The Greg Oden Watch "OFFICIAL" Thread...

This is the center who would beat the Bulls' SG. C is more important than SG. I was agreeing with this.

 

Bill Walton/Tom Owens vs. Luc Longley/Bill Wennington? Yeah that wouldn't be a bloodbath or anything.

Lucas would fucking murder Dennis Rodman. Also knock him the fuck out if he started any shit.

Johnny Davis would admittedly get torched by Jordan, but Bob Gross took on an in-his-prime Doctor J and matched him. I have no doubts he would do the same to Pippen.

Lionel Hollins vs. Steve Kerr? Hollins would be spending a good amount of time doubling on Jordan, so if Kerr scores his 20, so be it.

Perhaps the most intriguing would be Phil Jackson vs. Dr. Jack Ramsay.

In a 7 game series, this would be a complete toss-up.

 

Repped. Plus FUCK YEAH

 

I scrolled to the bottom as fast as I could and...

YES!!!!

 

I have used sources before to prove Denny wrong on the OT board, but this is a source that the Bulls fan CANNOT QUESTION.

 

Yeah Walton would’ve been a handful for those Bulls. They did have possibly the best rebounder and defender in the league in Rodman so I think he holds his own to Lucas. I’m just thinking the Blazers wings would get exposed bad; obviously Jordan would torch them same as Walton would torch Longley, but then the Bulls have Pippen too… Talking about Bob Gross matching up with Pippen is ludicrous.

I might rather take the mid 80’s Lakers teams with Kareem’s skyhook and Magic running the show to beat the Bulls. Or the Lakers team that was 15-1 in the playoffs with Kobe and an in his prime Shaq. I hate putting two piss and purple teams in there but for a couple of years Shaq was as physically dominant as any player, more so than Wilt when you adjust for pace and such. Thinking of Walton trying to guard Shaq is funny, he would’ve broken every bone in his foot twice. Yeah I know we are only comparing these teams to the Bulls, still crazy to imagine.

People always say Jordan never beat elite centers, but look at that 72 win Bulls team, they swept the Heat with Mourning, beat the Knicks with Ewing 4-1 who went to the finals two years earlier then swept the Magic with Shaq and a healthy Penny who had just been to the finals. If Jordan grew up a baseball player maybe Ewing has 3 rings.

Its interesting to think of who would’ve given the Bulls a run for their money but I still think if I have to put money on a team its probably them. Jordan was freaking crazy that year, physically rested from his baseball break but angry at hell from losing to the Magic the prior year. That defense with Jordan, Pippen and Ron Harper was unreal.

 

Yeah, and if Sabonis had decided to come to the Blazers 3 years earlier, maybe Jordan has a few less rings.

 

Well I guess my point is Jordan is knocked for not beating a team with a title winning center, but he beat teams with centers to win the title and prevent them from contending. The black marks on the resume of his competition is a result of his own success.

 

Agreed; back then, the east was stacked. The ECFs were considered the finals to a lot of fans, because nobody out west post-Magic Johnson Lakers could contend with the teams in the East. The Bulls consistently beat eastern teams with big burly centers, which says more about how weird the West was back then than anything.

 

Prime Dr. J >>> Pippen.

Sorry.

 

With Gross on Erving, the Blazers won. But Gross on Pippen is ludicrous?

Walton teams played as a unit. Comparing them to the Bulls by individual talent..well, Julius Erving, George McGinnis, Doug Collins, and Caldwell Jones were one of the most indidually-talented teams in Finals history. It didnt matter.

 

Absolutely! Gross didn’t have to worry about this other guy on the court called Jordan. It’s totally different when the defense can primarily focus on Erving.

Hey it’s a great moment to reminisce about and sad that we couldn’t have seen more of Walton. But saying they were the best team of all time is a bit silly. If the 1990 Blazers had beaten the Pistons I bet many would argue those Blazers were more balanced and a superior team.

I can’t imagine there is an NBA fan outside of Portland who would put that 1978 Blazers team above the 72 win Bulls.

 

I do think the '78 Blazers would have a great shot against the '98 Bulls though. Those Bulls were worn down on their third title run and not close to as dominant as a few years earlier. Rodman was older, Jordan while still the best player in the NBA was more reliant on fadeaways and freethrows. If Walton and crew could beat a Jordan title team it would've probably been that one.

 

That's because not many NBA fans outside of Bill Simmons KNOWS about the 1978 Blazers.

BTW, you are looney tunes if you think the defense could focus on Dr. J. They had George McGinnis, Caldwell Jones, Doug Collins, World B. Free... all All-Star players that could take over a game.

All I'm saying is the it wouldn't be cut-and-dried. The 78 Blazers might have been the best TEAM to ever play. The Bulls would have their hands full.

 

This. That 76ers team was considered a dream team of star players.

 

You act like the 76ers were a 1-man team. They were maybe the most individually talented team up to that point in NBA history, with 6 players over 15.0 in PER. (See link.). The Blazer defense had to focus on McGinnis (PER 20.8) as much as Erving (20.9). Erving was far better than Pippen at offense.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHI/1977.html

Walton was forceful in demanding his team play as a unit. After perfect passing in a play, if a shot was missed, he would growl at the culprit, "Execute!" the Blazers were more than the sum of their parts because they played so together as a well-oiled unit.

Ramsey got credit, but you notice that once he moved to the Pacers, he soon retired, complaining that the players no longer did what he told them. He had gotten spoiled from Walton demanding a clinic every game. Ramsey will die within a few months, so I'll write the truth here instead of in his obituary thread.

Anyway, comparing individuals between 2 teams leaves out what made us beat superior teams--our fierce team play. Plus, the 76ers were like a collection of all-stars.

 

I don't doubt the 6ers were hyped at the time. Yes we were supposed to be destroyed by that team and a huge underdog. They had the best dunker in NBA history! But we now know that wasn't a championship squad, those players never won a title together, and today Erving isn’t a top10 NBA player. At the time people may have thought they were watching the start of a dynasty, but it never happened. This was back in the day before expansion, only about 20 teams and less playoff rounds. If those 6ers were one of the greats of all time why didn’t they get to the finals the following season, or the season thereafter.

The 6ers had an entirely different roster when Erving finally won his lone title in 1983. The 1977 6ers were just a team on the long list of great contenders that couldn’t close the deal. I would rate the 1994 Suns well above those 6ers in terms of greatest teams to not win a title.

 

Its funny, I see posts talking about how the 6ers were a collection of stars and scorers without the concept of being a team. A team accomplishing far less than the sum of its parts. Then the same posts discount Scottie Pippen, the best complimentary player ever, as vastly inferior to Erving. Maybe those 6ers teams would've won if instead of Dr J they had someone to play lockdown defense, initiate offense, rebound the ball, shoot threes and take over as a scorer if needed. Pippen nearly got a Jordan-less Bulls team to the finals while paired with inferior teammates than those 6ers.