The seemingly never ending debate over who would win in a seven game series between the 72 win 1995-96 Chicago Bulls and this year’s Golden State Warriors continues to rage on and even gained steam over the weekend.
Former Chicago Bulls superstar and greatest second banana of all-time Scottie Pippen told a reporter over the weekend that his Bulls squad would sweep the Golden State Warriors in a hypothetical, seven game series.
https://twitter.com/WORLDSTAR/status/716817228658843648
Although You can’t blame the guy for having confidence in his team and their ability to get the job done, it is absolutely foolish and ludicrous to think the Bulls could just dispatch of an all time great team like the Golden State Warriors that easily.
The Bulls weren’t able to sweep the Knicks in the second round of the 1996 postseason and took down an admittedly great, 64-win Seattle Sonics team in 6 games in the 1996 NBA Finals.
Although Pippen’s theory that Jordan could have guarded Thompson well and he could have done a good job on Curry, the Warriors have a very deep and talented roster and would have caused a number of issues for the Bulls.
If the series was played with the rules that were in play in the more physical, slower-paced and isolation driven league of the 1990s where hand checking was allowed I could see the Bulls winning the series in 6 or 7 games because their team was built and constructed for that era, but if the games were played with the more offensive-friendly and fast paced, wide open style of the NBA today the Warriors would potentially run the Bulls out of the gym.
The fact of the matter is we don’t live in a world where we would ever find out the answer to this or any other hypothetical player or team comparisons from different eras. Although the discussions can be fun or spark a heated debate, they are on the whole useless. With that being said, Pippen’s assertion that the Bulls would be able to wipe the floor with one of the best teams in NBA history is just ridiculous and inaccurate.
Pippen, Barkley and Jordan can talk about the good old days and how much better their era was, but like in any other area of life things evolve and improve over time and the NBA game is no different.
