Who is the best team of all time?

[Im Still Ballin]

86 Celtics?

96 Bulls?

16 Warriors?

85 Lakers?

72 Lakers?

87 Lakers?

92 Bulls?

[LAZERUSS]

'72 Lakers.

Had far superior records against every team in the league. As an example...counting the playoffs, they went 8-3 against the defending champion and 63-19 Bucks.

They had those W-L records against every team in the league.

[SpaceJam]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWYReltxHio

[Im Still Ballin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWYReltxHio
:lol

[SpaceJam]

:lol

I love how Drake says 'our team' about Miami but now dudes a sudden hardcore Raps fan? :roll:

[Im Still Ballin]

I love how Drake says 'our team' about Miami but now dudes a sudden hardcore Raps fan? :roll:
Such a frontrunning bandwagoner

Miami all good though

They are stacked with cool fans

like DJ khaled and rick ross

[StephHamann]

I love how Drake says 'our team' about Miami but now dudes a sudden hardcore Raps fan? :roll:

Drake is like the prototype millenial, what a *******

[Showtime80']

In my opinion, you need to divide eras because after the early 1990's you would be lucky if you could assemble even 3 all star caliber players on your team when in the 1980's and before teams had 4 to 6 all-star level players in their rosters, just compare the rosters of title winning teams of the 80's to those of the 90's and beyond, it's no contest. Even now after the best 2 or 3 players on teams there is a drastic fall off in quality.

But as it stands in my opinion :

86 Celtics, the "unfair team" as some people used to call them. Followed closely by the 1987 Lakers. Those two teams could play ANY STYLE and under ANY RULES and still be dominant!

The modern day Warriors are a nice little team but inferior to those great 80's squads. They play in the perfect league with the perfect set of rules for their style of play. Would not translate well into more physical eras with deeper teams, smarter players and in some years NO 3 POINT LINE.

[kshutts1]

'72 Lakers.

Had far superior records against every team in the league. As an example...counting the playoffs, they went 8-3 against the defending champion and 63-19 Bucks.

They had those W-L records against every team in the league.
Really depends on how you look at it.

If you want the team that did the best relative to their league, I'd say the 96 Bulls. They had a 12 game league on the second best record in the league.

If you want a team that would win a tournament, assuming they're all playing in one, that's likely a totally different answer.

Edit: Didn't mean to quote Laz here, not that it really matters. I had another response ready, quoted him, then changed my response mid-way through cuz it was stupid.

[Im Still Ballin]

In my opinion, you need to divide eras because after the early 1990's you would be lucky if you could assemble even 3 all star caliber players on your team when in the 1980's and before teams had 4 to 6 all-star level players in their rosters, just compare the rosters of title winning teams of the 80's to those of the 90's and beyond, it's no contest. Even now after the best 2 or 3 players on teams there is a drastic fall off in quality.

But as it stands in my opinion :

86 Celtics, the "unfair team" as some people used to call them. Followed closely by the 1987 Lakers. Those two teams could play ANY STYLE and under ANY RULES and still be dominant!

The modern day Warriors are a nice little team but inferior to those great 80's squads. They play in the perfect league with the perfect set of rules for their style of play. Would not translate well into more physical eras with deeper teams, smarter players and in some years NO 3 POINT LINE.
Couldn't you say the same thing about the 80's and the Lakers? The Illegal defense rules addition in 1981 opened up lanes and increased scoring.

[QUOTE]The new wave of coaches made defenses sophisticated enough by [B][COLOR="Red"]1981 that the league created an

[Showtime80']

That's the conundrum with the 96' Bulls, they weren't even the best team they had in the 90's, but they absolutely OBLITERATED the league in 1996!

A lot of that definitely had to due the overexpansion the league made from 89 to 95 adding 6 teams, the league getting younger and rawer with fundamentals decaying at an alarming rate and the fact that the 90's new school like Shaq, Penny, Mourning, Hill, Kemp, Payton, Webber, Kidd, Iverson, Garnett, LJ, Mutombo, Coleman etc... who were supposed to present a challenge to the old guard basically switched turns getting RAPPED by the 80's players!

