Originally posted by leonidas
i agree with the former. i'm not completely sold on the latter. that team wasn't significantly better or different from many of the others -- they DID seem to be clicking on all cylinders all the time though, so you may be right. it's possible in THAT given year no one would have stopped them. destiny anyone? 🙂
That 1996 team had just so much going for them. And yes, whether on all cylinders or not, they fit a championship team picture like a nicely glued puzzle. There have been other great teams-no doubt. But, I'll run down a synapsis of what it'd look like with this year's Spurs against the 1996 Bulls.
I think we all know what MJ can do defensively and offensively. There is no one to this day that I've seen slow him down other than Joe Dumars, BECAUSE Joey made MJ guard him on the offensive end also. That was the secret. He refused to accept being gaurded. ..had a ticker like MJ, just not the tools. Few are born with that heart. Also, I don't care who else is brought up, Bowen, Manu or whomever-would not be able to stop Michael. First, you have to overcome that it's already the greatest player ever with the ball in front of you. Once you get past the mystique, you'd have to deal with the embarassment of picking up your jockstrap everytime you saw a picture flash, because you just became his next victim in some 10 year old's bedroom poster. Believe me, Bowen would crap his pants having to guard Mikey from the top suddenly seeing every other Bull spread out 15+ feet. Tim, you back there? Given the benefit of the doubt, let's say that MJ is maybe reduced to 28 points a game instead of 40. The problem is he is also defending your best scoring guard. This does not wash out favorably for an oppenent. I'd like to see Parker going against MJ one on one. All those easy baskets and layups would either have to suddenly become assists or turnovers, they do not become points. If he gets off MJ from a pick, he's got Pip lurking and Rodman just walling up in front of him. End result: It becomes a difficult assist or shot.
Now we have Pippen-again, a nightmare for any small forward to account for at either end. End result-you lose. He'd probably be put on Manu. Manu is giving inches and arm span. Not a fun matchup for him. Even if you slow him down on the offensive end, he has taken away more from you on the defensive end.
Rodman-afraid of no one, and pound for pound, inch for inch the greatest rebounder to play the game. He wouldn't chip in a point, but your power forward will have to work ALLLLLL day to keep him off both ends of the glass. He was nasty, tenacious, and a psychological nightmare. IF TD couldn't keep a ref out of his head, how is going to keep Rodman out of it? Give Duncan the edge, but TD would be exhausted every night. The bottom line is his O doesn't compensate for the lost O of Manu and TP.
Paxson-boring, but incredibly efficient and productive. It becomes very easy to do what you need to do with the other 3 above. A lethal 3 point gunner when he needed to be; and if you were "out there" on him, you just created MORE spacing for MJ and Pip to operate; and Rodman to snare to a board. Choose your poison. Lesser PG's could have stepped in nicely and the team would not have skipped a beat. But Pax was a nice piece....didn't need to be a star and knew it. That was the key. He just had to contribute when asked.
Center-serviceable, but nothing special. Did it matter, anyway? If YOU HAD A GOOD ONE, the Bulls had 18 fouls to give to bludgeon the crap out of your guy. Ask Lambeer, Shaq, and Ewing what it was like. They'll tell ya'.
6th man? Kukoc-he'd give up 20, but could easily score 21 if he needed to.
Bench? The Bulls always had such an underrated bench-specialists everywhere you look-energy man, 3 point shooter, instant O man, another decent defender, another 12 fouls, blah, blah, blah, you get the picture.
1996 Bulls in 6 over this year's Spurs, IMO. 😉