Chicago Bulls - Cleveland Cavaliers

[LyXo]

Cavaliers Dynasty?

Fan Editorial by Seth Rosenthal | Nov. 30, 2005
Now I'm a Knicks fan, but in doing some thinking I have stumbled upon an interesting revelation that could be a little frightening for Eastern Conference fans.

Consider this:

Steve Kerr/ Damon Jones: Decent enough point guards who can bury threes like it's no one's business.

Michael Jordan/ Lebron James: Godly athletes who are by far the best offensive players in the league. Born team leaders.

Scottie Pippen/Larry Hughes: Excellent defenders and versatile scorers who are comfortable playing second fiddle in an offense. Team players.

Dennis Rodman/ Drew Gooden: Hard-nosed PF's who rebound well and can score. Good defenders.

Luc Longley/ Zydrunas Ilgauskus: Really tall, foreign, white guys who can hit jump shots. Rebound well enough.

Toni Kukoc/ Donyell Marshall: Better than average sixth men with great three point range and accuracy for their height. Clutch scorers.

Jud Buechler/ Luke Jackson: Goofy guys who can hit threes... and nothing else.

Dickey Simpkins/ Ira Newble: Guys with ridiculous names who stink at pretty much everything.

Now throw in the fact that MJ and Lebron share the number 23, Rodman and Gooden both have numbers in the 90's, and the similarities are just eerie.

If Phil Jackson wants another champship, why didn't he get on board with these guys!?

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This is kinda shoddy. I compare them more to the '90-91 first championship team, rather than the '95 team.

That year, they had:

Bill Cartwright: 11ppg, 6.5rpg // Big white guy in the post
Horace Grant: 13ppg, 8rpg // Rebounding/scoring forward
Scottie Pippen: 18ppg, 7rpg, 6apg, 2spg, 1bpg // All-around, defensive, perfect role player
Michael Jordan: 31ppg, 6rpg, 5apg, 2spg // The dominator
John Paxson: 10 ppg, 43% 3pt clip
Craig Hodges: 6.5ppg, 1.5 3's, 50% 3pt // Point guards who shot 3's like none other
BJ Armstrong: 8 ppg, 4 apg // Defensive PG, distributor

Not quite a similarity for big Donny and the rest of our bench, but the starting lineup is pretty interestingly close.

 

[RuanuLaw]

Its set then. NBA Finals, here we COME!

 

[highplainsdrifter]

Thats cool. LeBron is a different player than Jordan, but both have the intangible GREATNESS going. Our role players are similar to the Bulls players. It is so awesome to have LeBron on your team!!!

 

[KI4MVP]

I've thought about the similarities to the Bulls dynasties too. I agree the first 3peat is closer to our roster. For one thing, Drew is no Dennis Rodman - not even remotely close.

As for this

l Cartwright: 11ppg, 6.5rpg // Big white guy in the post

were you talking about this guy

 

[LyXo]

Oh oops.

Hahah. Way to do my research.

 

[Jimmy]

i was gonna say..lol, cartwright..white?? maybe on BONANZA LOL

 

[ootbttnlagitnbasf]

when jordan, pippen & co began their run, detroit, then as now, was the best team in the east. so the stage is set.

pippen is better than larry. pippen was one of the best 50 nba players ever. he could guard every position other than center. he was a beast on defense. he ran the offense as the point forward. hughes floor game is a notch below pippen: fewer rebounds, assists.

our drew is just an average nba power forward and cannot compare with either horace grant or rodman. grant was a tenacious defender who could rebound. drew is a bit more of a scorer, but the name of the game is defense. rodman couldn't shoot a lick but was a good rebounder and incredible defender who was able to defend taller and bigger players.

the biggest difference is in the two superstars. jordan is more of a competitor than Lebron. jordan never allowed his team to not make the playoffs. he hated to lose. he worked the rest of the team so hard in practice that they were improved when the games came. it helped them to have a pistons team that would not let them out of the east for years. that made them a better team.

and the bulls had jerky krause. the players never liked him but he came up with players like cartwright and longley and scott williams and wennington and kerr and buchler. all players that were available to any team, but krause saw how they could help the bulls win. then he brought in phil jackson and fired coach collins to put jackson and staff in control.

the cav's are set up the same way. just like krause, ferry needs to bring in a whole raft of players. jones is no paxson/kerr. hughes is like harper. we still need a pippen. gooden is like williams; we still need a rodman/grant. brown is not a doug collins, much less a phil jackson chief triangle.

 

[KI4MVP]

Jordan was the best player in college basketball at age 20, LeBron is arguably the best player in the NBA at age 20. Jordan making the playoffs every year in chicago is overblown. Only 3 teams in the east missed the playoffs. Jordan made it with 38, 30, and 40 wins his first 3 years, and went 1-9 in those 3 playoff series. LeBron missed the playoffs with 35 and 42 wins.

 

[RuanuLaw]

Jordan was the best player in college basketball at age 20, LeBron is arguably the best player in the NBA at age 20. Jordan making the playoffs every year in chicago is overblown. Only 3 teams in the east missed the playoffs. Jordan made it with 38, 30, and 40 wins his first 3 years, and went 1-9 in those 3 playoff series. LeBron missed the playoffs with 35 and 42 wins.

Yeah, and lets not forget that the level the games is played today. And the D is much tougher now.

Now that I think about it, LeBron might be the BEST EVER to play the game when it is all said and done.

 

[ootbttnlagitnbasf]

yes, the bulls did make the playoffs with only 30 wins jordan's second year. that is a very significant statistic. i wonder how many games the bulls would've won if he had injured himself and was only able to play in a limited number of games?

or............

i wonder how many games the bulls would have won if an injury had not forced jordan to miss most of his second season? does it matter?

in either event, the cav's have not assembled a team equal to the bulls and Lebron has not been able to get the cav's into the playoffs.

when michael jordan was 21 years old he was playing his junior year year with carolina. when Lebron was 21... oh, i guess that would be this season. so i'm not saying that lebron is behind jordan. i'm just saying that he is not ahead of jordan or even of him because he has not accomplished anything that jordan has accomplished.