Disagree.......I remember the Bulls quite well and except for Pippen, MJ's supporting cast was not that good. Love is touted as a superstar, so James has his Pippen. Jordan knew how to extract more out of those guys and was willing to take over when he needed to do so.
Disagree. 91-93 Bulls and the 96-98 Bulls were not simply MJ & Pip. They were perfectly planned rosters.
Besides MJ & Pip, the 91-93 Bulls had Horace Grant, an all star and a 15 & 10 guy. Add a 7-0 Cartwright, a former all star and regarded as the best defensive center in the league not named Hakeem. A full complement of 3pt marksmen each season that included Paxon, Hodges, Armstrong and Trent Tucker and a bench full of athletic all american big men in King, Livingston, Williams.
The 96-97 Bulls were the best perimeter defensive team in history. MJ & Pip were still MJ & Pip, Cartwright retired and Grant was gone to Orlando but replaced offensively with Kukoc and Longley and defensively with Longley and Rodman. They had a new roster of 3 pt shooters including Kerr, Kukoc and Buechler. But that team beat everybody on defense. Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, Harper and Randy Brown. Put any combo of them out there with Longley or Wennington and other teams were done. There will never be another team that could shutdown a perimeter like MJ, Pip, Harp and Rodman.
Pippen's overall stats and defense = better than Irving's.
Grant's stats basically same as Love's and Grant was a much better defender.
Player's 4 on for the Bulls were better defenders, better outside shooters and had a locker room full of ex all stars / world champions to add stability to team.
Now if the Cavs would have never traded Harp.... they would've broken that curse in 1990 or '91.