Like the above posters said, in an all time tournament, the 1991 Bulls probably get farther along than the post 1996 incarnations but who knows

[Prime_Shaq]

1986 Celtics

[Showtime80']

I'm still ballin, you still had hand checking on the perimeter with no flagrant fouls and rarely any double teams beyond the painted area so any drives to the basket would see a collapse of bodies in the paint. Go watch Jordan highlights from the 1980's where basically on EVERY DRIVE towards the basket he's dragging, slicing and jumping over 2 to 3 bodies in the paint to score his points. You RARELY see that today with small players basically having a red carpet under them on their way to basket and plus they know nobody can come in and knock their HEAD'S OFF which plays a role psychologically!

But just for sh!ts and giggles, the Lakers and Celtics STILL won the title in 1980 and 1981 before the rule change with 60+ wins and with the worst lineups they would have for the entire decade! Put college zone defense in 1982 and those teams STILL SHRED IT!!!

[Sarcastic]

Shouldn't you have to win a title to be considered? One team is not like the others on that list.

[Showtime80']

And nice selective stat from 1979!

The league was already headed for an upswing in they early 80's after the dreadful mid 70's when league ppg PLUMMETED. 1980 and 1981 had offensive ratings of 105 and 106!

[Im Still Ballin]

1978-79
Clarification added to prohibit hand-checking through “rigid enforcement” of rule allowing a defensive player to retain contact with his opponent so long as he does not impede his opponent’s progress.

Published: March 28, 1993
The increase of flagrant fouls and violence between players in today's National Basketball Association is a direct result of the elimination of the defensive hand check from games. Physical contact has always been a part of modern professional basketball. But when the N.B.A. abolished a defensive player's ability to use the hand check as a way of slowing down the offensive player he was guarding, players began finding new ways to keep their opponents from going to the hoop. As a result, the hip check has replaced the hand check, as frustrated players try to limit their opponents' scoring chances.

It is time for the N.B.A. to reinstate the use of the hand-check.

...

[Showtime80']

And yet the perimeter superstars of the 70's in Dr J, George Gervin and David Thompson had NO TROUBLE DOMINATING during that time period and yet still got their clocks CLEANED by Bird and Magic even with MORE freedom for their styles of play! LOL

And notice that you could STILL put your hands on offensive players after that, thus there was still hand checking you just couldn't impede the offensive players progress like in hockey for example. And there was still the matter of the HARD PHYSICAL FOULS in the paint where NO FLAGRANT FOUL rules existed! The article says, "the game got violent".

The league put the flagrant foul rule in 1991 eliminated hand checking all together in the mid 90's and it has been a consistently worst softening of the sport ever since!

Players like Jordan, Magic and Larry would burst a blood vessel for a chance to play in today's soft, fundamentally eroded jump shooting league where EVERY rule is catered to perimeter players!

[Helix]

In 54 years of following the NBA I've seen two teams I consider the best.....the '86 Celtics and the '67 Sixers. Both had monster front lines and very good guards. Following a little behind those two would be the '72 Lakers. Some other top tier teams would be a couple of the Showtime Laker teams of the '80's, the '71 Bucks, the '83 Sixers, and a couple of the '90's Bulls teams. No doubt a couple two or three others I'm forgetting at the moment.

[feyki]

67 Sixers with Goat peaking and awesome team around him . Billy Cunningham was coming off the bench , that was really luxury .

[CuterThanRubio]

2016 Warriors and Spurs

[Sarcastic]

Warriors didn't even win a title yet.

It'll be hilarious when neither SA nor GS wins it this year.

[Lebron23]

Warriors didn't even win a title yet.

It'll be hilarious when neither SA nor GS wins it this year.


http://redsarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Kevin-Love.jpg

[Round Mound]

86 Celtics

[Lebron23]

1987 Lakers

Born also in the same year.

[raprap]

16 warriors if they win it all.