The Lakers Are Better than the ‘96 Bulls

With the Laker’s starting off the season to the tune of a perfect 7-0, it is already time to begin comparing them to the 1996 Bulls, the greatest NBA basketball team of all time. The 1995-96 season was the first full year of MJ’s return from baseball AND the year which he led the Bulls to a record 72 wins and an NBA championship.

Every time they stepped on the floor, you just knew they were going to win. When I watch this years Lakers, I kinda get the same feeling… heck they are already 10% there.

This year the Lakers have an even better team than they did last season when they went to the finals. And we, like most people, have them picked to win the championship. But, in order for Kobe to get our vote as “Better than Jordan,” he will have to win more than 72 games. He should be able too… This Laker team is waaaay better than Jordan’s 1996 Bulls team. Don’t believe us? Well that is why we did a man-for-man comparison between this year’s Lakers squad and the 1996 Chicago Bulls…read on to see…

MICHAEL JORDAN’s 1996 Bulls vs KOBE BRYANT’s 2009 Laker’s

HEAD COACH

‘96 PHIL JACKSON vs ‘09 PHIL JACKSON = Phil is just as good now as he was then… maybe even wiser

THE STARTERS

MICHAEL JORDAN vs KOBE BRYANT = His Airness. Once KB24 wins one without Shaq, we will reconsider.

SCOTTIE PIPPEN vs VLADIMIR RADMANOVIC = Hands down Scottie

DENNIS RODMAN vs PAU GASOL = Dennis gave you 15 boards and 5 points a game, but Pau can get you 20 and 10 on any given night

RON HARPER vs DEREK FISHER = DFish is nicer b/c Ron Harper’s jumper was one of your broker

LUC LONGLEY vs ANDREW BYNUM = Andrew Bynum would dunk all over Longley

THE BENCH MOB

TONI KUKOC vs TREVOR ARIZA = Hmmm we say Trevor- he’s younger, more athletic and better on defense

STEVE KERR vs JORDAN FARMAR = Jordan Farmar b/c he is more then just a spotup shooter and he can dunk

BILL WENNINGTON vs CHRIS MIHM = We consider Bill Wennington a poor man’s Mihm

JUD BUECHLER vs LAMAR ODOM = Jod Buechler is white so we are rolling with Lamar

DICKEY SIMPKINS vs JOSH POWELL = Dickey Simpkins was the man… Josh Powell a DNP nobody

RANDY BROWN vs SASHA VUJACIC = Vujacic, by a hair, but only because Randy Brown had ‘D’

JASON CAFFEY vs SUN YUE = Jason Caffey… we don’t even know what Sun Yue looks like

JAMES EDWARDS vs LUKE WALTON = Good matchup, but Luke wins

JOHN SALLEY vs D.J. MBENGA = Salley, but only b/c he is a true legend… not just legendary looking

So as you can see, man for man, this year’s Lakers are better than the 1996 Bulls! But the real question is not if the Laker’s are going to win over 72 games or not, they should. The real question is…is Kobe better than Jordan? We say hell’s naw…he doesn’t even deserve to be mentioned in the same breath. Jordan had 6 Championships, each one won with him being the MVP of the Finals. Kobe has 3 rings, but no Finals MVP…all this means is he was not the best on the team at the time. Most of the credit for those championships are owed to the Shaq.

Kobe did not prove he is on Jordan’s level during last years Finals, during which they got embarrassed by the Celtics. Mike would have never went out like that in the Finals, getting blasted by 40 and only scoring 22. We knew if MJ went to the finals he was winning it and getting the MVP. But, the MJ haters and Kobe lovers still remain. Why?… we do not know, so why don’t you tell us.