Greatest Team Ever? A What If

The two best teams of the last 20 years, in my humble opinion are the 07' San Antonio Spurs and the 95-96 Chicago Bulls. That was the first championship of the Bulls second 3 peat and the first championship with Jordan back from his 17 month retirement. That team one a 82 game season best 72 games that season, they had the games best rebounder, Dennis Rodman, the games best scorer, Micheal Jordan, and another of the 50th greatest players of all time, Scottie Pippen. Those three were all first team all defensive team and Jordan and Pippen were first team All NBA. On paper this could be argued as the best team of all time, they had a very strong bench with Croatian Sensation Tony Kukoc, 3 point wizzard Stever Kerr, and solid role players in Bill Wennington, Jud Buechler, and Randy Brown. The rest of the starting five consisted of savvy big man Luc Longley and defensive specialist Ron Harper. This team was molded around Tex Winters triangle offense and rarely did they have any let downs. The 33-8 on the road that year, and started out the season 37-0 at home. They only lost one game on there road to the finals and quickly jumped to a 3-0 lead on the Supersonics before winning the series in 6. This team accomplished many things that may never be accomplished again, but in a heads up best of seven series, I think the 07' Spurs would win.

The 07' Spurs did not win there division, or conference. They did not have the top seed in the west or home court throughout the playoffs. They beat a pretty bad Cleveland Cavaliers team in the finals and they Cavs were not at full strength. However dont be fooled, by any of this, the Spurs were a great team and they have the players to match any team in the modern era of basketball. First of all they have the games greatest Power Forward, Tim Duncan, a very skilled big man that was teammates with Rodman at one point in San Antonio. Duncan, I believe changes the game even more so than Jordan, because as Jordan is a defensive specialist, one of the games best, he does not control the paint they way Duncan can. In fact no player outside of Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, and Shaquille O'Neal, have controlled the paint like Duncan. Both teams were built around one big star, but the keys to both of there teams were the other stars around them. In 95-96 Jordan one the regular season MVP, the All-Star game MVP, and the finals MVP. Tim Duncan did not win any of these awards in winning his 4th championship. In fact he did not even have a very good finals, but he changed the game nonetheless and commanded a double team every single time he touched the ball opening up lanes for the Spurs two other stars, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. The latter played so well in the series he was crowned MVP. Ginobili, is a player in which the NBA, has never seen the likes of. He is not a great shooter, or passer, or rebounder. He takes chances on defense, and can be wreckless on offense, however do not discount his value on winning basketball games. He is a fearless competitor with an array of moves and savviness that the game has never seen. Jordan would have his hands full guarding this Argentian because he can hurt you in so many ways. He can beat you off the dribble, from deep, and in transition. Tony Parker, I believe is a hall of fame type player. Though he is young so he will need to keep it up. He is an unusual point guard in that he looks to score first, but he doesnt get this done with the deep jump shot, say the way Gilbert Arenas, or Baron Davis does. Instead he is lighting quick and could quite possibly be the most explosive and best finishing point guard the game has seen. I do not think there is anyway that Ron Harper, Randy Brown, or Steve Kerr could stay in front of him and keep him from getting to where he is most dangerous, and the Bulls just did not have the shot blockers to force him to pass the rock.

