1994 Bulls w/ Reggie Miller vs 90's Finalist Runner-Ups

[Matt15]

How would the 1994 Bulls w/ Reggie Miller do against each the 90's runner ups?

'90-Blazers
91-Lakers
'92-Blazers
'93-Suns
'94-Knicks
'95-Magic
'96-Sonics
'97-Jazz
'98-Jazz
'99-Knicks

[falcolombardi]

I think they beat many of them tbh

Reggie would fit seamlessly alongside pippen and grant and give then the offensive punch they needed

[Stalwart]

Man, these Reggie Miller takes are getting increasingly more ridiculous. The only team they beat is the 94 Knicks. Reggie cannot duplicate Jordan's scoring or his defense. Also, the Bulls role players were as good as they were due, in part, to Jordan's leadership. Reggie isn't going to replace that either.

[Homer38]

Man, these Reggie Miller takes are getting increasingly more ridiculous. The only team they beat is the 94 Knicks. Reggie cannot duplicate Jordan's scoring or his defense. Also, the Bulls role players were as good as they were due, in part, to Jordan's leadership. Reggie isn't going to replace that either.

So you think who won 55 games and who add Reggie Miller after that is not enough to win more that 1 title?

[Stalwart]

Man, these Reggie Miller takes are getting increasingly more ridiculous. The only team they beat is the 94 Knicks. Reggie cannot duplicate Jordan's scoring or his defense. Also, the Bulls role players were as good as they were due, in part, to Jordan's leadership. Reggie isn't going to replace that either.

So you think who won 55 games and who add Reggie Miller after that is not enough to win more that 1 title?

I think its possible but not likely. The 94 Bulls began fracturing in 95. And after 95 Pippen's play was up and down due to injury. Its as possible for the Bulls w/ Reggie as it was for Indiana w/ Reggie.

[AEnigma]

Man, these Reggie Miller takes are getting increasingly more ridiculous. The only team they beat is the 94 Knicks. Reggie cannot duplicate Jordan's scoring or his defense. Also, the Bulls role players were as good as they were due, in part, to Jordan's leadership. Reggie isn't going to replace that either.

So you think who won 55 games and who add Reggie Miller after that is not enough to win more that 1 title?

I think its possible but not likely. The 94 Bulls began fracturing in 95. And after 95 Pippen's play was up and down due to injury. Its as possible for the Bulls w/ Reggie as it was for Indiana w/ Reggie.

First, the question was 1994 Bulls specifically. The 1995 Bulls did not have Horace Grant.

Second, while it is not relevant to the 1994 Bulls, Pippen’s body held up fine until 1998 (or maybe late in the 1997 postseason, if you prefer).

Third, those Bulls roleplayers sure did fine without Jordan in 1994.

Fourth, they had the league’s best manager and motivator as their coach.

Fifth, you really think the teammates Reggie brought to game 7 of both the 1994 and 1995 conference finals (as well as in 1998 against the Bulls with Jordan…) were better than the totality of the 1994 Bulls?

If Reggie was as garbage as you consistently seem to portray, what does that say about Shaq or Jordan that he got so close to upsetting them…

[DraymondGold]

Cool question! I tend to be high on situations like these where you add an all-star+ level talent to an already good team, especially when that comes at no cost to the team (not losing any starters/role players), and especially when the talent fits so wel tool. Reggie Miller was probably an All-NBA level player who would probably fit great on the Bulls. His off-ball activity would work great in the Triangle alongside good passers like Pippin. Clearly the Bulls' offense improves. Miller also wasn't a liability on defense. The Bulls even gain added depth by moving their worst starter (Pete Meyers) to the bench.

The 94 Bulls were +2.87 SRS team (11th), with a league average 14th ranked offense and a pretty good 6th ranked defense.

Compared to this...
the 90 Blazers were +6.48,
91 Lakers were +6.73,
92 Blazers were + 6.94,
the 93 Suns were + 6.27,
the 94 Knicks were + 6.48,
the 95 Magic were 6.44,
the 96 Supersonics were the best of the group so far at + 7.40,
the 97 Jazz were even better at + 7.97,
then the 98 Jazz dipped down to +5.73,
then finally the 99 Knicks were already worse than the Bulls at +1.45.

Given SRS, it seems likely that the Bulls would be favorites over the 99 Knicks even without Reggie Miller. I'd certainly pick the Reggie Miller Bulls to beat the 99 Knicks.

For this first pass using SRS, the question then becomes does Reggie Miller push the +2.87 into the +6 range (or close enough that they could pull an upset with good resilience or a favorable matchup). I tend to think something in the 6+ish range sounds right, so I might pick the Bulls to win over at least a few of those other teams.

[homecourtloss]

I think they beat many of them tbh

Reggie would fit seamlessly alongside pippen and grant and give then the offensive punch they needed

I think they can beat all of them but most likely wouldn’t.

Cool question! I tend to be high on situations like these where you add an all-star+ level talent to an already good team, especially when that comes at no cost to the team (not losing any starters/role players), and especially when the talent fits so wel tool. Reggie Miller was probably an All-NBA level player who would probably fit great on the Bulls. His off-ball activity would work great in the Triangle alongside good passers like Pippin. Clearly the Bulls' offense improves. Miller also wasn't a liability on defense. The Bulls even gain added depth by moving their worst starter (Pete Meyers) to the bench.

The 94 Bulls were +2.87 SRS team (11th), with a league average 14th ranked offense and a pretty good 6th ranked defense.

Compared to this...
the 90 Blazers were +6.48,
91 Lakers were +6.73,
92 Blazers were + 6.94,
the 93 Suns were + 6.27,
the 94 Knicks were + 6.48,
the 95 Magic were 6.44,
the 96 Supersonics were the best of the group so far at + 7.40,
the 97 Jazz were even better at + 7.97,
then the 98 Jazz dipped down to +5.73,
then finally the 99 Knicks were already worse than the Bulls at +1.45.

Given SRS, it seems likely that the Bulls would be favorites over the 99 Knicks even without Reggie Miller. I'd certainly pick the Reggie Miller Bulls to beat the 99 Knicks.

For this first pass using SRS, the question then becomes does Reggie Miller push the +2.87 into the +6 range (or close enough that they could pull an upset with good resilience or a favorable matchup). I tend to think something in the 6+ish range sounds right, so I might pick the Bulls to win over at least a few of those other teams.

The Bulls’ league average offense was really good in the playoffs (+13.5 rORtg vs. the Cavs, and +8.5 rORtg vs. the Knicks). These offensive results took place even with replacement level player Pete Myers in the lineup. For the regular season if you replace Pete Myers with prime Reggie Miller, you’re going to have a 60 win team, and a +6 to +7 type team. If the Bulls has better health and Pippen and Grant didn’t miss 20+ games, you’re looking at a very, very good team. In 1994, you had three Bulls with BPMs of +5 or greater—add Miller to this and you have a title winning team.

Honestly, I only see the ‘97 Jazz as clearly better, and I think the Jazz match up really well with them.