FINALS DEBATE: Bulls have 8 titles if Jordan didn't retire (or get suspended...)

[Venti Quattro]

I think this is one of the biggest NBA fallacies.

[baseline bum]

Yeah, that shit's false. No way they get through the 95 Rockets.

[benefactor]

Yeah, that shit's false. No way they get through the 95 Rockets.
Dream would have waded into uncharted waters of destruction on them.

[baseline bum]

Dream would have waded into uncharted waters of destruction on them.

Especially with Horace Grant in Orlando and Rodman in San Antonio. 95 Rockets in 6 over the 95 Bulls with Jordan having a full season.

[Clipper Nation]

Rockets would have beaten the Bulls once, maybe even both times, tbh.....

[mercos]

No way. Maybe the Bulls could have won 4 in a row, at most 5. With the playoffs as long as they are now, I don't think anyone has the mental or physical stamina to run off 8 titles in a row.

[LkrFan]

I believe he didn't have Rodman yet. No Horace. They would have gotten a Rocket beatdown tbh.

[Killakobe81]

Yeah, that shit's false. No way they get through the 95 Rockets.

I agree and MJ despite being the GOAT ...was running on "E" ...
he needed the time away ...maybe they 4 one of the 3peats... but no way they win 8 straight.

[TDMVPDPOY]

rockets was a 1 man team

allow hakeem get his and force the shit **** kenny smith and the shooters to beat jordan and co...

[lefty]

During the 1991-1992 and 1992-1993 seasons, the Bulls got their asses handed to them by the Rockets

They just didnt matchup well with them :lol

- Maxwell, for some reason, always played well vs Jordan

- Horry, before becoming a PF, matched up well vs Scottie

- The Rockets PG's, while not HOFers, were still better than Chicago's

- At the PF spot, Thorpe matched up well vs Grant

- Center position ? Well ....... :lol

[DeadlyDynasty]

They would've beaten the 94 Rockets...95--hard to see it.

[baseline bum]

They would've beaten the 94 Rockets...95--hard to see it.

Agreed. The 94 Rockets were one of the weakest title teams ever, but Drexler really took them to a new level while Horry did a great job filling a lot of Otis Thorpe's minutes.

[AchillesHeel]

I think they win all 8 with MJ, Pippen played some serious ball while MJ was out, they still almost made the Finals without Michael and Michael the GOAT in his prime can't lead that team to more titles? lol they swept 96 Magic with MJ


but it's all hypothetical, MJ could tear his achilles during that time period or blow out his knee or decline faster with more mileage, I say if 96-98 titles are already a lock they could have easily beaten those Rocket teams from 94-95.

[HarlemHeat37]

It's extremely rare for a team to have enough gas for 4 straight Finals appearances, let alone winning one and subsequently winning more, tbh..

The 90s era of basketball was watered down and terrible, though, so it's possible..

[dg7md]

I honestly think so. There's a reason that the two years that the Rockets won the title were the years Jordan was missing.

[Phillip]

yeah honestly they probably don't win in either of the years that he was gone, not just because of the Rockets, but Orlando as well. Shaq/Penny would have (or was, since they lost to them in the playoffs even with MJ) been brutal to combat without Rodman.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

I think they win it in 1994 without getting tested too much. They won 55 games and played a close 7 game series against the Knicks w/o Jordan that year. Still had a quality big man who could carry the rebounding load in Horace Grant and they added Kukoc. As mentioned already, the 94 Rockets were a weak championship team that the 1994 Bulls w/ Jordan would have beaten. Does anyone really think MJ wouldn't have made enough of a difference to win the Eastern Conference and beat a team that got taken to 7 games by the Knicks team that almost lost to the Bulls w/o Jordan?

I think it's pretty much consensus that the 95 Bulls weren't gonna get by Orlando and Houston with Jordan and Pippen as their two leading rebounders. You can go into hypotheticals about whether or not Horace Grant leaves if MJ is still there but there are too many unknown factors to definitively assume they probably would have won it all.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

yeah honestly they probably don't win in either of the years that he was gone, not just because of the Rockets, but Orlando as well. Shaq/Penny would have (or was, since they lost to them in the playoffs even with MJ) been brutal to combat without Rodman.

In '94 the Magic got swept in the first round. Penny was a rookie and Shaq was in his 2nd year, there's no way that team was getting by the '94 Bulls with Jordan. They still had Horace Grant and old ass Bill Cartwright which would have been enough to prevent Shaq from completely dominating.

I think it's hard to say that at the very least the 94 Bulls don't steamroll the eastern conference. You can argue they'd lose in the finals to Houston because of how good Olajuwon was, but imo it's hard to say a team like NY/Orlando/Indiana was getting by the '94 Bulls w/ Jordan.

[AchillesHeel]

yeah honestly they probably don't win in either of the years that he was gone, not just because of the Rockets, but Orlando as well. Shaq/Penny would have (or was, since they lost to them in the playoffs even with MJ) been brutal to combat without Rodman.

Brutal? Magic beat the Bulls in 6 games, and that was without MJ. Rodman obviously was a great piece for the Bulls but let's not act like anyone on Orlando could check prime MJ. Bulls were a battle tested team having already won 3 in a row and going against a young Shaq and Penny would have been enough?

[Riddler]

Brutal? Magic beat the Bulls in 6 games, and that was without MJ. Rodman obviously was a great piece for the Bulls but let's not act like anyone on Orlando could check prime MJ. Bulls were a battle tested team having already won 3 in a row and going against a young Shaq and Penny would have been enough?

Magic beat the Bulls WITH MJ you simple fuck.

[AchillesHeel]

Magic beat the Bulls WITH MJ you simple fuck.

MJ came off retirement you dumb fuck

[Riddler]

Magic beat the Bulls in 6 games, and that was without MJ.


