Why did the Bull

[Vino24]

Can anyone explain it?

[brutalBBQ]

They got more steals and blocks in 92/93 with Jordan compared to 93/94 and only 118 more defensive rebounds in the regular season without Jordan.

[3ball]

Why did the Bulls improve defensively the first time


The Bulls ranked 7th, 4th, and 7th from 91-93', and 6th in 1994

So basically no improvement at all

And the entire league improved in DRtg in 94', so the Bulls didn't improve relative to the league (hence their ranking remaining the same)

Since their defensive ranking remained the same, the massive decline from 3-peat dynasty to 2nd Round team was due entirely to the absence of MJ's goat offense, which caused their ORtg to crater from #1 all-time (during the 3-peat) to 14th in the league in 1994.





Mj retired


teams have a limited amount of energy to expend on both ends - shifts in performance/effort on one side normally take away from the other side.. But even though the Bulls offense fell off a cliff in 1994 and they focused more on defense, their defense didn't improve relative to the league because they were missing their best defender (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOgJhzj4W9M&t=35m00s).

Otoh, the presence of MJ gave the Bulls the highest ORtg's of all time.. But this GOAT improvement on offense didn't come at the expense of defense like it would for most teams.. His presence enabled a TWO-WAY team, which isn't surprising, since he's the goat two-way player according to Popovich (http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11875095&postcount=46).

So imagine Kawhi Leonard (as Popovich references), with the capability of scoring 15 more ppg.. That's Jordan... That's the GOAT.. we're seeing Kawhi dominate this year





Pete myers that good defensively?


In 1989, the 47-win bulls would've missed the 45-wun playoff cut without mj's 33/8/8.. that same lottery cast three-peated from 91-93' - so the 94' Bulls were a lottery cast that developed the know-how, teamwork and goat brand required of all dynasties.. they managed off teamwork, not talent.

Otoh, Lebron's teammates play bad with or without him because he reduces everyone to spot-up shooters - weak teams let 1 guy dribble most of the time, so the team collapses without that guy.. Otoh, dynasty teams play great basketball with or without their star because they move the ball instead of having 1 guy dribble it all the time

Similar to other ball-dominators like Westbrook and Harden, lebron's teams play bad basketball.... people simply ignored it because he had super-teams that were winning the LEast every year

[bigkingsfan]

Myers was a better defensive player and only slightly inferior offensively.

[Nikola_]

league wide PPG dropped by 3 points, hence the shortened 3pt line year after (stupid idea, but yea)

[Vino24]

Myers was a better defensive player and only slightly inferior offensively.
I agree :cheers:

[Manny98]

MJ obviously wasn't as impactful as a defender as his stans hype him up to be

[Smoke117]

The 94 bulls were just much more committed to defense than the 93 bulls were. It's really as simple as that. The 93 bulls were pretty much just skating through the regular season and taking it ho hum. The 94 bulls actually had to put in a lot more effort since they lost 30 high efficient points on the offense end. It also didn't hurt that they had a prime Scottie Pippen putting in the best defensive season ever by a perimeter player. (until a year later when he had any even better defensive season) You have to love how 3ball just uses where they were ranked and not the actual drating. They went from a 106.1 to a 102.7 from 93 to 94. That's a significant improvement regardless of where they were ranked for the league.

[And1AllDay]

mike is an overrated defender and nothing special without rodman and pippen bailing him out on defense nothing new hear