Peak Kevin Durant added to Michael Jordan's NBA Finals opponents.

[iggymcfrack]

KD almost certainly doesn't have a top 15 peak. The problem is he's a complete unicorn 1-of-1 type player who couldn't possibly be guarded with the 1990s illegal defense rules.

Scottie Pippen is 6'8". I don't believe for a second that he couldn't guard KD one-on-one.

There's no way Scottie could guard KD 1-on-1 for an entire series without any help except hard doubles. Handchecking would help, but he's still giving up 3 inches and ~25 pounds.

All the best 1-on-1 scorers of the same era had a massive advantage because of illegal defense rules.

I've seen Chris Paul shut down KD in the playoffs, just by getting deep into his body and keeping him from being able to lift the ball to shoot. You're telling me Scottie Pippen is too small? Give me a break.

[flow]

In what world is Hakeem a second tier star?

Deserves a suspension, perhaps a flat out banning, for trying to make the board dumber.

Bro shut up lol I promise thinking MJ being a tier above Hakeem is not a hot take by any stretch of the imagination

It actually is.

[bledredwine]

Obviously they’d lose all of them if he was added to each single Finals team individually. There was no player in the 90s who could match his 3 point efficiency and his iso shotmaking would be unguardable. KD with any of the 91 Lakers 92 Blazers 93 Suns 96 Sonics 97/98 Jazz would be better than the Bulls.

But if he joined the Lakers before 91 he likely wouldn’t be able to switch teams every year, would he? So in all likelihood they’d lose the first one and then KD would be stuck with failed superteams aka exactly what happened after 2019 in reality.

Steve Kerr had much better 3 point efficiency than Durant.

As did plenty of 90s players and also the late 80s Cavs. Sure, they didn't care much for the 3 back then, but if given the green light and if defenders had to sag off with spacing, you would have had some crazy three point shooters back then, just like you do now.

Durant sure wouldn't be able to drive easily like he has been able to. That's the adjustment.

Rudy Gobert has a much better TS% than Jordan.

As do plenty of big men in the League. Sure, they don't care much for scoring in todays league, but if given the green light and if defenders had to sag off with spacing, you would have some crazy scoring numbers from bigs today.

Gobert would simply just need to shoot more. That's the adjustment.

Is this a joke?

Just because someone gets dunks and put backs, doesn’t mean they’re a legit scorer. You just tried to call Gobert a better scorer than Michael Jordan

Yeah, and Tyson Chandler/Deandre Jordan are the GOAT scorers. Look at their superior TS%… they just need to shoot more to be GOAT.

….

I can’t wait for leflop to retire so that we don’t have to deal with these obnoxious copium posts, hypotheticals and poor excuses.

Yeah dude, I’m sure that Jordan’s Bulls would be terrified of the Brunson Knicks and all of the insane big scorers like Gobert would have Hakeem and Shaq shaking in their boots. Steve Kerr is the GOAT 3 point shooter and would dominate Steph with more shots put up since only percentage matters instead of volume/shot creation, right?

It’s also funny how the Lebron fans are throwing Durant all of this praise all of a sudden.

Well, one things for sure.
You wouldn’t see Durant badly outplaying MJ like he did Lebron and Pippen/MJ tandem would not choose to stop guarding him entirely in the finals like lechoke did! Now that TS and volume that Durant put on lebron’s head? That was crazy.

[AMW27]

I think the Bulls would win one at most, but most likely none.

Imagine that Supersonics team with Peak Durant.

[NbaAllDay]

Steve Kerr had much better 3 point efficiency than Durant.

As did plenty of 90s players and also the late 80s Cavs. Sure, they didn't care much for the 3 back then, but if given the green light and if defenders had to sag off with spacing, you would have had some crazy three point shooters back then, just like you do now.

Durant sure wouldn't be able to drive easily like he has been able to. That's the adjustment.

Rudy Gobert has a much better TS% than Jordan.

As do plenty of big men in the League. Sure, they don't care much for scoring in todays league, but if given the green light and if defenders had to sag off with spacing, you would have some crazy scoring numbers from bigs today.

Gobert would simply just need to shoot more. That's the adjustment.

Is this a joke?

Just because someone gets dunks and put backs, doesn’t mean they’re a legit scorer. You just tried to call Gobert a better scorer than Michael Jordan

Yeah, and Tyson Chandler/Deandre Jordan are the GOAT scorers. Look at their superior TS%… they just need to shoot more to be GOAT.

….

I can’t wait for leflop to retire so that we don’t have to deal with these obnoxious copium posts, hypotheticals and poor excuses.

