Editor's Note: Over the next week, NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports Chicago will try to settle the debate about who is the best NBA team of all time: the 2016-17 Warriors or the 1995-96 Bulls. Check out NBCSportsChicago.com for the Bulls perspective.
Right off the bat, let me apologize for being "that guy."
Well, actually, there's no reason to apologize.
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While I completely understand why some people enjoy the exercise of analyzing a hypothetical seven-game series between the 2016-17 Warriors and 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, I would prefer not to spend a single ounce of brainpower contemplating that matchup.
Why not? The answer is simple.
You can't compare apples to oranges.
In the time between Michael Jordan's fourth championship in 1996 and Steph Curry's second title in 2017, the NBA dramatically changed (in part thanks to Curry himself).
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In some ways, it's like a different sport.
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The 1995-96 Bulls averaged 16.5 3-point attempts per game --14th most in the league. In 2016-17, the Minnesota Timberwolves were last in 3-point attempts at ...
... 21 per night! (the Warriors shot the fifth most at 31.2.)
The Bulls had the NBA's best defense that year, but the players' brains were not configured to sprint back in transition and make sure they had a hand in Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson's faces 30 feet from the basket.
And how about this nugget (which I did not know until researching for this article) -- for three seasons beginning with the 1994-95 campaign, the NBA shortened the 3-point line to 22 feet all around the perimeter! Today, it's 22 feet in the corners and 23-feet-9 inches everywhere else. Imagine how difficult it would be to slow down the 2017 Dubs if they were shooting 3s from nearly two feet closer ...
Speaking of "slow down" -- the pace (possessions per 48 minutes) of Game 6 of the 1996 NBA Finals between the Bulls and Seattle SuperSonics was 81.2, according to Basketball Reference. The final score was 87-75.
Conversely, the pace of Game 5 of the 2017 NBA Finals between the Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers was 98.8. The final score was 129-120.
As I said earlier, it's like a different sport.
Additionally, other rules -- specifically hand-checking and illegal defense -- have changed as well.
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As Warriors coach Steve Kerr told ESPN's Ethan Strauss back in November 2015:
"It is literally impossible to even compare, because the rules are so different and the eras are so different. We would overload the strong side on [Michael] Jordan, and they would call illegal defense; and they would put their hands all over [Stephen] Curry, and the refs would call a foul.
That make sense?"
Perfect summary, coach.
The defense rests its case.