So I was thinking about this as a mental exercise this morning, as it came up on a couple different podcasts- who would win between the current iteration of the Golden State Warriors and the 72 win Chicago Bulls. I think the consensus has somewhat held that the triangle offense has no place in the modern NBA (which is what the Bulls ran) and the 90’s style post game centric offenses definitely have no place in the pace and space modern game. Therefore, it would stand to reason that the most chameleon, pace and space, small ball loving team of the modern age going against the anachronism of a different generation would be a rout from the opening tip. I believe in this case, the anachronism wins.
I would love to do this Zach Lowe style with all the cool .gifs to highlight the point, but I not that good nor am I going to hunt down old clips of the Bulls doing the things we know they can do. So you’ll just have to be happy with a very word based case as we take a plunge down this hypothetical rabbit hole.
The Warriors are currently winning by having Steph Curry dominate, killing teams with small ball, and playing a suffocating defense. It is super helpful that Steph can shoot from where defenses typically don’t defend. Another fun thing they do is play their super small lineup of Draymond Green at the five just to play your big man off the floor. Their defense is also first rate, with only really Steph being not a really an above average defender.
Unfortunately, I think the Bulls would be able to the combat exactly what the Warriors love to do to teams. As great as Iguodala played against Lebron last Finals, I have serious doubts about his ability to do the same to Jordan. Lebron was hampered by not being used to taking over games with his scoring. Michael Jordan had no such reservations. In addition, every time the Warriors would try to go super small and “switch everything” - it would be open season on the rim for Jordan and Pippen.
On the defensive end, the real issue the Warriors face is that the Bulls defensively loved to shut down point guards. It is one of the tenets of the triangle offense - since there really isn’t a “primary” ball handler, the Bulls didn’t have a focus point as soon as they crossed half court. The Bulls most likely pick up Curry almost immediately, and mark him with Jordan. I am sure the Warriors would move Curry off the ball and try him run him through every screen action you can dream of. But the true advantage of Curry is what he creates off the dribble, not turning him into just another two guard.
I don’t want to distill the argument solely down just saying Jordan, but he and Pippen are the crux of the argument. What they could do at both ends of the floor was amazing, and surrounding them with Kerr, Rodman, Kukoc, and whoever else allowed them to whatever they wanted on the basketball court.
There are tons of little hypotheticals you could dream up from this matchup- like do the Bulls break out their own super small lineup with Rodman at the five- assuming that the he could still get rebounds at the defensive end? Who does Klay guard? Can Coach Steve Kerr and sharpshooter Steve Kerr occupy the same area without the world coming to an end?
I am sure ever aging champ feels their team was the best ever, like Ron Harper clearly does. But I think those Bulls teams still stand up even in the modern era of the NBA. They played how they played to win in their era, but I fairly certain that they would have had the flexibility to win in any era.
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