Yeah dude, I’m sure that Jordan’s Bulls would be terrified of the Brunson Knicks and all of the insane big scorers like Gobert would have Hakeem and Shaq shaking in their boots. Steve Kerr is the GOAT 3 point shooter and would dominate Steph with more shots put up since only percentage matters instead of volume/shot creation, right?

It’s also funny how the Lebron fans are throwing Durant all of this praise all of a sudden.

Well, one things for sure.
You wouldn’t see Durant badly outplaying MJ like he did Lebron and Pippen/MJ tandem would not choose to stop guarding him entirely in the finals like lechoke did! Now that TS and volume that Durant put on lebron’s head? That was crazy.

The fact that you don't get it says it all really

The meltdown was fun though.

[The Servant]

Scottie Pippen is 6'8". I don't believe for a second that he couldn't guard KD one-on-one.

There's no way Scottie could guard KD 1-on-1 for an entire series without any help except hard doubles. Handchecking would help, but he's still giving up 3 inches and ~25 pounds.

All the best 1-on-1 scorers of the same era had a massive advantage because of illegal defense rules.

I've seen Chris Paul shut down KD in the playoffs, just by getting deep into his body and keeping him from being able to lift the ball to shoot. You're telling me Scottie Pippen is too small? Give me a break.

Which series did CP3 lock him up in? in 18-19 he averaged 33 ppg in 5 games against the Rockets on 59% TS.

[bledredwine]

Rudy Gobert has a much better TS% than Jordan.

As do plenty of big men in the League. Sure, they don't care much for scoring in todays league, but if given the green light and if defenders had to sag off with spacing, you would have some crazy scoring numbers from bigs today.

Gobert would simply just need to shoot more. That's the adjustment.

Is this a joke?

Just because someone gets dunks and put backs, doesn’t mean they’re a legit scorer. You just tried to call Gobert a better scorer than Michael Jordan

Yeah, and Tyson Chandler/Deandre Jordan are the GOAT scorers. Look at their superior TS%… they just need to shoot more to be GOAT.

….

I can’t wait for leflop to retire so that we don’t have to deal with these obnoxious copium posts, hypotheticals and poor excuses.

Yeah dude, I’m sure that Jordan’s Bulls would be terrified of the Brunson Knicks and all of the insane big scorers like Gobert would have Hakeem and Shaq shaking in their boots. Steve Kerr is the GOAT 3 point shooter and would dominate Steph with more shots put up since only percentage matters instead of volume/shot creation, right?

It’s also funny how the Lebron fans are throwing Durant all of this praise all of a sudden.

Well, one things for sure.
You wouldn’t see Durant badly outplaying MJ like he did Lebron and Pippen/MJ tandem would not choose to stop guarding him entirely in the finals like lechoke did! Now that TS and volume that Durant put on lebron’s head? That was crazy.

The fact that you don't get it says it all really

The meltdown was fun though.

Nah, you don't get it.

With the spacing, it's way easier to get to the rack. You're right that some power has been taken from the bigs.

Anyone who think this is one-sided (only one type of player benefits, there being no give and take between eras) doesn't understand basketball, point blank. Trying to claim that Gobert would dominate in an era with Robinson, Hakeem, Shaq is laughable though. You can make a poll for that if you don't believe me.

And for the record, your post was genuinely funny!

[iggymcfrack]

There's no way Scottie could guard KD 1-on-1 for an entire series without any help except hard doubles. Handchecking would help, but he's still giving up 3 inches and ~25 pounds.

All the best 1-on-1 scorers of the same era had a massive advantage because of illegal defense rules.

I've seen Chris Paul shut down KD in the playoffs, just by getting deep into his body and keeping him from being able to lift the ball to shoot. You're telling me Scottie Pippen is too small? Give me a break.

Which series did CP3 lock him up in? in 18-19 he averaged 33 ppg in 5 games against the Rockets on 59% TS.

He was never the primary defender for more than a quarter at a time at most, but when he did guard him he was very effective in both the Clippers/Thunder series in 2014 and the Rockets/Warriors series in 2018. I’m not saying he like completely neutralized him like Kawhi did to Giannis in 2019, but he definitely made him a little less effective than normal.

[SeattleJazzFan]

jazz, sonics and suns would have swept the bulls if they had kd. the lakers probably win in 6.

those jazz teams with kd would have been insane.

[bledredwine]

Next up - What if Michael Jordan formed superteams in free agency? How many rings would he have?

What if he teamed up with David Robinson?

... wait I forgot, we only have the coping hypothetical threads.

