Steve Kerr Said Bulls Best but Were Warriors Better?
In the latest installment of The Last Dance, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr called the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls the best team he's been a part of.
The 72-win Bulls are a great choice indeed but Kerr also led a 73-win team that just so happened to add Kevin Durant and take a championship in dominant fashion the season after setting the regular season record mark. So which squad was actually the best Kerr has been involved with? Well, there's a case for each.
Bulls: The Bulls were far more than just Michael Jordan. Chicago probably featured the three best perimeter defenders in the league at the time with Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and Jordan. Not to mention Toni Kukoc and a host of solid role players. And even though it is impossible to fully account for different eras, perhaps no team would have been better equipped to deal with Golden State than that version of the Bulls. There's also the results. The '96 squad posted an offensive rating of 115.2 and a defensive rating of 101.8, so it is fair to say they were dominant on both ends, with a clutch scorer who happened to possess a fairly legendary will to win. And oh yeah, Phil Jackson was their coach, and he taught Kerr a lot of what he knows.
Warriors: 73 + KD. That's a winning formula to me. With another number, three. The Warriors hit nearly twice as many as the Bulls. That's a level of explosive potential I'm not sure any team, regardless of era, could handle. Even the Zen Master would struggle to figure out the Durant and Splash Brothers triangle. And Golden State was well suited to handle Chicago defensively, with Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and Thompson to throw at MJ and company. Then there's the playoffs. The Dubs ran through the league, losing just one game to LeBron James and the Cavaliers. The Bulls were hardly challenged either but even they didn't blitz the postseason in quite the same way. There's a reason so many said KD broke the NBA when he headed to the Bay.
I'm on record that the Warriors with Durant are the best team I've ever seen. I won't change that on account of a documentary. But if anyone could've given them a run, it was those Bulls.
