Hakeem, giving Michael respect (he's better than Lebron James!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqknJxwA_SQ
I have to say, the events surrounding Clutch City were lucky... Lucky for MJ that he wasn't there for us to whoop his butt!!! Amirite? Huh, who's with me *reaches hand in air for high-five
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"It's a good thing those guys can't ever get out of the West, because we have no answer for that monster in the middle." -Michael Jordan
Overall you seem like a Rockets fan because you said we would have beat the Bulls if we played them, but Maxwell did keep Jordan in check during the regular season games. I'm sure Jordan would have played better, but regardless, it was going to take more shots by Jordan to get the same numbers. And that would have hurt the team. Jordan teams were markedly worse when he was averaging his highest numbers. Look it up if you don't believe me. His teammates made him better, just like he made them better. Those Bulls had great teams, but so did we. Wait a second.. Tinman, you forgot that the "out of basketball shape" Jordan scored 55 points against the defending Eastern Conference champs 10 days after his return. The shape argument holds no water. The 1995 Bulls were not only inferior and complete, but they were far inferior even though they had a full squad. #BEST OUT OF SHAPE PLAYER EVER #MJ #55 #AGAINST THE KNICKS #WHO WON THE EAST THE PRIOR YEAR #TWITTER HASHTAGS ARE DUMB
It's a pity that we have to endure this absurd argument every year. Jordan himself, as has been pointed out (more than once), said that, "It's a good thing those guys can't ever get out of the West, because we have no answer for that monster in the middle." He also said that Max was a pain in the arse (to paraphrase) to play against. More to the point, we had a winning record against them in the early '90's. All things that have been pointed out here over and over and over again. Had we played them and Jordan (having never left) in '94 instead of the Knicks, it would have been a 7 game classic, a classic we would have won, in my humble opinion, and had the Bulls made it to the Finals in '95 with a healthy Jordan (and he was healthy and in shape, fools), we would have taken them in less than 7 games, because they simply weren't as good a team as previous squads in the early '90's (when we were beating them on a regular basis during the regular season). Where do people come up with this crap? With all due respect.
We were lucky to win back to back championships. We were lucky the Rockets were moved to Houston. We were lucky Hakeem was available when we had the #1 pick. We were lucky that John Starks went 1-17. We were lucky Anderson missed 4 straight free throws in game 1 of the 95 Finals. Every championship team needs a little bit of luck. That being said, I never want to guarantee a win over Michael Jordan, but I do not think his departure was the reason we won 2 titles.
The fact that we did not have to play Seattle (who had our number) in the two championship years was lucky.
The quirks of building a team... You lose some, you win some. There's no really perfect recipe to build a team against all types of schemes. At the end of the day, some adjustments can be made but luck really plays a part in getting a championship. It's not everything but it must not be underestimated.
