littlesparky23
Well-Known Member
I am sick of all these MJ and LJ comparisons, so lets have a comparison between their right hand men Jordan's Pippen vs James's Wade/Bosh. In my opinion I would pick Pippen before Wade or Bosh.
A New Comparison
- Thread starter littlesparky23
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I'd go with Pippen because of his size (4 inches taller) and defensive ability. He could guard 3 different positions every game and sometimes 4 depending on their opponent. 8 time All NBA Defensive 1st team. Wade is know as a good defender but not to Pippen's level. I don't think he's made an All NBA Defensive 1st team once in his career.
EST1847
Well-Known Member
I was always a fan of the way the Lakers and Bulls won their titles. A couple of superstars and great role players:
Lakers had Kobe and Shaq plus a scoring wing in Rick Fox, a big guy who can stretch the floor and hit the 3 in Robert Horry and a veteran point guard, Harper and Fisher.
In the bulls second run they had something similar in Jordan, Pippen, Kukoc, Harper, Longley, Kerr and Rodman. Great TEAMMATES , not all just great players.
Both of those teams in their prime would take down the Heat in the playoffs.
Lakers had Kobe and Shaq plus a scoring wing in Rick Fox, a big guy who can stretch the floor and hit the 3 in Robert Horry and a veteran point guard, Harper and Fisher.
In the bulls second run they had something similar in Jordan, Pippen, Kukoc, Harper, Longley, Kerr and Rodman. Great TEAMMATES , not all just great players.
Both of those teams in their prime would take down the Heat in the playoffs.
This describes the Heat and about 95% of NBA teams that have ever won a title.
I would love to watch the Heat against both the Bulls and Lakers, the Shaq Laker title teams faced some of the worst Finals competition in NBA history.
thejumper5
Well-Known Member
Scottie Pippen was the first player in NBA history to lead a team in points, assists, blocks, rebounds, and steals in one season. He was arguably the best forward in the game in his prime. I would take him ahead of either Wade or Bosh.
Makavelihawk
Well-Known Member
I'd take Bron over MJ and Pip over Wade. I'd also take Rodman over Bosh. You stick Rodman on the heat in place of Bosh and they would be straight up unstoppable.
Bosh is severly underrated for the Heat. His jump shooting ability is critical for the spacing of their offense. Replacing him with Rodman would make the Heat much more guardable. They would improve defensively and still be extremely good, but I don't know if they would be better.
EST1847
Well-Known Member
The role players on the Lakers and Bulls were much better than any on the Heat. Bosh and Wade aren't normal role players. We're talking multi-time all-stars not dirty work guys like Luke Longley or Harper were. The Heat own because nobody in the NBA wants to play defense and they have three guys that can beat you one on one. The NBA is get the ball to your superstar and clear out for him.
Makavelihawk
Well-Known Member
No offense, but you clearly do not watch the NBA whatsoever. Either that, or you have absolutely horrible analytical skills.
There's a reason the Heat didn't win until they got better role players like Shane Battier and why they have went to another level this year with the addition of Ray Allen and Birdman. They lost in 2011 to a Mavericks team that had a terrific supporting cast. You can't win an NBA title with just a few star players, you need a whole team.
The no one plays defense in the NBA argument is played out and just wrong. Also the Heat run a lot of really creative sets, they are far from a clear out team. If you want an example of a team that does a lot of one on one stuff than OKC would have been a much better choice.
trj
Well-Known Member
It is hard to compare, Wade's body is breaking down and it is breaking down fast........His game requires a lot of physicality, getting to the lane and getting out on the break is what he excels at 10 years in I just don't think he will be completely healthy again.......At 31 Pippen was still going strong.
LA's Finals opponents were terribly weak but the Western Conference was pretty strong those days.
In the 2001 playoffs the Lakers swept the Blazers, Kings, and Spurs, all teams with 50+ wins that season before beating the Sixers (another 50+ win team) in 5. This was the peak of the Kobe/Shaq era. A great them that made good teams look really bad.
The 2000 Blazers and the 2002 Kings were also very strong teams that the Lakers had to beat to in the West Finals.
Nobody that is good in the NBA wants to play defense. Good players and teams have to play defense. Also the Heat don't own the NBA right now. They have their hands full with the Pacers who have led the Heat for 64 minutes (the Heat had led for 19) in the first two games of the East Finals.
