a dominant team by any means..their 3-point shooting and spacing was abysmal, and Kobe struggled against the only good defensive teams he went up against..