Why the Golden State Warriors would still beat the 95-96 Bulls

Basketball is just better now

I hate it to break it to all of you that romanticize 1990’s basketball, but the game is much better now. Everything about it is superior. It would be illogical to suggest otherwise.

It’s common sense that athletes are better in today’s world. In sports like track and field and swimming, it’s much more easily quantifiable. In basketball, it isn’t. But the same principles apply. In a vacuum, today’s athletes are faster, stronger, and smarter. This is how the world works. You learn from the previous generation and build on it.

The quality of basketball being played today is much higher. Kids play all year long, honing their skills and adding to the game. Players, on average, are much more skilled.

Jordan and Scottie Pippen were fantastic players, but they also benefitted from playing in a worse era. One that thrived on isolation play, simplistic defensive schemes, and inefficient shots. Every generation builds on the previous one and this is the golden era of hoops.

I watched a special hosted by Ahmad Rashad in which he asked NBA legends Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain how they would fare in the ’90s. To no surprise, they said they’d dominate. They claimed that that era was much easier than theirs. Russell even said that his Celtics teams were the greatest of all-time; much better than Jordan’s Bulls. A previous generation arguing their clearly inferior game was better. Sound familiar?

Every previous reason amounts to this one–today’s game is a better product. Not only would the Warriors beat those Bulls, they would win by double digits. So would the 2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs.

Those Bulls deserve the title of “greatest team of all-time” for their amazing accomplishments in their era; but they aren’t unbeatable across time.