1996 chicago bulls vs. 2013 miami heat (all healthy) who wins?

[BASS_THUMPER]

Chi Town

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

wrong board.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

oh and who cares?

[Moranis]

The 86 Celtics would win!

I think MJ would own LeBron and he would be crying.  I think Rodman would if he is on that bulls team  would give them fits.  You might even see him put on back hard.  I think the Bulls could lock them down.  Jordan could guard Wade, Pippen would guard LeBron and Rodman would take down Bosh.  I think the Bulls would run their legs off.  No one could start Jordan but I think Rodman and Pippen would cause problems for LeBron.  LeBron on Jordan might work though but it would hurt his offense severely.

I think you are greatly underselling just how much faster, stronger, and athletic the Heat are as a whole.  Rodman couldn't guard Lebron in 96, which means he would be on Bosh, which leaves Longley trying to guard Haslem, Anderson, Battier, or Lewis.  Lebron is bigger, stronger, and faster than Pippen, which means he would have his way with him wherever he wanted.  Even Wade would be a problem for Jordan at that point in time as a result of his speed.  Chalmers would blow by Harper every single time down the floor.  Certainly on the other end of the floor a lot of the same things would be present, but Rodman and Longley aren't exactly offensive juggernauts, which would allow Bosh and Haslem a lot more free reign to help Wade guard MJ or Pip and Chalmers guard Harper (in the post).  Lebron would be fine on either Pip or MJ defensively and wouldn't need the help.  I could also see the Heat going big with Wade, James, Battier, Lewis, and Bosh.  That would allow Wade to guard Harper, Lebron on MJ, and Battier on Pippen, which would create huge match-up problems for the Bulls on the defensive end.

This Heat team, if it can close this season out, will go down as one of the greatest teams in history.  It has 3 HOFers in their prime (including one of the best players ever and who very well may go down as the best player ever when he is done), another HOFer at the tail end, and a lot of very strong depth and role players. 

[dark_lord]

[Who]

Chicago, definitely. Much better team.

This Miami side still hasn't reached it's peak level yet. Or at least, they should be able to reach another level. They are even better than they have shown so far. But as of now, at this level, they are not good enough to compete with the 1996 Bulls who were an absolutely incredible team.

[CFAN38]

Have to go with the Bulls

If just look at each team up top

MJ     = Lebron
pippen > Wade
Rodman = Bosh
Kukoc  > Ray

In terms of bench the Heat may have more talent, aged talent but talent but the Bulls had a better team dynamic with their role players.

The defensive matchups would have been very interesting. MJ given Wade alot of trouble while Lebron would have to deal with a combo of Pippen and the Worm.

[pearljammer10]

Bulls no question. Never underestimate the combo of Jordan and Sir Phillis.

[Fred Roberts]

Given this choice, I'd select the 1986 Boston Celtics.

[Mr Green]

The 86 Celtics would win!

I think MJ would own LeBron and he would be crying.  I think Rodman would if he is on that bulls team  would give them fits.  You might even see him put on back hard.  I think the Bulls could lock them down.  Jordan could guard Wade, Pippen would guard LeBron and Rodman would take down Bosh.  I think the Bulls would run their legs off.  No one could start Jordan but I think Rodman and Pippen would cause problems for LeBron.  LeBron on Jordan might work though but it would hurt his offense severely.

I think you are greatly underselling just how much faster, stronger, and athletic the Heat are as a whole.  Rodman couldn't guard Lebron in 96, which means he would be on Bosh, which leaves Longley trying to guard Haslem, Anderson, Battier, or Lewis.  Lebron is bigger, stronger, and faster than Pippen, which means he would have his way with him wherever he wanted.  Even Wade would be a problem for Jordan at that point in time as a result of his speed.  Chalmers would blow by Harper every single time down the floor.  Certainly on the other end of the floor a lot of the same things would be present, but Rodman and Longley aren't exactly offensive juggernauts, which would allow Bosh and Haslem a lot more free reign to help Wade guard MJ or Pip and Chalmers guard Harper (in the post).  Lebron would be fine on either Pip or MJ defensively and wouldn't need the help.  I could also see the Heat going big with Wade, James, Battier, Lewis, and Bosh.  That would allow Wade to guard Harper, Lebron on MJ, and Battier on Pippen, which would create huge match-up problems for the Bulls on the defensive end.

This Heat team, if it can close this season out, will go down as one of the greatest teams in history.  It has 3 HOFers in their prime (including one of the best players ever and who very well may go down as the best player ever when he is done), another HOFer at the tail end, and a lot of very strong depth and role players.

Gary Payton in his prime couldn't shut MJ down in the 1996 finals, so what chance would a 2013 Wade have on his bum knee? Especially if this hypothetical game were played under current rules and Wade couldn't hand check.

MJ would just trash talk LBJ until he cried and went home.

[Who]

I think Kukoc would be huge in this series. A much better player than an old Shane Battier or an even older Rashard Lewis. Miami have no answer to him.

I'd expect Kukoc to play around 30 minutes a night off the bench and for the Bulls limited centers to only get 15-20 per game. Against Haslem. Mostly Longley.

