Just for discussion: If the current Heat team was a team during the Jordan and Hakeem era, the 90s, where do you think the Heat would be in terms of power rankings and their potential to win a championship?
I think Jordan's teams, of course, would be superior. I think any team led by a dominant center (Olajuwon, Robinson, Ewing) would be better as well. I'd put them around the tier consisting of the Jazz-Sonics-Suns.
Depends on the rules. If physical play and hand checking are allowed, I could see the Heat having trouble with the 92 Blazers, 94 Knicks, 95 Rockets, 95 Magic, and the 96 Bulls.
Bulls and Rockets would consistently beat them. Not to mention Shaq/Penny Magic, Shaq/Kobe Lakers, Robinson Spurs, Kemp/Payton Supersonics, Drexler Blazers, Rasheed Wallace Blazers, Barkley/KJ Suns, Ewing Knicks... Lebron's Heat would be a pretty good team, but definitely not a lock for finals and possible championship like they are right now.
If the rules were different, the team would be built differently. If this team wins a ring, it will be in the discussion for all time great teams.
Could you imagine Andersen, hasslem, and Bosh trying to guard Hakeem, Ewing, Shaquille, and Robinson? Mourning protecting the rim? Hell they'd have a hard time guarding the 4's of that era. The bruisers. Malone. Barkley. Kemp. Oakley defending Bosh. Different era with teams built for the half court game. I'd give this Heat team about 50 wins in the 90's and perhaps semis/conference finals.
You guys are underestimating Lebron here. Lebron might be better than everyone you've listed, including Michael. This is a special Heat them here. In a 7 game series, they could content with and beat any of the teams from the 80's or the 90's.
That gap between the centers and the guys defending them are just as big or bigger than the gap between LeBron and the guys holding him. The 95 Rockets would put Horry/Drexler on LeBron and the Heat would have to try to guard Hakeem with Bosh/Haslem. Do you really think LeBron has a greater advantage than Hakeem does?
It's not about which team has the best player. It's about which team has the biggest mismatch in its favor. Do you really think a 6'11, 235 lb Bosh can guard a 7'1, 325 lb Shaq?
Nope. But the other side of the court would be tough for any other team. Also, with modern rules, the Heat's defense is good enough to front and make it insanely hard for them to get good entry passes in. Defenses have evolved making it hard to be a great down low player when the other team is locked in on defense.
The current Heat are built just like the Jordan Bulls. The C position is just an afterthought, as many rebounds as possible and 6 fouls x 3 warm bodies. The biggest shame of the Jordan era is that he never ran up against a team with an all-time great center. If he didn't retire in 93-95, we really would have gotten to see what would happen when Jordan played against a stacked Magic team with Shaq and Penny, before the Magic got dismantled in 96 once Penny contracted brittle bones syndrome. I honestly don't even think they'd have made it to play the Rockets in '95. Same way with the Heat and Thunder of today's era. The key to beating them will be to place the best center in the league on a team stacked with perimeter threats. Basically, you would take Dwight and put him on either the Rockets or the Warriors. No other team could do it. Otherwise, the Heat and Thunder are gonna be vying for titles for as long as both teams can keep their cores intact.
Penny was just fine in 96 when the Bulls swept the Magic. Jordan also beat the Knicks who had an all time great in Ewing. The Bulls never played against Robinson and Hakeem but they beat teams with very good big men.
I'm assuming we're playing with the 90's rules. Which down low players are you thinking of? The only great down low player I remember who has been taken out of his game is Yao, and that's b/c he was 7'5, slow, and partially deaf.
