Michael Jordan’s Bulls, especially the version in the second three-peat in 1996, are widely considered arguably the best team in NBA history. The team was led by Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman, all of whom were very elite defenders, while MJ was probably the best scorer in the game’s history. The team also had excellent players like Ron Harper, Toni Kukoc, and Steve Kerr filling out the roster.
However, there is a dynasty in the modern era that did manage more wins than them, the Golden State Warriors. And then the team took another step towards becoming dominant when they added Kevin Durant to that 73-win core. The team cantered to two consecutive NBA championships and, if not for injuries, could have easily completed a three-peat as well.
So it’s easy to see why Draymond Green seems to believe that they could have taken on the Bulls. And he said as much at one point, something which earned him quite a bit of backlash from fans as well as media members. And people are still discussing it, for example, Gilbert Arenas.
Gilbert Arenas was interviewing with Vlad TV when he was asked about his thoughts on what Draymond said about beating the Bulls. And while he wasn’t immediately dismissive of the claim, he asked one simple question that is enough for a lot of people when it comes to this conversation.
“I disagree. By a dub? Beating MJ by a dub? I don’t know, man…With those two teams, you got a defensive-minded team versus an offensively-minded team, even though both teams can do the opposite. Go to 2nd, play defense, but it’s one of those things who stops Michael? See, they have players that can contain you, They might not stop Kevin Durant and Steph, but they have bodies that will give them a run for their money…
“You have more scoring power, so you’re gonna have to score but they got, you know, Rodman, they have Jordan, they have Ron Harper. These are all Klay Thompsons basically, better. You have a whole team full of first-team all defenders you know so I respect Draymond Green’s his confidence. I wouldn’t be happy putting my money on either one of them.”
Agent Zero makes some solid points when it comes to this, and his analysis is a lot more respectful than what a lot of other people gave Green. There is a lot to unpack when it comes to determining how such a matchup would go, but anyone being confident about beating MJ should think twice about it.