Dennis Rodman is good for anywhere from the high teens to low twenties in rebounds per game against Chris Bosh and this Miami side. He would absolutely kill them on the backboards.

Chicago were lethal at creating extra possessions. Both through dominant rebounding and the capacity to force turnovers. This Miami side has nothing on them. To beat Chicago, you have to able to compete with them in this area. A team like the 1986 Celtics armed with the greatest frontcourt of All-Time certainly fits that bill. This Miami side? No chance.

[angryguy77]

The 2008 Celtics were better than last year's and this year's Miami team.

The 1996 Bulls were insanely good.  Top 3 team all-time.

I'd take our 08 team any day against the Heat.

Bulls were a far better team than this heat team. Their size and bench were so much better than Miami's, it wouldn't be a contest.

[scaryjerry]

Bulls in a sweep

[Moranis]

I think Kukoc would be huge in this series. A much better player than an old Shane Battier or an even older Rashard Lewis. Miami have no answer to him.

I'd expect Kukoc to play around 30 minutes a night off the bench and for the Bulls limited centers to only get 15-20 per game. Against Haslem. Mostly Longley.

Dennis Rodman is good for anywhere from the high teens to low twenties in rebounds per game against Chris Bosh and this Miami side. He would absolutely kill them on the backboards.

Chicago were lethal at creating extra possessions. Both through dominant rebounding and the capacity to force turnovers. This Miami side has nothing on them. To beat Chicago, you have to able to compete with them in this area. A team like the 1986 Celtics armed with the greatest frontcourt of All-Time certainly fits that bill. This Miami side? No chance.

I actually think Bosh would do an ok job on Kukoc.  Bosh is a lot quicker and more athletic than he is given credit for.

Rodman on the boards would definitely pose problems for the Heat, but Miami is so offensively efficient that I don't think it would matter.  The Heat's top 3 scorers are all well over 50% from the field.  And if you look at something like eFG% only Norris Cole is under 50% on the entire team (of those that played at least half of the games).  Lebron and Battier were well over 60%.  The Bulls for example in eFG% have only 5 rotations player over 50% and 3 of their starters (Harper, Rodman, Longley) were below 50%.  The Heat are also a great turnover generating team like the Bulls.  When you make your shots and create turnovers, you don't need to rebound as well.  Also of rotation players, Chris Anderson is the second best offensive rebounder in that series and Haslem is the third best (obviously Rodman is 1st).  In fact if you look at something like TRB%, Rodman is the clear leader among rotation players (which also probably skews some stats), but Haslem is 2nd, Anderson is 3rd, James is 4th, and Bosh is 5th from both teams.  So sure, the Worm is a rebounding machine, but the Heat aren't exactly filled with bums like so many indicate, they just spread the boards out so no one has a huge number and because they hit so many shots they don't have near the offensive rebounding opportunities that other teams do. 

[Moranis]

The 86 Celtics would win!

I think MJ would own LeBron and he would be crying.  I think Rodman would if he is on that bulls team  would give them fits.  You might even see him put on back hard.  I think the Bulls could lock them down.  Jordan could guard Wade, Pippen would guard LeBron and Rodman would take down Bosh.  I think the Bulls would run their legs off.  No one could start Jordan but I think Rodman and Pippen would cause problems for LeBron.  LeBron on Jordan might work though but it would hurt his offense severely.

I think you are greatly underselling just how much faster, stronger, and athletic the Heat are as a whole.  Rodman couldn't guard Lebron in 96, which means he would be on Bosh, which leaves Longley trying to guard Haslem, Anderson, Battier, or Lewis.  Lebron is bigger, stronger, and faster than Pippen, which means he would have his way with him wherever he wanted.  Even Wade would be a problem for Jordan at that point in time as a result of his speed.  Chalmers would blow by Harper every single time down the floor.  Certainly on the other end of the floor a lot of the same things would be present, but Rodman and Longley aren't exactly offensive juggernauts, which would allow Bosh and Haslem a lot more free reign to help Wade guard MJ or Pip and Chalmers guard Harper (in the post).  Lebron would be fine on either Pip or MJ defensively and wouldn't need the help.  I could also see the Heat going big with Wade, James, Battier, Lewis, and Bosh.  That would allow Wade to guard Harper, Lebron on MJ, and Battier on Pippen, which would create huge match-up problems for the Bulls on the defensive end.

This Heat team, if it can close this season out, will go down as one of the greatest teams in history.  It has 3 HOFers in their prime (including one of the best players ever and who very well may go down as the best player ever when he is done), another HOFer at the tail end, and a lot of very strong depth and role players.

Gary Payton in his prime couldn't shut MJ down in the 1996 finals, so what chance would a 2013 Wade have on his bum knee? Especially if this hypothetical game were played under current rules and Wade couldn't hand check.

MJ would just trash talk LBJ until he cried and went home.

actually Jordan was well below his averages in that series.  The problem the Sonics had, was Payton expended all of his energy on defense and was just awful offensively.  I mean truly awful.  The two games the Sonics won, Payton was good offensively.  Had Payton been able to play both ends of the floor, the Sonics might have very well won that series.  He just couldn't do anything on offense.