LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
February 25, 2016
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
March 3, 2016
The Golden State Warriors are going to win more than 72 games this season, breaking the Chicago Bulls’ historic mark for the best regular season record of all-time.
But I’m not sold that they’re the best team in the history of basketball.
In fact, I think that Michael Jordan’s Bulls would beat the Warriors in a best of seven series.
And depending on how the games are officiated, I think that the Bulls might beat Golden State pretty easily.
Make no mistake about it, the Warriors are a human cheat code – a team that defies logic and does things on a basketball floor that no team has ever been capable of doing.
They shoot 3-pointers like they’re playing NBA Jam.
Superstar point guard Steph Curry is ridiculous. He’s what video gamers like to call an Easter Egg – a slang term for a cheat code. He shoots what coaches would consider to be bad shots over and over again.
But it just doesn’t matter. He makes them all with ease.
I was wrong about Curry. This time last year, I got on the radio and said that his star would burn out because all he could do was make 3-pointers.
That was a mistake in judgment on my part.
Curry is a superstar, and he just might be the best player in the world. Sure, he’s not as versatile as LeBron James, but his primary skillset is absolutely unstoppable – especially in today’s game where floor spacing and shooting are of utmost importance.
But what makes the Warriors so great isn’t necessarily Curry, but is more of what’s around him.
Klay Thompson is the most underrated player in the game today – a guy who is overshadowed, but who is capable of scoring 30-plus points in a quarter.
Draymond Green is also a star who could easily be the captain of 10-12 teams in the league if given the opportunity. His gutsy, hustle-first personality is the gasoline that lights the Warriors’ fire in most of its games.
Likewise, role players like Harrison Barnes, Leandro Barbosa, Andre Iguodala and even Shaun Livingston give Golden State perimeter options for days.
In the post, Andrew Bogut is a decent rim protector, and Festus Ezeli is a quality NBA center. Adding Anderson Varejao in the past few weeks doesn’t hurt, either.
The Warriors are the deepest team in the league, and they have perfected a skill that is tough to beat in the modern NBA.
Now, let me tell you why the Bulls would beat the machine and take home victory.
The Chicago Bulls were a different type of good. They were a team that was absurdly competitive, and just simply wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Offensively, of course, they had Jordan – the best player of all-time.
MJ’s physicality on the block would have been a problem for Golden State. There’s no way in heck that Curry would have guarded him, and it’s highly unlikely that Thompson would have wanted that challenge, either.
That would put Iguodala on MJ, which would give the Warriors a dilemma: do you play Barnes and be super small or do you play a traditional center and lose a 3-point shooter?
Iguodala is a great defender, but Jordan is going to be Jordan. He would, at the very least, get 30 points per game in the series.
While doing so, he’d also create switches and/or double teams, which would free up Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoc, Ron Harper, Steve Kerr and all of the other Chicago role players for clean looks.
I could talk about offense for days, but honestly, it’s the Bulls’ defense that would win the team this series.
The Bulls were the best team of all-time, because they shut down opponents cold.
They had three players on the 1995-96 NBA All-Defensive Team (Jordan, Pippen, Rodman), which allowed them to lock down opponents to just 92.9 points allowed per game.
Pippen could guard Curry, and make his life a living hell. He would be quick enough to stay with the guard and long enough to contest his shots – much like he did to Reggie Miller throughout his career.
Jordan would shut down Thompson to near-nothing – a number that would be far lower than his points per game average.
And the role players would do their part, as well. Rodman can guard Green. Heck, Rodman was one of the best defenders of all-time. He could guard anyone.
Luc Longley and Bogut are equals. Ron Harper was a high-level defender in Chicago’s hip pocket, as well.
Add it all together, and you have a recipe that equals the Warriors missing long shots, the Bulls corralling those misses and then methodically getting offense on the other end with that triangle offense.
Perhaps the most interesting thing of this fantasy would be watching Steve Kerr both play with the Bulls and coach the Warriors. How’s that for a stroke of irony?
The series alone wouldn’t have much drama.
Give me the Bulls in 6.
The Warriors will break the record. But the NBA is soft. They can’t beat Chicago. •
