The Golden State Warriors have raced off to the best start in NBA history, and many fans are comparing them to Michael Jordan’s 1996 Chicago Bulls team — the one that went 72-10. The Warriors finally lost their first game of the season after 24 straight wins, falling to the Milwaukee Bucks in the second game of a back-to-back, the first of which was an exciting, but exhausting, double overtime thriller vs. the Boston Celtics. The Warriors recovered nicely after that loss, defeating the Phoenix Suns by 25 points.
Charles Barkley is not impressed. He discussed the topic in an interview recently, saying:
“That Bulls team would kill this little team,” Barkley said of the Warriors in an interview Thursday with ESPN Radio’s Waddle & Silvy show in Chicago. “Come on, man. Who is going to guard Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan? What about Dennis Rodman?”
“Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman — let me just start with those three,” Barkley said. “First of all they would love playing the way the Warriors play. It’s a much easier game now. Could you imagine how many points Michael would average if you couldn’t touch him? Dennis would get so many rebounds against that team. They are a very small team.”
(h/t ESPN)
Barkley needs to mention that the answer to who is going to guard at least one of those guys is clearly Draymond Green, one of the best defenders in the NBA. I too am of the opinion that that Bulls team would beat the Warriors, but I don’t think it would be the rout that Barkley would expect. The Warriors are a historically good team, and Stephen Curry is a historically good player.
Not only does Barkley not believe the Warriors would beat the 1996 Bulls, he doesn’t even believe that they will win the championship this year. He favors the San Antonio Spurs.
This is a fair view, and I believe that the Spurs have the best shot of any team to dethrone the Warriors. After all, they are playing defense at a historic level, led by reigning Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard and an aging but still very effective Tim Duncan.
I still favor the Warriors to win the title this year, but the Spurs are a close second. We’ll never know how the Warriors would fare against Jordan’s Bulls, but we will find out if Barkley was right about the Spurs winning the championship. We’ll just have to wait and see.