Magic beat the Bulls WITH MJ you simple fuck.


MJ came off retirement you dumb fuck

So you admit he played? Gotcha.

[AchillesHeel]

So you admit he played? Gotcha.

I admit my stupidity in that regard, but still I think they would have won in 94 and 95 if MJ never retired.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

I know someone is gonna turn this into a strawman, but this site overrates the hell out of the 95 Rockets. They were down 3-1 vs. the Suns and won the series because Barkley's fatass and Majerle's drunk ass started playing 36 holes of golf and getting drunk the day before games after taking a 3-1 lead. No, that's not me being butthurt as I'm not even old enough to remember the series, it's just the truth.

Probably lose to the Spurs to if Robinson was focused on winning instead of shoving his beliefs down Rodman's throat, but that's a different issue, tbh.

It's not like they have a tainted championship, they were the best team that year, but they weren't the unstoppable force people make them out to be.

[Riddler]

I know someone is gonna turn this into a strawman, but this site overrates the hell out of the 95 Rockets. They were down 3-1 vs. the Suns and won the series because Barkley's fatass and Majerle's drunk ass started playing 36 holes of golf and getting drunk the day before games after taking a 3-1 lead. No, that's not me being butthurt as I'm not even old enough to remember the series, it's just the truth.

Probably lose to the Spurs to if Robinson was focused on winning instead of shoving his beliefs down Rodman's throat, but that's a different issue, tbh.
Nah. Hakeem took that series personal when Robinson was awarded MVP in his face. Nothing Robinson could have done, Hakeem wasn't losing.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Nah. Hakeem took that series personal when Robinson was awarded MVP in his face. Nothing Robinson could have done, Hakeem wasn't losing.

I don't disagree but Robinson sure didn't help himself by chasing the 2nd best player on his team around with a bible :lol

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

I voted no. Even if they overcome the matchup issues everyone's pointing out in 95, I don't buy that anyone, even Jordan, had the drive to keep from getting complacent at some point along the way before hitting 8. Hell, even if MJ stays on top of his game that entire time (and Pippen and Jackson did as well, which is even less likely) that's another two years that Krause has to find the right role players to round out the roster, something that gets tougher and tougher to do as time goes on. And last that's such a long ass time that given 8 straight years to work on the problem I have to believe that someone like Riley could set in motion a long term plan to figure out and assemble the exact team it would take to beat them.

[Phillip]

In '94 the Magic got swept in the first round. Penny was a rookie and Shaq was in his 2nd year, there's no way that team was getting by the '94 Bulls with Jordan. They still had Horace Grant and old ass Bill Cartwright which would have been enough to prevent Shaq from completely dominating.

I think it's hard to say that at the very least the 94 Bulls don't steamroll the eastern conference. You can argue they'd lose in the finals to Houston because of how good Olajuwon was, but imo it's hard to say a team like NY/Orlando/Indiana was getting by the '94 Bulls w/ Jordan.

I don't think they win in 94 simply due to lack of focus/it was due for them to be beaten. They just won 3 straight, and by the 3rd, they didn't seem quite as focused that season as they were previously, or perhaps just not as good in general. But hard to say. They still had the squad to pull it off though.

But even with MJ playing for a full season, I don't think they beat Orlando in 95. I'm very confident they simply would not have won in 95, regardless of circumstances with MJ. I don't think their team was good enough.

[StrengthAndHonor]

I'll give that Bulls their 4th straight title. Jordan in his prime was on another level. Imagine Lebron with out the choke factor. He just came off one of the best Finals performance of his career, hard to imagine he'll suddenly lose that edge the following year.94 Rockets was also one of the weakest championship team in recent history. Jordan would have a field day against Houstons perimeter D.

[Double-Up]

I'll give that Bulls their 4th straight title. Jordan in his prime was on another level. Imagine Lebron with out the choke factor. He just came off one of the best Finals performance of his career, hard to imagine he'll suddenly lose that edge the following year.94 Rockets was also one of the weakest championship team in recent history. Jordan would have a field day against Houstons perimeter D.

Vernon Maxwell was on his ass back in the day, yea he got his but he had to work for it every single possession. He wasn't called Mad Max for nothing...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKuCjlcYcVE

[baseline bum]

In '94 the Magic got swept in the first round. Penny was a rookie and Shaq was in his 2nd year, there's no way that team was getting by the '94 Bulls with Jordan. They still had Horace Grant and old ass Bill Cartwright which would have been enough to prevent Shaq from completely dominating.

I think it's hard to say that at the very least the 94 Bulls don't steamroll the eastern conference. You can argue they'd lose in the finals to Houston because of how good Olajuwon was, but imo it's hard to say a team like NY/Orlando/Indiana was getting by the '94 Bulls w/ Jordan.

Oh shit, I didn't remember that Grant was still there in 94. I thought he went to Orlando because he hated Jordan (I remember Michael fighting him in a practice one time), but yeah... no way the 94 Rockets get through a 94 Bulls team with Jordan. I do think the 95 Rockets would have beat Jordan's ass good though, even without Grant defecting to Orlando.

[baseline bum]

I don't disagree but Robinson sure didn't help himself by chasing the 2nd best player on his team around with a bible :lol

That shit wasn't cool when Hakeem chased him around with a Koran those 6 games.

[Killakobe81]

This ...8 titles is pretty damn impossible ...
MJ could not of stayed THAT hungry and Like Exile said I sure as hell doubt his team-mates could have ...

[lefty]

This ...8 titles is pretty damn impossible ...
MJ could not of stayed THAT hungry and Like Exile said I sure as hell doubt his team-mates could have ...
Not to mention he was already burned out after the 92 Olympics

Dude had to take a break at Atlantic City during the 93 ECF