[SeattleJazzFan]

Next up - What if Michael Jordan formed superteams in free agency? How many rings would he have?

What if he teamed up with David Robinson?

... wait I forgot, we only have the coping hypothetical threads.

we don't have to have those what ifs because the bulls front office did all the work of forming super teams for him.

[jerok]

These kinda posts are hilarious. Rodman was quick himself, and one of the greatest defenders of all time. KD may score well on him, but he's not gonna embarrass Rodman. It would be a fun matchup.

Rodman most definitely would be capable of getting enough stops to help the Bulls win, and the 96 Bulls would have other pieces that can also fill in his spot at guarding Malone.

Grant on the other hand would have a harder time guarding KD if the 91 Lakers, 92 Blazers, or 93 Suns added Durant. Pippen would do a much better job in that scenario. He wont be able to block him, but Pippen would be quick enough to get some stops. Durant would have to figure out who hes going to guard primarily between Jordan and Pippen.

Honestly out of all these teams. I'd say funny enough the Sonics, the team KD started out with would be his best shot at beating the Bulls along side. KDs length, speed, etc next to Payton and Kemp would make them that much more dangerous. That Sonics team already had killer 3 point shooting from Detlef and Hawkins and Sam Perkins, With KD out there too they'd have an even better one. The Suns 3 point shooting improve too, but I'm not so sure Barkley and KD click.

Let’s say I agree with you and Rodman shut down KD (will never happen by the way)

Would Dennis also guard the other players he had a hand full with, like Karl, kemp etc?

He is so good that he would shut down both kd + kemp and Malone. Which bulls piece are u talking about that would guard Malone? Outside of Dennis?

Lols, very one sided thinking.

This is why, 90s delusional are so laughable.
No matter what the circumstance is, 90s will always be better than anything the preceded or succeeded it.

I never said anything about Rodman shutting KD down. I said he'd defend the man well. That is all. If the Bulls wanted Rodman on KD the actual coaching staff would rotate the matchups fine. I shouldn't have to tell you who can guard who if you know anything about that team.

You mentioned bulls had pieces that can also fill in Rodman spots at guarding Malone.
I know exactly whos on that Bulls team, who u going to put On Malone, if you have Dennis on KD?
LOLs.

[jerok]

Well KD never won a title without a super team..

Same with mj

Lol the 91,92, and 93 Bulls were a super team? Lol most unserious comment ive read on here in weeks…you started watching the nba when?

Now compare that Bulls team to the rest of the teams in 91 92 93. LOLs.
Let me know when MJ won anything when stacked wasn't in his favor. In College, NBA, Olympics. I'll wait.

You build for it?

[jerok]

Well KD never won a title without a super team..

Same with mj

The 98 Bulls were not a super team. Jordan was the only all-star. Pippen played in 44 games and had a back injury in game 6 of the finals, the only game in NBA finals history where 1 player(Jordan) outscored all of his teammates. In the last 2 minutes Jordan scored, stole the ball, and scored again. No other Chicago Bulls touched the ball. No other Chicago Bulls averaged 17 or more ppg during the playoffs. Dennis Rodman didn’t make an all-defensive team and washed out of the league afterwards. Luc Longley was the starting center and only played in 58 games and missed 3 playoff games due to injuries that would lead to his retirement in 2001. It’s the oldest team to ever win a championship.

1998 was a carry job. Jordan’s VORP in the regular season and playoffs is almost equal to Pippen’s VORP + Rodman’s VORP + Kukoc’s VORP.

Comparing 2017 Curry to 1998 Pippen is just silly.

Regular season
Curry: 25, 7, and 5, 62.4 TS%, 24.6 PER, 79 games played
Pippen: 19, 6, and 5, 53.3 TS%, 20.4 PER, 44 games played

Playoffs
Curry: 28, 7, and 6, 65.9 TS%, 27.1 PER
Pippen: 17, 7, and 5, 50 TS%, 19.5 PER

Now do that same thing you just did, on any other teams in 98 that Bulls played in the playoffs.
Just pippen vs the other teams 2nd best player. LOLs.

Not accounting Dennis (HOF, top 75) and Tony (HOF, 6th man of the year), and Harper (20 pt scorer before sacrificing to join bulls)
Cause if you had to compare Dennis, Tony, Harper, to the rest of the players on other teams best 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th palyers, you'll be scratching your head trying to make a case for yourself.

[YogurtProducer]

Well KD never won a title without a super team..

all those finals teams with KD in them would be super teams and of course they would have won all of them, it's a silly question really.