Now I know I am going to get a lot of heat from this but I think the biggest reason the 07 Spurs would beat 95-96 Bulls is because I believe the Spurs are actually the better defensive team. The Spurs went 12-3 in the playoffs and this was made possible by there great defense because the ran into some of the games top offensive talents. In round one they played the Denver Nuggets with Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson, one sure fire hall of famer while the other seems destined. They won in 5. In round two the ran into the offensive juggurnaut the Phoenix Suns, with Shawn Marion, Amare Stoudamire, and the two time reigning MVP, Steve Nash. They won in 6 despite not having home court advantage. In the Western Conference finals they beat the upstart Utah Jazz, led by phenoms Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams, in 5 games. Finally in the finals they swept another hot team in the Cleveland Cavaliers, which of course boasts one of the games biggest talents Lebron James. Now do any of these superstars that the Spurs beat on there road to the 4th ring in nine years compare to a Micheal Jordan, well no, but the case can definately be made that if any team can stop him this would be the team. Why is that? Well quite simply put Bruce Bowen. This guys is a monster, he is the three point shooter Kerr was, but he has also been named to the first team all NBA 7 straight seasons. He is an underrated star and brings the same type of game, say Rodman does, but he is not a liability at the other end. He guarded Anthony, Nash, Williams, and James on the road to the finals and I know none of them want to see him again. He is the reason Micheal Jordan and the Bulls would not run over the Spurs. This is not Craigh Ehlo, or Byron Russell, or even John Starks, this is one of the all-time great defensive players. Not too mention you have an NBA record defensive player standing behind you if you get beat, Tim Duncan had been named First Team all-NBA a record 10 straight seasons.

This is only one of the reasons I think the Spurs can win the other is there spectacular Bench play. Now the Bulls were thought to have a great bench that year, but it is hard to compete with a team that can bring a gold medal winner, for a country other than the U.S. and a man with 8 NBA championship rings off of its bench. Speaking of course of Ginobili, and Robert Horry. Not too mention skilled players like Brent Barry and Jacque Vaughn and a freak of nature in the 7' Fransico Elson. This is one of the games greatest benches of all-time and help the Spurs play any type of basketball that they need.

The matchups:

G- Parker G- Harper

G- Finley G- Jordan

F- Bowen F- Pippen

F- Duncan F- Rodman

C- Oberto C- Longley

Now I have talked about this some above, but I want to dive into these matchups, because I think the Spurs have a clear advantage. Bowen guards Jordan leaving Pippen to have a very large height advantage on whomever guards him, most likely Finley or Ginobili. This hurts the Spurs, but Pippen was never a great post up player. In fact the triangle offense was great at getting Jordan on the post, but it mostly allowed Pippen be the point forward and handle the ball. He was great at this, but a the difference in height should not have much impact on the game. Like I mentioned above I see no one on the Bulls roster that can stick with Parker, too quick. Oberto is allowed to guard Rodman, where his goal is just keep him off the glass and play good help defense. Duncan guards Longley, which I think does hurt the Spurs a bit, because Longley was great at facing up and hitting jump shots. Duncan likes to patrol the paint and doesnt feel very comfortable away from the basket. However, the Bulls were not a classic pick n' roll team. They used the Triangle to give spacing for there offense to let isolation for Jordan, and create good cutting lanes for teammates. Duncan will give Longley all the jumpers he wants to stick back and make life miserable for whom ever else tries to take over. I like those matchups for the Spurs. I dont see the 6' 7" Dennis Rodman, a great defender, having any sort of success guarding Duncan. You have too double team him. In fact of all the great championship teams the Bulls had they never had to face a dominant big man like Duncan. They lost to Shaq's team the year before, and they beat Ewing in the playoffs a couple of times, but this was at the end of Ewings career and before Shaq really got it going. Duncan is a complete big man that knows what to do at all times. You double he finds the open man, you single he is taking it to the front of the rim, and if you back off he is hitting the prettiest bank shot you have ever seen right over your head. The Bulls just cannot match this.

The Bulls are the greatest team of my generation and they have the greatest player of my generation in Jordan. The season they had in 95-96 was one of the greatest I have ever seen. However, I do not think they match up well against a Spurs team that I think would beat any team ever assembled in a best of 7 series. That is right, they are built the right way, a great defensive team, with wonderful role players that play there parts. Not too mention to hall of fame quality players, a bench that consists of two of the best winners in modern sports history and a coach that is the games greatest. So instead of thinking man these finals were boring and I watched the Sopranos over what used to be the most watched event of the summer. Think of what if the greatest team ever met these San Antonio Spurs and I truly believe the Spurs would win.