HAHA Miami

[PierBridge]

#1 George Mikan... everybody else is playing for 2nd.

Just out of curiosity had Jordan played in 2 NBA finals by the time he was 26 like LB has?

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Played in? 2nd place is just the first place of the losing teams. LOL

Windy

June 16, 2011 - In celebration of its 125th anniversary, in 2011, Sporting News is settling the score on the Great Sports Debates. This month’s debate puts to rest the argument of the NBA’s greatest teams of all time, with SN asking an All-Star panel of current and former coaches, players, executives and journalists to cast their votes. Led by Michael Jordan, the 1995-96 NBA champion Chicago Bulls earned the No. 1 spot. They won 72 regular-season games, the most all time, led the league with 105.2 points per game and were tops in both offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency.

Phil Jackson assistant Jim Cleamons said about the ’95-96 Bulls, “That team refused to lose. It was like, ‘Hey, we’re not supposed to lose.’ It hurt them every time they lost a game. That 72-10 record was their stamp on their quality of work and what they thought of each other.”

The NBA champion 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers, a team that won a record 33 straight games on the backs of Jerry West, Gail Goodrich and Wilt Chamberlain, are No. 2. The 1986-87 Lakers championship team, featuring No. 1 overall draft picks Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Mychal Thompson and James Worthy, is No. 3. Led by Larry Bird and four other future Hall of Famers, the 1985-86 Boston Celtics were NBA champions and make the list at No. 4. Anchored by Bill Russell, the NBA champion 1964-65 Celtics featured eight future Hall of Famers and ranks No. 5.

Coming in at No. 6 through 10: the 1966-67 76ers, 1982-83 76ers, 1970-71 Bucks, 1991-92 Bulls and 1988-89 Pistons.

The June 20 issue of Sporting News Magazine features Michael Jordan on the cover and is available on newsstands now. In addition to the NBA’s greatest teams, it also includes an NBA draft preview, a look into MLB’s fiercest rivalry, Reds vs. Cardinals, and a coaches survey about college football’s biggest issues.

[Northlander]

Man I cant believe I agree in most part.

[greebs]

greatest team ever debate is probably more open to speculation than greatest individual. think about it. say for instance you have jordan guarding magic and magic posts him up and does a hook shot but puts his elbow out and jordan hits it. who in the heck is the ref going to call a foul on? or the 72 lakers play the bulls and they use the longer 3 point shot line (or did they even have 3 pointers back in 1972?) take away the 3 pointer and chamberlain might dominate more against whoever the bulls center was.

really hard to pick against any of those teams when it comes down to it but still a fun argument.

[Mike_Top]

The game constantly evolves, so its tough to try and compare teams from different eras. In the 80's and earlier, the teams with the best centers and forwards like wilt, kareem, russell, mikan etc dominated the league, then in the 90's guards were able to impact games more. Even in the 2000's, guys like iverson, kobe, nash, lebron etc waaay overshadow the big guys. Its a different game now. Guys fast break, huck up 3's ten seconds in the shot clock, play one on one when the other 4 guys stand around, dunk 40 times a game, and just generally put up more shots. In my opinion today's average teams would absolutely run circles around the best teams of 30 years ago. But that doesn't mean that the 2010-2011 atlanta hawks were better than the '72 lakers...ahhh just my take on it.

But this is making me think about how great of a TEAM the 2011 Mav's are. They were just awesome to watch. Kidd, Terry, and Barea were amazing guards and Dirk was unguardable, marion and cardinal were great role player vets, and tyson chandler brought intensity in the paint...they just flat out played like a TEAM.