Shows how stupid the average fan is that "all" has this many votes.

You just add prime 32ppg 50/40/90 KD to any team that has ever made the finals and the team he gets added to wins. End of story.

[bledredwine]

Next up - What if Michael Jordan formed superteams in free agency? How many rings would he have?

What if he teamed up with David Robinson?

... wait I forgot, we only have the coping hypothetical threads.

we don't have to have those what ifs because the bulls front office did all the work of forming super teams for him.

Interesting.

In which series did the teammates outperform him? Because there have been several times Wade, Davis have outperformed Lebron or equal led his production. Did he have a teammate like Kyrie averaging 27 ppg in the finals and outplaying the other team’s best player?

How about the 91 through 93 threepeat? In what universe do you consider that a super team?

[ScrantonBulls]

Next up - What if Michael Jordan formed superteams in free agency? How many rings would he have?

What if he teamed up with David Robinson?

... wait I forgot, we only have the coping hypothetical threads.

we don't have to have those what ifs because the bulls front office did all the work of forming super teams for him.

Interesting.

In which series did the teammates outperform him? Because there have been several times Wade, Davis have outperformed Lebron or equal led his production. Did he have a teammate like Kyrie averaging 27 ppg in the finals and outplaying the other team’s best player?

How about the 91 through 93 threepeat? In what universe do you consider that a super team?

Oh, you mean the team that went 55-27 after he left? The team that was so good, it only won 2 fewer games after removing a top 3 all-time player? Imagine adding a top 3 all time player in their prime to a team that could win 55 games and trying to claim it wasn't a superteam.

I get it. You're an MJ fan first and foremost, so you take every opportunity you can to downplay and slander other players on those Bulls teams. That way the myth of MJ is stronger in your mind.

It's OK to admit that MJ played on superteams that clearly had better supporting casts than other teams. It's just a fact. It isn't a knock against him.

[NZB2323]

Same with mj

The 98 Bulls were not a super team. Jordan was the only all-star. Pippen played in 44 games and had a back injury in game 6 of the finals, the only game in NBA finals history where 1 player(Jordan) outscored all of his teammates. In the last 2 minutes Jordan scored, stole the ball, and scored again. No other Chicago Bulls touched the ball. No other Chicago Bulls averaged 17 or more ppg during the playoffs. Dennis Rodman didn’t make an all-defensive team and washed out of the league afterwards. Luc Longley was the starting center and only played in 58 games and missed 3 playoff games due to injuries that would lead to his retirement in 2001. It’s the oldest team to ever win a championship.

1998 was a carry job. Jordan’s VORP in the regular season and playoffs is almost equal to Pippen’s VORP + Rodman’s VORP + Kukoc’s VORP.

Comparing 2017 Curry to 1998 Pippen is just silly.

Regular season
Curry: 25, 7, and 5, 62.4 TS%, 24.6 PER, 79 games played
Pippen: 19, 6, and 5, 53.3 TS%, 20.4 PER, 44 games played

Playoffs
Curry: 28, 7, and 6, 65.9 TS%, 27.1 PER
Pippen: 17, 7, and 5, 50 TS%, 19.5 PER

Now do that same thing you just did, on any other teams in 98 that Bulls played in the playoffs.
Just pippen vs the other teams 2nd best player. LOLs.

Not accounting Dennis (HOF, top 75) and Tony (HOF, 6th man of the year), and Harper (20 pt scorer before sacrificing to join bulls)
Cause if you had to compare Dennis, Tony, Harper, to the rest of the players on other teams best 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th palyers, you'll be scratching your head trying to make a case for yourself.

Kukoc was 6th man of the year in 1996, not 1998. He is in the HOF based on his international accomplishments. He never made an all-star team.

Rodman wasn’t in his prime and was 36.

Ron Harper was 34 years old and was 4 years from being a 20 point scorer.

Comparing the 1998 Bulls to the 2017 Warriors is silly. That’s like calling the 2022 Lakers a Superteam because they had LeBron, AD, Westbrook, Carmelo, Rondo, Dwight, DeAndre Jordan, Isiah Thomas, and Trevor Ariza.

You really think Jordan’s supporting cast was so much better than Reggie Miller’s? The Bulls won the series because Jordan had almost double the GmSc of Reggie Miller. Rik Smits, the Davis brothers, Mark Jackson, Jalen Rose, Chris Mullin, ect.

In 1998 there was an actual superteam of Drexler, Hakeem, and Barkley, who lost to the Jazz who lost to the Bulls.

[Iwasawitness]

Is this a joke?