You should really tune in. Indiana has emerged with two young stars, Roy Hibbert and Paul George (2nd best player in the playoffs and soon to be top 4 NBA player overall). George is much like Pippen only better on offense but not the elite defender Pippen was, but then again not many are.
trj
Well-Known Member
That Sixer team was weak Iverson needed the ball in his hand so much you couldn't surround him with nothing, but role players.......Larry Brown did one of the all-time coaching jobs just to get that team to the finals.
trj
Well-Known Member
My bad..........Your 1st sentence implied that they were weak, then 3 or 4 sentences down I thought you were trying to imply that the sixers were a strong opponent. i got confused.
Let me ask you this, how much weaker were the Nets, Pacers and Sixers teams compared to that Piston team that won a couple years after?
IMO the Piston team from 2004 that beat LA in 5 was a pretty good team. Not sure I would call them great. Great coach and played great defense. Nets, Pacers, and Sixers relied too heavily on one or two players. The Pistons had more scoring options.
They played LA smart. They basically let Shaq do whatever he wanted but threw multiple defenders at Kobe. Shaq has started to become fat and lazy and no longer could dominate like he could during 2000-2002. Kobe had taken over as the alpha male of the team and the Pistons recognized that. Also LAs interior defense has horrible after Malone got banged up.
Going into the playoffs that year I felt the Spurs, Lakers, & T-Wolves were all better than anyone from the East and whoever survived would destroy the whoever their Finals representative was. But you have to give it up to DET, they left little doubt in the Finals that year.
sportstalent
Well-Known Member
This comparison is skewed because you are going to compare Pippen to Wade or Bosh, both of whom Pippen was a far better player than. As much as it pains me to say this, Pippen is one of the best players to play the game, but he had to play with arguably the best player in the game beside him. Now, do I think that helped Pippen greatly, absolutely, but he also was able to flourish in that role and not crumble when others in similar situations struggled.
There is nothing that Pippen couldn't do, which I can't say that for Wade/Bosh. Wade was a great player until the injuries began to pile up, but the thing is, he is still one of the better players in the game today when healthy, but he is not one of the greats of all-time. Bosh does a lot of little things well, but again, not an all-time great player.
The Laker, Boston, Bulls and Pistons teams of the mid to late 80's through the Bulls run in the 90's would own any team today, including the Laker teams with Shaq/Kobe. Why? They weren't just Shaq/Kobe or Scottie/Micheal or Magic/Kareem or Bird/McHale. The supporting casts on those teams had moments where they were all-start caliber players and also played as teams. I don't think the teams today are anywhere near as deeply talented as they were in that time. Also, those Rocket teams that won were pretty good and the Knicks, Pacers, Suns, Jazz teams had more talent overall than teams today.
The NBA is becoming a better league again and as much as people don't like the one and done, it is separating some of the chumps from going straight to the league and that is a good thing. I would like to see a two and done rule, but for some reason the NBA thinks they need to get these kids earlier. As a basketball fan I would like the two and done far better as it would still continue to separate the kids that just don't belong in the NBA from being there and maybe they get an education that they can actually use and not a year or two that becomes just a time in their life.
There is nothing that Pippen couldn't do, which I can't say that for Wade/Bosh. Wade was a great player until the injuries began to pile up, but the thing is, he is still one of the better players in the game today when healthy, but he is not one of the greats of all-time. Bosh does a lot of little things well, but again, not an all-time great player.
The Laker, Boston, Bulls and Pistons teams of the mid to late 80's through the Bulls run in the 90's would own any team today, including the Laker teams with Shaq/Kobe. Why? They weren't just Shaq/Kobe or Scottie/Micheal or Magic/Kareem or Bird/McHale. The supporting casts on those teams had moments where they were all-start caliber players and also played as teams. I don't think the teams today are anywhere near as deeply talented as they were in that time. Also, those Rocket teams that won were pretty good and the Knicks, Pacers, Suns, Jazz teams had more talent overall than teams today.
The NBA is becoming a better league again and as much as people don't like the one and done, it is separating some of the chumps from going straight to the league and that is a good thing. I would like to see a two and done rule, but for some reason the NBA thinks they need to get these kids earlier. As a basketball fan I would like the two and done far better as it would still continue to separate the kids that just don't belong in the NBA from being there and maybe they get an education that they can actually use and not a year or two that becomes just a time in their life.
