What if Michael Jordan had Jabar, Worthy, and Cooper as teammates?

[MaD RoBoT]

The mid-late 90's was an extremely weak era. I don't even think anyone can argue otherwise.

The early 90's saw a lot of expansion teams which many say watered down the league. The second 3-peat Bulls team was nowhere near as good as the squad they had in the first 3-peat, but the second team was able to go 72-10. You know why? Because that was a weak era.

The Bulls also had a horrible record against the Houston Rockets. And the one chance Jordan had to go against Hakeem in the finals, it was the Bulls who choked and ended up losing to Shaq and the Orlando Magic in the Semifinals...And the Rockets ended up sweeping that same team.

i don't get this "'90's era is weak"

just because MJ dominated the era doesn't mean the league is full of bums during his time

these teams he shut down will have a field day running down today's league

re: Rockets-Bulls, sorry bud but '97 Rockets with Hakeem, Barkley & Drexler are the ones ended up losing to Jazz, and probably ending up losing to the Bulls had they reached the finals...Bulls were unstoppable that time

[MaD RoBoT]

then it would also be unfair to tout that unbeaten record at Magic since we're conceding that he ran into tougher teams

and lastly, going back to my point, Jordan WAS in that tougher era...he just never made it out of the east...when that era died out, his dominance prevailed...i dont think its a coincidence

the East was loaded with tough teams during that time

MJ's Bulls, Bird's Celtics, Zeke's Pistons, Wilkin's Hawks...they all grinding each other for the eastern title...whoever comes out on top definitely became battle weary

whereas Magic's Lakers never really had a tough opponents to face in the West

[andrew14]

I see the point that you're making, but i don't think it's fair to put Magic on a pedestal just because he faced tougher competitions than MJ did in the Finals. It's that same argument that some fans likes to use when comparing the athletes of today to the ones in the past. MJ Just so happened to be around when competitions were weaker in his era compared to the Magic/Bird era, and he couldn't have changed that even if he wanted to. Whenever he did reached the top of the mountain, he didn't managed to fail.

you are saying Magic/Bird and others experience losing and you see TOUGHER

challenges.... and saying it is very tough on that era.

wrong man. in that time they got all the tools in a team both magic and bird.

as well as dr j and others. they all got ups and downs.

but eventually lose to pistons. and chicago came along, magic got HIV and

bird got back problems and they are old that time for 10 seasons only starting

1979, where magic rookie year got his 1st ring with a hall of famer kareem,

jamaal wilkes, michael cooper and norm nixon.

so comparing to what chicago and jordan does. they got 3 championship with

MJ and pippen with pistons BADBOYS time gone. where all in the eastern

are all afraid of pistons that days.

and with rodman with another 3 where they are the oldest team in that time.

makes 90's a weaker ERA?

even though the rockets with hakeem got 2 championships without jordan on

that seasons, spurs with duncan and LA with shaq. it means jordan and

chicago is very consistent on WINNING on their Primes and their OLD time.

[Rocky Rode]

i don't get this "'90's era is weak"

just because MJ dominated the era doesn't mean the league is full of bums during his time

these teams he shut down will have a field day running down today's league

re: Rockets-Bulls, sorry bud but '97 Rockets with Hakeem, Barkley & Drexler are the ones ended up losing to Jazz, and probably ending up losing to the Bulls had they reached the finals...Bulls were unstoppable that time

No they wouldn't. Back in the 90's they all played at an extremely slow pace. People always talk about how much "tougher" the 90's were but that's a bunch of BS. With no hand check rule in place it was so much easier to play defense. The only thing a defender had to do back then was put their hands on the offensive player and push them away. That's literally it.

The elite teams in the mid to late 90's didn't have much athleticism (with the exception of Chicago). They were all defensive teams who relied on hand checks(or being "physical" as people like to put it) and slow the pace of the game down to a crawl to stop the opposing teams. Those teams would get demolished in today's NBA by teams like the Heat, Thunder, and (a healthy) Bulls team.

And those 1997 Rockets did dissapoint, but Clyde Drexler was past it at that point in his career and Barkley/Hakeem weren't exactly in their prime in 1997. In 1995 Jordan was 31 and Pippen was 29. Both in their prime. And no one on that team was older then 31. They were all prime. Yet, they still lost to the Magic.

[andrew14]

hall of famers

this are some hall of famers MJs competiton in their time. you can check their career time... some of them won championshps. but some of them NOT won a single one ring, but still they are competetive in their carrer. like ewing, barkley, miller, stockton and malone in MJs time. and comparing to LB and Magic they rivals on each other and both lose to each other.

Reggie Miller
Arvydas Sabonis
Chris Mullin
Karl Malone
John Stockton
David Robinson
Hakeem Olajuwon
Patrick Ewing
Charles Barkley
Joe Dumars
Jacques Dominique Wilkins
Clyde Drexler
James A. Worthy
Robert L. Parish
Drazen Petrovic
Earvin "Magic" Johnson
Isiah L. Thomas
Kevin E. McHale
Larry J. Bird

[andrew14]

No they wouldn't. Back in the 90's they all played at an extremely slow pace. People always talk about how much "tougher" the 90's were but that's a bunch of BS. With no hand check rule in place it was so much easier to play defense. The only thing a defender had to do back then was put their hands on the offensive player and push them away. That's literally it.

The elite teams in the mid to late 90's didn't have much athleticism (with the exception of Chicago). They were all defensive teams who relied on hand checks(or being "physical" as people like to put it) and slow the pace of the game down to a crawl to stop the opposing teams. Those teams would get demolished in today's NBA by teams like the Heat, Thunder, and (a healthy) Bulls team.