Just because someone gets dunks and put backs, doesn’t mean they’re a legit scorer. You just tried to call Gobert a better scorer than Michael Jordan

Yeah, and Tyson Chandler/Deandre Jordan are the GOAT scorers. Look at their superior TS%… they just need to shoot more to be GOAT.

….

I can’t wait for leflop to retire so that we don’t have to deal with these obnoxious copium posts, hypotheticals and poor excuses.

Yeah dude, I’m sure that Jordan’s Bulls would be terrified of the Brunson Knicks and all of the insane big scorers like Gobert would have Hakeem and Shaq shaking in their boots. Steve Kerr is the GOAT 3 point shooter and would dominate Steph with more shots put up since only percentage matters instead of volume/shot creation, right?

It’s also funny how the Lebron fans are throwing Durant all of this praise all of a sudden.

Well, one things for sure.
You wouldn’t see Durant badly outplaying MJ like he did Lebron and Pippen/MJ tandem would not choose to stop guarding him entirely in the finals like lechoke did! Now that TS and volume that Durant put on lebron’s head? That was crazy.

The fact that you don't get it says it all really

The meltdown was fun though.

Nah, you don't get it.

With the spacing, it's way easier to get to the rack. You're right that some power has been taken from the bigs.

Anyone who think this is one-sided (only one type of player benefits, there being no give and take between eras) doesn't understand basketball, point blank. Trying to claim that Gobert would dominate in an era with Robinson, Hakeem, Shaq is laughable though. You can make a poll for that if you don't believe me.

And for the record, your post was genuinely funny!

Nah bled, you definitely do not get it. Your lack of self awareness is very concerning.

[ScrantonBulls]

The 98 Bulls were not a super team. Jordan was the only all-star. Pippen played in 44 games and had a back injury in game 6 of the finals, the only game in NBA finals history where 1 player(Jordan) outscored all of his teammates. In the last 2 minutes Jordan scored, stole the ball, and scored again. No other Chicago Bulls touched the ball. No other Chicago Bulls averaged 17 or more ppg during the playoffs. Dennis Rodman didn’t make an all-defensive team and washed out of the league afterwards. Luc Longley was the starting center and only played in 58 games and missed 3 playoff games due to injuries that would lead to his retirement in 2001. It’s the oldest team to ever win a championship.

1998 was a carry job. Jordan’s VORP in the regular season and playoffs is almost equal to Pippen’s VORP + Rodman’s VORP + Kukoc’s VORP.

Comparing 2017 Curry to 1998 Pippen is just silly.

Regular season
Curry: 25, 7, and 5, 62.4 TS%, 24.6 PER, 79 games played
Pippen: 19, 6, and 5, 53.3 TS%, 20.4 PER, 44 games played

Playoffs
Curry: 28, 7, and 6, 65.9 TS%, 27.1 PER
Pippen: 17, 7, and 5, 50 TS%, 19.5 PER

Now do that same thing you just did, on any other teams in 98 that Bulls played in the playoffs.
Just pippen vs the other teams 2nd best player. LOLs.

Not accounting Dennis (HOF, top 75) and Tony (HOF, 6th man of the year), and Harper (20 pt scorer before sacrificing to join bulls)
Cause if you had to compare Dennis, Tony, Harper, to the rest of the players on other teams best 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th palyers, you'll be scratching your head trying to make a case for yourself.

Kukoc was 6th man of the year in 1996, not 1998. He is in the HOF based on his international accomplishments. He never made an all-star team.

Rodman wasn’t in his prime and was 36.

Ron Harper was 34 years old and was 4 years from being a 20 point scorer.

Comparing the 1998 Bulls to the 2017 Warriors is silly. That’s like calling the 2022 Lakers a Superteam because they had LeBron, AD, Westbrook, Carmelo, Rondo, Dwight, DeAndre Jordan, Isiah Thomas, and Trevor Ariza.

You really think Jordan’s supporting cast was so much better than Reggie Miller’s? The Bulls won the series because Jordan had almost double the GmSc of Reggie Miller. Rik Smits, the Davis brothers, Mark Jackson, Jalen Rose, Chris Mullin, ect.

In 1998 there was an actual superteam of Drexler, Hakeem, and Barkley, who lost to the Jazz who lost to the Bulls.

Their finals opponents best players were 34 year old Karl Malone, 35 year old Stockton, and 35 year old Jeff Hornacek. That geriatric ass squad made the finals. That's how weak the NBA was at that time. Compared to the rest of the NBA the Bulls certainly were a superteam. Kukoc was massively important and a phenomenal #3 player for the Bulls.