Golden State vs Chicago (NBA)

I realize that this web site hardly ever pays attention to sports, but since I am a member here and a long time fan of the Bulls and an admirer of the Warriors, I feel I am equipped to offer a few insights about the current debate over which team is the greatest of all time.

Okay, first of all, I will say this about the current Warrior team and season, they have been phenomenal and Curry has been unreal. The 3 point shot he has showcased and his ball handling skills have been off the chart. He has single handedly made basketball fun to watch again, for me. Something that I have not done since a certain someone named MJ made himself known as THE GOAT.

No other player since MJ has captivated me the way Curry has. Not Lebron or Kobe or Shaq.

I think the Warriors have put together a very formidable team that can compete for rings for at least the next 3 years as is, but we know that they are an injury away from becoming slightly above average.

The debate has been who is the greatest team of all time and against the Bulls the only thing the Warriors can claim at this point is that 73 wins is better than 72, they can not claim to be any where in the same galaxy as the Bulls for the greatest of all time, maybe the best season by a team, but not the Greatest.

Curry can be anointed as having the best individual statistical season, but being someone that has followed the NBA for decades now, until he has strung together 10 years of the same statistics and his teams have dominated and won multiple championships and he has 5 MVP awards, don't insult my intelligence by claiming he is the GOAT or that Golden State is the Greatest team of all time, he isn't and they are not. So far, it has been 2 years of great team play and there are at least 4 other teams that are ahead of them in the greatest of all time scenario, with Chicago being the most iconic choice due to MJ, Boston, LA and SA, have all put together many great years and SA has been the most consistent for 20 years.

Sure, I will root for Golden State because they are fun to watch and they are the flavor of the month for now, they have captivated the world really, just let's see them do it for a good long time first before we put them in the same breath as the other 4 teams.

Personally I don't think there's any question that he's put together two of the best single seasons ever, back-to-back.
That's about all you can say right now.
GOAT is a premature conversation.

As far as the Warriors being one injury away from "above average"...
The Bulls were no different.
If you doubt that, see if you can find (no doubt they're on YouTube somewhere) some of the games from the mid-90s where Pippen was sidelined.

In many respects, he was as much of a leader on that team as Jordan ever was. The defensive heart of the team; a legitimate second option in isolation plays and clutch moments.

There's so much talk about which team is better.
I actually think the discussion is moot. These two teams are entirely different. Both do things we've never seen before. I have never seen a team as dominant defensively as the '95-96 Bulls were when they were locked in. Then on the flipside you have Steph Curry shooting more than 50% outside 48 feet. That's not ridiculous, that's... something else entirely.

The point? Who cares - just sit back and watch the brilliance.
Personally, I'm just glad I'll have someone to watch once Kobe's gone. I'll remember that 81 point performance against Toronto for the rest of my life - but at least now I know I'll still have someone great to enjoy.

My 04 Pistons would beat both teams in a 7 game series.
DEEEEE-TROIT BAAAAAA-SKETBAAAAL

a reply to: forthelove

I'm a Bulls fan (well, technically) - Basketball has always been my #4 sport after Baseball > Football > Hockey, and so, after the era I "grew up" in being the Jordan Era, I realized quickly that I didn't care much about basketball without the Bulls dominating. I was spoiled young - I've stuck with the Cubs, Bears and Blackhawks through a lot of suck, but will have to claim "Fair Weather Fan" status some decade when the Bulls are good again.

That said, I'm happy for the GSW and their record, and really impressed by Curry. Sure, they and he need to sustain for a long time to be talked about among the all time greats, but I've never been a fan of "Greatest of All Time" talk in the major sports. Such discussions should be considered by era - "Greatest of the Era." Steph Curry may well be the Greatest of his Era, time will tell, and he may well be counted among the "Greatest of All Time" when all is said and done. We'll never see them all face each other in their respective primes, so we cannot never really say who is the GOAT - only who most dominated the era he played in.

The GOAT topic reminds me of a conversation I heard in the 1990's on a baseball game broadcast. They were discussing the greatness of Ted Williams as a hitter and the differences in the era (such as more breaking balls and more specialization of pitchers in the modern game.) The conversation went something like this:

"What do you think Ted Williams' batting average would be if he were playing today?"
"Oh, probably no better than .270"
"Wow, really? That low? That's 74 points below his career average!"
"Well yeah, but you gotta remember, Ted Williams is 75 years old!"

I've always loved that anecdote, and think of it every time a great from another era is discussed.

a reply to: dogstar23

They are quoting Williams on that one. It is an interview he gave in the 1970's while he was managing when he said that then modern hitters could not hit as well as when he played.

You can not really compare the current Warriors to the Jordan/Pippen Bulls. Both are great teams but they played in different eras. With different rules. Could Curry survive hand-checking. Could Jordan survive a modern zone defense.

If they grew up in each others eras, they probably could. But if you plucked Jordan out of his prime and put him against a modern defense for one game, he would probably be confused and look terrible. The same with Curry. If you took him from right now and put him in one game from the Jordan era. He would have a tough time scoring with all the hand-checking.

So you can not really take teams from different eras and say who would win. Because the different eras in basketball had completely different rules.

Warriors need to win 2-3 back to back championships to be better than MJs Bulls. Are they better right now? I don't think so. Can they be? Definitely. That team has way too much talent to not be the best team ever assembled.