I think any of the three could guard Lebron effectively. I'd agree that you would have the luxury of putting rodman on Lebron because pippen could easily hold his own against bosh. Rodman on bosh would almost be unfair. Pippin could guard all three guys, Jordan could stick wade or Lebron, and rodman could stick either bosh or Lebron. I say this because it makes it very easy for team defense, helping/rotating/switching. Whereas wade would be a defensive liability, as would bosh. Lebron could probably effectively guard any of the three bulls, but jordans quickness would give him fits. I know some of the younger posters will say that DWade guards 6-6/6-8 guys all the time. True, but none of them have the skill sets of a prime Jordan or even pippen. We make so much of pippen's defense, but he was a very above average offensive player too.
What? How is this even in question? If it was MJ, Horace Grant, and BJ Armstrong I would still take the Bulls team.
Rodman vs Bosh would be embarrassing to watch. Rodman would be cleaning up all the boards, would get in his head even before the games would start and then would shut him down on offense. Rodaman would score maybe 8 points but he would make Bosh score about 4 points (all on FTs after flagrant fouls just to get in his head and make him cry). Rebounding would be something like 22-3 advantage to Rodman. 3 rebounds for Bosh because sometimes if you are lucky the ball rolls out to you. Bosh*laugh* Haslem has more fight in him than Bosh. Jordan would dominate either Lebron or Wade with his post up game and his defense on the other end. He would trash talk to Lebron all game. He would give him 5 feet of space to shoot the jumper and would be talking smack while Lebron would go up for jumpers. Wade would win the matchup against Pippen but it would not be enough to offset the advantage Jordan and Rodaman would have
Wade and Lebron are fortunate they were coached by Pat Riley and Mike Brown to be good on defense. MJ and Pippen had Phil Jackson who is known primarily as an offensive coach and personality manager, and they were still great defenders. Retro-Hypothetical: Imagine if MJ and Pippen were coached then by Knicks Pat Riley, Larry Brown, Jeff Van Gundy, Gregg Popovich. Great defenders with actual DEFENSIVE coaching. If Bad Boys Pistons Chuck Daly was Bulls players' head coach for the 3-on-3, Heat players might be shedding tears AND BLOOD.
Magic Johnson, Clyde Drexler, Larry Bird, Tim Hardaway, Charles Barkley (played the 4, skill set of a 3), and a healthy Grant Hill in his prime (walking triple double) all posed similar problems on defense. I give them props, lbj and wade are borderline all time greats, but just as you say mj and pip never guarded players like them, I say lbj and wade have never been guarded by anyone like mj or pip. The greatest defenders of their generation were the likes of Shane battier and Bruce Bowen. Great team defenders, but lacking that combination of size, length, strength, and quickness to be lock down 1 on 1 defenders. Plus, and I hate to play this card, but today you are not allowed to touch lebron when he puts his head down and starts bulling his way to the rim.
none of the players you named are athletic freaks who can create for themselves like bron and wade. when did MJ and pippen guard barkley ? drexler was athletic, but nowhere near the all around scoring ability of bron and wade. larry bird ? cmon he was on his way out when jordan and pippen were coming into their primes. magic ? same thing and he wasnt an explosive athlete anyway. basically they never had face anyone similarly skilled to themselves. if lebron and wade played in their era, that would have locked people down JUST AS WELL as jordan pippen. they played in an era where more of the best players were big men, these days its really guard heavy. also the rules allowed them to be better defenders because you could use your hands a lot more. i will always maintain they were overrated defensively at least compared to today, and i dont care who gets mad. if they played today they would get burned just as much as anyone else.
This could only have been made by people who just started or hardn't watched much basketball in the 90s....it is no competition MJ, Pippen, Rodman on offense adn defense would devour and outsmart these kids leaving them frustrated. Only one who might do some damage is wade
I've read that Pippen guarded Jordan during practices, and that helped him to become the great defender he was. Surely you agree that Jordan was an athletic freak who could create for himself, right? In any case, the defensive liability in a 3v3 game would be Wade. He'd have to guard either Jordan or Pippen. Jordan was bigger, stronger, and faster than Wade. And as good a defender as Wade is, I don't think he'd be able to effectively defend Pippen, who has a 4 inch height advantage and far superior length.
Mentally: Rodman would do to Bosh what he did to McIlvaine--just stare at him and smile and he would break right there. He could then knock Lebron around to intimidate him, while MJ would trashtalk him into submission. Those three do not have the will to win that the oldtimers had. Especially MJ and Rodman. They hated to lose more than anyone. Lebron and Bosh just don't have the same instinct. Wade has a better mental game. But physically, Wade has no chance. I'm assuming MJ would be guarded by Wade, but Wade is 6'3" and has no chance of guarding MJ when he posts up. Not to mention the fact that MJ was both bigger and more athletic than Wade. Plus MJ, Pip, and Rodman have a very balanced set of roles: scorer/finisher, facilitator, and rebounder. No one knows who is the finisher for the Heat--their roles are still not set.
Bosh would end up as the flower girl to Rodman's wedding to himself. It seems like many of the posters here were just babies or were not even born yet when MJ played in the NBA, especially the early version. FYI MJ was practically guarded by all five players on the court whenever they played him. Yet, he still scored on all of them, at will. You talk about LBJ's and Wade's athleticism, well, how did the Air Jordan monicker come about? MJ was as freakish athletically as any NBA player will ever be. One of the greatest defensive teams of all time, the Bad Boys Pistons, designed defensive schemes utilizing their five players to contain, not necessarily stop, MJ. A book, The Jordan Rules, was even written about this. The Bird, McHale, Parish Celtics had their fill as MJ single handedly gave them fits in a playoff series. It could be MJ versus the Heat trio and I would still bet on MJ beating them. As stated earlier, Pippen is hated here in Houston, but no one can rightfully diminish his accomplishments as one of the greatest players of all time. LBJ's only claim to greatness is that he is the most hyped NBA player of all time.
This is a tough one, but having followed the Bulls religiously during the 90s and also watched a lot of the Heats game last season to know enough about their strengths and weaknesses, I would have to go with MJ, Pippen and Rodman. MJ can guard Wade. I would actually put Rodman on Lebron as opposed to Bosh simply because Bosh is a lot taller and requires more length to defend, which is where Pippen comes in. But the fact that Rodman provides zero offense does scare a me a little bit because he couldn't help spread the defense. But Rodman can dunk, make layups and even make the occasional three so they can't always double up on Jordan or Pippen and leave him wide open. So yes, the Bulls all the way.
You must be high. MJ and Pippen in their prime could guard ANYBODY on the planet. Lebron and Wade are good, but they're nowhere near the same level MJ and Pippen were in their late twenties.
Did you watch basketball in the 80s and early 90s? Clyde Drexler and Dominique Wilkins were super freaky athletes and explosive scorers. And they did all their scoring against physical defenses that Lebron and Wade have never even dreamed of. The real subject here is that Wade and Lebron have never seen defenders like MJ and Pippen. Not even close.
