Bulls sweep. MJ would put Wade in a wheel chair by game 2 tbh
Rodman can guard Lebron in a few stretch, sure, but what does that do for the Bulls rebounding?
Even if Kemp is built similarly to Lebron and has the other attributes you mentioned above, this doesn't render the fact that Lebron plays a different game. Rodman would be worn out after the first half considering Lebron is a ball handler. Rodman is a bad match up.
Phil will take his chances and use Pippen all day.
my bron is capable of playing both PF and SF, and he always poses a con uous matchup advantage over his opponents wherever he plays imho
I respect your hoops a en (outside of the overreliance on stats) but that is EXACTLY why I doubt Rodman (Bulls era) could guard Lebron.
The only reason this matters to me because I still played a lot of hops was not a great scorer so I studied Coop, Dumars, DJ, Bobby Jones, TR Dunn, Moncrief and Pistons Rodamn etc. (Later on Bowen, Battier, KG) I watched their footwork, the way they shaded players to their off hands etc. Rodman didnt do AS MUCH of that anymore ...dont get me wrong ...still very good especially with his hands and using leverage but that point he was a post defender and had no shot at Lebron ...doubt he could even defend a healthy wade but I think he woud have a better shot ...
MJ would absolutely obliterate Wade to the point of driving him to tears by mid-series. Then its just about beating Lebron and the most formidable defense in NBA history would probably easily do it
So when we beat the Heat this year i guess this years Spurs would beat both
wade ain't that bad and he would do a decent job guarding MJ at SG imho. we would try our best to speed up the match and to tire out those 97 TOSB bulls. not saying we're bound to beat them 97 bulls but it ain't easy for them to beat us either, would be a toss-up imho.
Pippen is a great defensive player, but I felt he wasn't strong enough to guard Lebron, also, by putting him on a weaker player, he could wreck havoc in the passing lane.
I watched Rodman a lot when he was a Spur, and he was total garbage at that point because his mind wasn't in it. In fact, his mind was only in it when he was playing for Daly or Jackson, the only two coaches who actually spent time understanding him and accepting him. When he was with the Bulls, he played a huge amount of low post defense because that's what the Bulls needed, Pippen and Jordan were more than enough to cover the perimeter defense, and to be fair, there wasn't anyone like Lebron playing back in the day with that combination of speed and power.
Rodman may lack in speed (slightly), but Pippen lacks in the bulk to stop Lebron in the post. If Miami is smart, an attack with Bosh in the high post, Wade slashing, Lebron in the low post, and Allen spotting up on the perimeter would be a fairly tough offense to stop, and is a good counter to the Bulls strength, which is perimeter defense. Create an offense from inside out (using Lebron, very much like how the Lakers used Magic in the late 80s), in order to draw the Bulls perimeter defenders in. In the post, speed will not be as important, and a guy like Rodman would be able to contain Lebron without using extensive double teams.
If Lebron plays on the perimeter, I still believe Rodman has some of the quickness and defensive basics to handle Lebron, him not demonstrating that side of his defense on the Bulls was more due to need than him not having it (I think).
Not a chance tbh. Heat vs Spurs is looking more like it this year though. I'd say Heat in 5.
MJ would dominate the out of Wade tbh.
In this case I'd bet Phil rolls the dice and puts the quicker player in front of Lebron and allows help defense to react. Pippen guarded Anthony Mason and Charles Smith in the post before and this was his skinnier days, he bulked up better in the second 3 peat run, so Pippen is no stranger in physical imposing players.
Lebrons first step is ridiculous. This is a guy who guarded Rose and was pretty succesful. His footwork is insane, Rodman wouldn't stand a xhance. At least length bothers Lebron a bit more as shown by Tayshaun Prince during the Cavs-Pistons series, granted he didn't stop James but he did well than most defenders and Pippen was 3x the defender Tayshaun was.
I admit I am hanging on the Daly version of Rodman, so my biases are here, but I am not convinced Rodman lack the necessary speed to guard Lebron. Rodman guarded Magic, Jordan, Drexler, and who bunch of ultra-quick Gs in his days.
Lebron is almost certainly faster and quicker than Rodman, but Rodman still has enough speed to stick with him at least decently. But in the end, it's not going to make a whole lot of difference, because Lebron is just so damn good
1997 Eastern Conference actually had good teams that the Bulls had to play through. In their division, there were 5 teams over .500. In the Atlantic Division there were another four teams. The Bulls played a Washington team that had a winning record. they then beat great teams in the Hawks and the Heat. The Bulls won 69 games against a good conference, in this years Eastern Conference thwy would have won 75 games. The second best team in the East is New York and this NY team would have been destoryed by the 1997 Knicks. the 1997 Heat might have been able to beat this Heat team. The Chill in his last season would have figured it out and shut him down.
Played with today's rules or 97's rules?
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