Hypothetical 7 Game Series: 96' Bulls VS 16' Warriors

[NovU]

Pippen says Bulls would sweep. Benji says old teams wouldn't know how to deal with today's offense. Sauru and jeffx say today's players are soft. What do you say?

Match up
PG) Harper vs Curry
SG) Jordan vs Thompson
SF) Pippen vs Barnes
PF) Rodman vs Green
C) Longley vs Bogut
(Key Bench guys)
Bulls: Kukoc, Kerr, Wennington, Buechler
Warriors: Iguodala, Ezeli, Livingston, Livingston

[NovU]

Bulls in 7 for me. Will reason later.

[formx]

Last option because I don't want to be a stupid piece of paper

[Kevin]

Kobe in 4.
but really, Bulls in 5 considering Curry's going to go off in 1 game because all the Bulls starters didn't play.

[Jeffx]

Bulls in 6

[shadowgrin]

Paper in 4.

[air gordon]

GSW can employ 2 livingstons??

jokes aside, there should be a coin flip as to what era rules will be used for the series.

is Pippen acting like yet another grumpy, old man with his comments?

[shadowgrin]

there should be a coin flip as to what era rules will be used for the series.

Make it similar to home-away format. GSW at home, '16 rules. Bulls at home, '96 rules.
Only problem would be game 7 on which rules to use.

Team defense in the NBA today is much better than it was 20 years ago simply because the rules today favor the offense and yet defensive teams or players still manage to thrive in today's game.

I imagine the first 4 games would be blowout wins for the home team with the last 3 games being closely contested similar to the 2005 Finals.

GSW in 7 only because of Jordan being suspended for game 7 after punching coach Kerr in the face in game 6.

[benji]

1. The Bulls can play Rodman at C for extended stretches and not worry about it.

2. All the Warriors shooters are taking those threes from two feet closer to the basket under 1996 rules.

3.

[benji]

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:15186969

2K says Warriors in 6. ESPN obviously loves the Bulls despite jordon's foolishness.

[air gordon]

fair call with the home and home rules
forgot Rodman was still interested in playing ball back in '96. rodman vs green would be fun

[NovU]

Some fun stats.

Bulls
ORtg 115.2
DRtg 101.8
Pace 91.1

Warriors
ORtg 114.4
DRtg 103.8
Pace 99.3

As you can easily notice 96 Bulls were a better team in terms of efficiency on both ends of the floor. The Bulls were simply a more dominant team within their own respective era.

Is Warriors' defense good enuf to stop the Bulls' offense? Remind yourself the Bulls did register 115.2 ORtg in half court offense era. The Warriors stuck playing half court basketball in sluggish pace? We kinda saw what happened in their Cavaliers series. The Bulls? I think the Bulls could do well in faster paced environment like today. They didn't need live and die by 3s to get that asswhooping ORtg number. Couple inconsistent performance from shooting Warriors team be all the difference Bulls will need to end the series in 6 or 7.

rodman vs green would be fun

Indeed, and that's where I think the Bulls will have their advantage. The Worm is just not a nick name but a bait that Green will most likely bite which will be their downfall.

phpBB [video]

[[Q]]

Does anybody else get annoyed by the "different era, Warriors would get bullied/clotheslined/handchecked"? Doesn't matter how much you hand check if Steph is burying 30 ft 3 pointers. Players would be playing tighter defense, which would leave other openings. I dunno, both teams played their way (Triangle/Fast-paced 3 & D) so well that other teams just couldn't keep up.

[Andrew]

It's kind of evened out by the "Warriors would unquestionably destroy all the great teams of the past, and if you don't agree, you're just a hater" rhetoric. Fanboys and haters on both sides of the argument, if you will.

[NovU]

I dunno, both teams played their way (Triangle/Fast-paced 3 & D) so well that other teams just couldn't keep up.

MJ's 96 Bulls weren't a fast paced team. Even to consider their era, they were below league average in terms of pace for their time.

Also the Bulls weren't 3 point dependent team. They took less 3s than league avg and made them at below league avg %.

They were a completely different team from 16' Warriors.

[NovU]

One fun thing to note: Second best team in 96 was SuperSonics and they faced the Bulls in the Finals. Sonics liked to take 3s, play fast paced ball with great versatile defense(2nd in league), all of which mimics today's small ball basketball. Not surprising because Detlef Schrempf was a stretch four. Sam Perkins also could space the floor.

Result was pretty stale tho. In horrendously sluggish slow paced series at Pace 83.5, the Bulls took first 3 games, eventually finishing them off in 6.

[benji]

The Bulls also played against two expansion teams.

Regarding the Warriors DRtg and D, remember they were 1st last year. They haven't had to play as hard on that end this year because they've been winning by 30 points at the half of every other game.

[NovU]

I'd say that was somewhat offset by Kerr not resting his core guys nearing the end and chasing after record hardcore.

Expansion teams argument is somewhat weak too because this year's Lakers and 76ers. VAN probably could beat them combined.

[benji]

Thing is, you also had shitty teams then too. What you didn't have was two entirely new rosters filled out from scratch. 24+ new slots. That hits all teams. Someone like Greg Anthony goes from 9th guy on the 55 win Knicks to best player on 14 win Grizzlies.

[Andrew]

At the end of the day, both teams played the competition on hand, with the rules and style of the era. Credit to them both for their excellence, in that regard.

[Sauru]

the bulls team would match up really well with this team. the warriors would have to shoot lights out the entire series to have a chance. bulls win this in 5 or 6

[[Q]]

I dunno, both teams played their way (Triangle/Fast-paced 3 & D) so well that other teams just couldn't keep up.

MJ's 96 Bulls weren't a fast paced team. Even to consider their era, they were below league average in terms of pace for their time.

Also the Bulls weren't 3 point dependent team. They took less 3s than league avg and made them at below league avg %.

They were a completely different team from 16' Warriors.

Fast-paced 3 & D, describing GSW

Funny, the Warriors lost to shitty teams like the Lakers and Timberwolves this year. Didn't the Bulls lost to Toronto or someone like thaT?

[zz21]

Does anybody else get annoyed by the "different era, Warriors would get bullied/clotheslined/handchecked"? Doesn't matter how much you hand check if Steph is burying 30 ft 3 pointers.

Curry gets those looks even from 30+ because he can drive.


He wouldn't drive against the bulls with old rules.

[Andrew]

Funny, the Warriors lost to shitty teams like the Lakers and Timberwolves this year. Didn't the Bulls lost to Toronto or someone like thaT?

They did. Kind of supports the suggestion that any NBA team can beat any other NBA team on any given night, but for the bounce of a few balls.

[Sauru]

Funny, the Warriors lost to shitty teams like the Lakers and Timberwolves this year. Didn't the Bulls lost to Toronto or someone like thaT?

They did. Kind of supports the suggestion that any NBA team can beat any other NBA team on any given night, but for the bounce of a few balls.

one thing that always gets over looked is how good everyone in the nba is. even the players we are constantly saying are "trash" are actually really good.