And those 1997 Rockets did dissapoint, but Clyde Drexler was past it at that point in his career and Barkley/Hakeem weren't exactly in their prime in 1997. In 1995 Jordan was 31 and Pippen was 29. Both in their prime. And no one on that team was older then 31. They were all prime. Yet, they still lost to the Magic.

wrong man. try to check where hakeem and MJ starts their career, and clyde

is only ahead of 1 year. charles is pick number 5 in 1984.

as you can see you said chicago lost to a younger team like magic.... still 90's

a weaker ERA?????

after that playoffs.. in the next season.. magic is swept by chicago in

playoffs.

[Rocky Rode]

this are some hall of famers MJs competiton in their time. you can check their career time... some of them won championshps. but some of them NOT won a single one ring, but still they are competetive in their carrer. like ewing, barkley, miller, stockton and malone in MJs time. and comparing to LB and Magic they rivals on each other and both lose to each other.

Reggie Miller
Arvydas Sabonis
Chris Mullin
Karl Malone
John Stockton
David Robinson
Hakeem Olajuwon
Patrick Ewing
Charles Barkley
Joe Dumars
Jacques Dominique Wilkins
Clyde Drexler
James A. Worthy
Robert L. Parish
Drazen Petrovic
Earvin "Magic" Johnson
Isiah L. Thomas
Kevin E. McHale
Larry J. Bird

You can't be serious with this list. I mean come on, you really put Parish? Sabonis? Petrovic? Bird? McHale? Magic Johnson? Those guys were not playing at a Hall of fame level in the 90's. Hell Sabonis and Petrovic only got in the INTERNATIONAL Hall of Fame because of what they did in Europe. They were never that dominate in the NBA.

And even the prime Hall of Famers you named aren't considered all time greats or anything too crazy. Let's be serious. Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, James Worth, Clyde Drexler, and Reggie Miller will never be considered ATG. They're solid players who put up good numbers. Not much else though.

[Rocky Rode]

wrong man. try to check where hakeem and MJ starts their career, and clyde

is only ahead of 1 year. charles is pick number 5 in 1984.

as you can see you said chicago lost to a younger team like magic.... still 90's

a weaker ERA?????

after that playoffs.. in the next season.. magic is swept by chicago in

playoffs.

The comparison is 1997 Houston Rockets to 1995 Chicago Bulls. I'm not wrong. Go look up their ages in those years if you want. Hell, Clyde Drexler retire the year after that. They were old. In 1995 the Bulls had no one on their roster older then 31.

The Bulls did get revenge the following year, not arguing that. But I'm not going to ignore the fact that they lost to them in 95 like so many people like to do.

And the 90's was a weak era. I can see a case being made for the early 90's not being too bad because some of the ATG's from the 80's were still playing at a solid level, but the mid to late 90's was weak as hell. The expansion teams + below average players in the draft watered the league down.

[MaD RoBoT]

No they wouldn't. Back in the 90's they all played at an extremely slow pace. People always talk about how much "tougher" the 90's were but that's a bunch of BS. With no hand check rule in place it was so much easier to play defense. The only thing a defender had to do back then was put their hands on the offensive player and push them away. That's literally it.

The elite teams in the mid to late 90's didn't have much athleticism (with the exception of Chicago). They were all defensive teams who relied on hand checks(or being "physical" as people like to put it) and slow the pace of the game down to a crawl to stop the opposing teams. Those teams would get demolished in today's NBA by teams like the Heat, Thunder, and (a healthy) Bulls team.

And those 1997 Rockets did dissapoint, but Clyde Drexler was past it at that point in his career and Barkley/Hakeem weren't exactly in their prime in 1997. In 1995 Jordan was 31 and Pippen was 29. Both in their prime. And no one on that team was older then 31. They were all prime. Yet, they still lost to the Magic.

you keep bringing up the "not so great" '95 Bulls when in reality that was hardly a shell of championship team that won from 91-93...only Pippen, MJ & P-Jax were the ones only left from the championship years...their roster were a mess, imagine Pippen & Kukoc playing for the same position and no one fills the void that Horace Grant left

1995 Magic were definitely a more solid team compared to 95 Bulls...they were younger & hungrier...MJ just recently came back from his baseball days and yet didn't have the grasp of his legendary skills he once displayed

'90's defense a joke compared to today? are you kidding right?

[MaD RoBoT]

You can't be serious with this list. I mean come on, you really put Parish? Sabonis? Petrovic? Bird? McHale? Magic Johnson? Those guys were not playing at a Hall of fame level in the 90's. Hell Sabonis and Petrovic only got in the INTERNATIONAL Hall of Fame because of what they did in Europe. They were never that dominate in the NBA.

And even the prime Hall of Famers you named aren't considered all time greats or anything too crazy. Let's be serious. Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, James Worth, Clyde Drexler, and Reggie Miller will never be considered ATG. They're solid players who put up good numbers. Not much else though.

wow, now i got to know what stuff you're smoking coz this one blew my mind for a second there

The comparison is 1997 Houston Rockets to 1995 Chicago Bulls. I'm not wrong. Go look up their ages in those years if you want. Hell, Clyde Drexler retire the year after that. They were old. In 1995 the Bulls had no one on their roster older then 31.

The Bulls did get revenge the following year, not arguing that. But I'm not going to ignore the fact that they lost to them in 95 like so many people like to do.

And the 90's was a weak era. I can see a case being made for the early 90's not being too bad because some of the ATG's from the 80's were still playing at a solid level, but the mid to late 90's was weak as hell. The expansion teams + below average players in the draft watered the league down.

why is it you're comparing '95 Bulls against the '97 Rockets? they're not even in the same era so i don't know whats your poin here? how about the '97 Bulls and '97 Rockets?