On paper, the 17' Warriors demolish the 96' Bulls

[3ba11]

.
MJ and KD cancel each other for the purposes of this discussion:

Curry > Pippen

Dray > Rodman

Klay, Iggy, Barnes, Bogut > Kukoc

Conclusion: the method the 96' Bulls would use to beat the 17' Warriors is the same method as always - have MJ carry the team

[expansionera]

Harper (all defensive 1st team)
Pippen (best defender in history)
Rodman (x2 defensive player of the year)
Toni Kukoc (Hall of Fame)

Let’s be honest, the strategy was to have a better defender than Jordan lock up the opponents best player while Pippen creates easy looks for Jordan who takes all the credit. If Jordan’s Bulls win the series it have little to do with MJ’s scoring and everything to do with his teammates best in league ability to slow down opposing players

[Johnny32]

6'6 or taller all defensive caliber wing defenders mj would face vs the 2017 gsw...3.
6'6 or taller all defensive caliber wing defenders mj faced in his entire playoff career...2.

warriors in 4.

[TheGoatest]

Those Bulls wouldn't know what hit them if you put them on the court against those Warriors, who shot 2-3 times as many 3 pointers as their opponents while also hitting those 3s at a higher percentage.

[SouBeachTalents]

Imagine those Warriors playing with the shortened 3 point line

[3ba11]

Harper (all defensive 1st team)
Pippen (best defender in history)
Rodman (x2 defensive player of the year)
Toni Kukoc (Hall of Fame)

Let’s be honest, the strategy was to have a better defender than Jordan lock up the opponents best player while Pippen creates easy looks for Jordan who takes all the credit. If Jordan’s Bulls win the series it have little to do with MJ’s scoring and everything to do with his teammates best in league ability to slow down opposing players

DPOY VOTING

1988.... MJ (1st).... Pip (none)
1989.... MJ (5th).... Pip (none)
1990.... MJ (5th).... Pip (none)
1991.... MJ (7th).... Pip (7th)
1992.... MJ (3rd).... Pip (3rd)
1993.... MJ (2nd)... Pip (none)
1996.... MJ (5th).... Pip (2nd)
1997.... MJ (5th).... Pip (4th)
1998.... MJ (4th).... Pip (9th)

93' Jordan was clearly viewed as the Bulls' best defender, and even the LEAGUE'S:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GilQsS3oifM&t=02m47s



Here's the exchange in the 91' Finals between Marv Albert and Mike Fratello when MJ gets his 2nd foul in Game 2:

ALBERT: Do you stay with Jordan on Johnson?

FRATELLO: There's no question that he's the best guy to play Magic Johnson, but maybe you pick and choose when you put him on Magic..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o8l6oM6Jeg&t=12m23s

^^^ this sentiment was echoed by the NBA in the Bulls' Championship Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeAUz2dZ_NQ&t=35m03s

[ShawkFactory]

If the 96 Bulls won it’d be because they dominated on the glass and bothered Curry enough to throw him off.

[Johnny32]

mj was the worst starting defender (def rating) on his team in the 96-98 finals.

facts > fangirl reputation votes

[AlternativeAcc.]

Didn't they get pushed to the brink by Payton/Kemp?

4-0 easy sweep for the Warriors

[TheCorporation]

Imagine those Warriors playing with the shortened 3 point line

Klay's dropping even more than 39 in a quarter

Incoming 50 pt quarter for Klay maybe

[expansionera]

The media sucked Jordan’s dick regardless of his actual impact on the court? You don’t say

Jordan was the best perimeter defender in the league which is why Pippen guarded Magic Johnson on a Lakers team that consisted of an injured James Worthy and no other top 350 guys

[3ba11]

If the 96 Bulls won it’d be because they dominated on the glass and bothered Curry enough to throw him off.

Who can guard Curry??.. Pippen never guarded guys like that (short guys or screen-runners)

only jordan did

so Jordan would be the guy disrupting Curry just like he did Isiah, Dumars, or even Miller in 98' at 35 years old (17 on 40% for Miller).

So the Bulls would win with MJ carrying the defense and of course offense - that's how they always won

[StrongLurk]

Every single post OP makes supports one main fact about the Bulls success.

They won so many titles in the 90's because it was an extremely weak era...that's basically it. Everyone on the Bulls sucked except MJ, yet the Bulls dominated their comp because the comp was even worse.

Of course the 17 Warriors demolish the 96 Bulls...but that doesn't mean MJ wouldn't be the best player in that series.

[ShawkFactory]

Who can guard Curry??.. Pippen never guarded guys like that (short guys or screen-runners)

only jordan did

so Jordan would be the guy disrupting Curry just like he did Isiah, Dumars, or even Miller in 98' at 35 years old (17 on 40% for Miller).

So the Bulls would win with MJ carrying the defense and of course offense - that's how they always won

It’d be a team effort but yea I’d assume Jordan would be the primary with Harper and Pippen supplementing.

Pippen would be with KD primarily.

But they’d also win by dominating on the glass. That was the biggest factor against Seattle and the difference would be even more stark against GS.

[3ba11]

.

They won so many titles in the 90's because it was an extremely weak

Or the era was infact strong and Jordan simply won 6 "dirk" rings with a weak cast

The stats support this by showing lower stats for his teammates and bigger gaps between teammates and Jordan than Dirk and his teammates, or even 94' Hakeem and his teammates...

There's never been a bigger statistical gap between 1st option and teammates than MJ and his cast