Steve Kerr, who played for the 1996 Bulls, and coaches the current Warriors (although back surgery has kept him off the bench this season), spoke to ESPN about the omnipresent comparisons between the two clubs. During the course of his conversation, Kerr referred to the Bulls as a “precursor” to the current iteration of the Warriors, but it didn’t mean comparing Michael Jordan to Stephen Curry.
“I think the biggest similarity between the two teams is the versatility defensively,” Kerr said, highlighting Golden State’s underrated defensive prowess.
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“That was the first team I was ever part of or that I ever saw that would just switch 1 through 4. And we could even switch 1 through 5 when we had [Toni] Kukoc out there. So in some ways, that team was like a precursor to the Warriors. So with the right matchups out there, you could have seen 10 players all switching on each other.”
Golden State’s best lineups are small-ball units featuring 6-9 forward Draymond Green playing center. In the hypothetical ’96 Bulls vs. ’15 Warriors, Kerr envisioned Green matching up with “The Worm,” Dennis Rodman, in a battle of wills.
“I think Dennis was a real inspiration to Draymond, though, in terms of the hustle and the rebounding. Nobody's ever rebounded like Dennis since Dennis. He had a way of impacting games emotionally that reminds me a lot of Draymond. I imagine there would have been a few technicals involved. Maybe a fight or two,” Kerr said.
The discussion made some allowances to account for the differences in style of play from the 90s until now. Ethan Strauss, who conducted the interview said that hand checks would be allowed, but illegal defense taken away. Kerr diplomatically declined to comment, but the stats are compelling in the Warriors’ favor even accounting for this high-scoring era.
The Warriors are scoring 11 more points per game, which can be chalked up to the current game encouraging 3-pointers, and the Warriors having the best-shooting backcourt in league history. What’s harder to explain away is the Warriors’ plus-216 point differential as compared to the Bulls’ plus-125.
Kerr likely remained quiet because he did not want to commit basketball blasphemy and admit that it is possible for Michael Jordan to lose, even hypothetically.
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