Jordan not contending with any good teams? Lakers, Blazers, Suns, Sonics, and 2-Peat West Champ Jazz simply were not “good” enough for you right? Okay then, the 90′s was the most dominant defensive oriented era, and you want to call that easy?

Again, really, how old are you? 20? 23? Because if so…no wonder your making such bold claims. I tell you this, “IF” the 08 Celtics were playing in the 90′s, they would have had a heap of trouble playing up against the 90′s era defense period.

Look at how soft shit is played now to how it was back then, you’d have guys like Pierce calling for every single foul available. The only guy who would truly be able to hang on that team would be Garnett, and what’s the ’08 Celtics going to do up against the Bulls defense?

Jordan not having to contend with “anyone” is laughable, considering the early 90′s Knicks would RUN shit down in today’s Era of the NBA, and yes, including the 08 Celtics…you want hard nosed defense? Early 90′s Knicks>>>>>>>08 Celtics.

However, the 96 Bulls were the absolute best, 92 ppg by opponents and a 12.2 ppg margin of victory average…BEST EVER, remember that…BEST EVER. The next time you like to throw your garbage statements around, at least make some credible notions, however today’s defensive game is absolute garbage compared to what took place in the 90′s within Jordan’s era.

96 Bulls>>>All other teams, and especially including the 08 Celtics, lmao, seriously, the 08 Celtics were great, but they will not even make Top-20, much less Top-10.

The above comments dont worry me because I know I am right:)

We have sheed’ in green now!

Bring on 09/10!

I stand by what I have said.

Comparing stats from the 80′s, 90′s and 00′s dont mean a whole lot. the games has changed so much, and the competition is different. The only comparable stats are those taken form the sme season.

Basically teams from the good old days could not physically compete with todays players. To say that they could beat the greatest defensive unit in history (08 celtics) shows a complete lack of understanding of sport in general. Maybe on the Xbox, but not in real life.

Teams from the 80′s arent even worth consideration. And lets be realistic, Jordan’s Bulls never had to take on a superpower in any of their 6 titles.

Magics Lakers: Way past their prime
Blazers: Well rounded, but really a one man show.
Suns: Couldnt defend for s#it
Sonics: Couple of good individuals, but not a great TEAM.
Jazz, good team, pushed the Bulls to the brink (words from Pippen)

The 08 Celtics will probably never be matched.

However when it’s all said and done, the 1996 Bulls is the GREATEST period. If your a “stats” guy, you’ll notice that they allowed the LEAST ppg’s by the other team then any other GREATEST NBA Team. Which =’s one huge factor…their DEFENSE was absolutely dominating in comparison to any other within their respective year. Not only that, but their stats overall were better then practically almost any other NBA GREATEST TEAM.

This is a good case, because Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman would have put nails in the coffin against anyone who were trying to put any points up against them. Rodman also bringing down bus loads of rebounds down means that alot of teams who depend on the fast break like the 87 Lakers would have difficulty doing so, because rebounds take this away, and it would take like 3 Lakers from the 87 team to just equal Rodman’s average at that time, which was like 15.

Then you have Pippen…seriously, who is going to score alot against one of the GREATEST 1vs1 defensive players of all time? Arguably Top-3, if not top-2, and Pippen was an absolute monster at this time defensively as well as putting up very solid numbers in scoring as well.

However, you come down to THE G.O.A.T., Michael Jordan, and he is the absolute #1 BIGGEST FACTOR. Please don’t talk about Russell (He was BEAST), or Wilt, or Magic, or Bird, or whomever, because MJ even older here, was still schooling the Prime of the life players during that era in 96. Even in this time, nobody would be able to cover MJ, and nobody would be able to cancel MJ out period, he would still be forcing double teams or potentially more, and it’s not far fetched to say he’d be averaging 30+ ppg so he would have been the #1 biggest obstacle for any other Top NBA Team to defend against.

However again, Jordan is arguably one of the greatest, if not the greatest 1 vs 1 defenders ever (9 times I believe, only Payton ties him in this department), so he would be an absolute nightmare on other opposition whom are trying to score against him. Remember, he’s I believe #2 all time, and #3 for most steals per game…so you do the math here.

Then you have the Bull’s Bench…compare them, they shot 3-pts better then anyone, and they scored overall just AS good as anyone if not better, and they played defense incredibly well. Who’s going to stop Kukoc who was basically around his prime at this time? Who’s going to stop Kerr in racking up 3-pters. In fact, the 96 Bulls committed fewer turn overs, had more steals and rebounds per game.

The “only” weakness I could see was the Bull’s Center, however Longley wasn’t doing all that bad, considering he averaged 9.0 ppg and 5.1 rpg’s, and compare that to an 87 Kareem who averaged 14.6 and 6.0 rpg’s a game. So in comparison to one of the centers of the best NBA teams ever…is this really that bad?

Then you add the fact that during the 95-97 Season, 7 teams went over 50+ games and 3 having 60+ records, that being the Magics (60-22), Sonics (64-18) and obviously the Bulls (72-10), and you can narrowly include the Spurs which were 59-23, only one shy of 60…so yes, there was PLENTY of competition here, so I don’t want to hear “There was no good players/teams up against the Bulls.” Please…say that to a in his prime Payton, Kemp, Shaq, Hardaway, Miller, Grant Hill, and if you want, other slightly older guys in Robinson, Hawkeem, Malone, Stockton etc, etc would have to argue against you saying there was no good competition then.

However, I stand by what I said, the Bulls had a great bench, and they could score and kill you everywhere on the floor. Plus defensively, they were arguably one of, if not the best in a single season performance, and we all know that DEFENSE wins Championships, however they had plenty of offensive weapons as well…MJ alone is more then enough merit.

If you separate the bias, and look at the facts, the 72-10 Bulls were absolutely ridiculous, I would rank the Bulls #1 and the 87 Lakers #2, then after that, you could start debating either 87 Celtics or what not, however the 96 Bulls were just as stated…UNTOUCHABULL.

Being pushed and getting blown out on the road are two diffferent things. The Celtics were blown out more then once. I can hardly put them in a conversation about greatest champions for that reason.

Back to the basket – Garnett is no match for BIg Mo!

The teams from the 50′s 60′s and 70′s wouldnt have the speed or strength to compete today. If you took those teams and applied modern technology to their training and defence it may be a different story.

The lakers, Celtics and 76ers from the 80′s would also struggle. Again I doubt these teams could keep up or score against todays celtics.

Jordans Bulls (any of them) never had to face defence like the 2008 Celtics play. Pippen would be invisible and Jordan would be lucky to score 25 per game. Boston also has much more depth in their roster. The Bulls had Jordan and Pippen – that is it. The celtics have 3 superstars plus a really strong bench!

Kobe and shaq’s Lakers would also get smashed. They dont have the scoring depth or defence. Phile Jackson had no ansers this series! Remember what happened to the Lakers against a Detroit team with great defence? They got smashed 4-1! And Boston is much better than that Detroit team.