Steve Kerr on ‘96 Bulls vs ‘16 Warriors

NO one is better placed to answer the biggest talking point in basketball than Bulls guard turned Warriors coach Steve Kerr.

IT’S a game played in basketball heaven — Michael Jordan’s 1996 Chicago Bulls against the Golden State Warriors team currently laying waste to the NBA.

But who would win? Steve Kerr might be sidelined from Warriors head coaching duties because of a back ailment but he’s still the best-placed man to decide this hypothetical match-up.

Kerr has intimate knowledge of both teams having played as a back-up shooting guard on that immortal Bulls team which finished the regular season 72-10 before cruising to the championship and coaching the Warriors to last year’s title.

ESPN.com’s Ethan Sherwood Strauss spoke to the three-point specialist about how this season’s Golden State line-up — which reigning MVP Stephen Curry has led to a 15-0 record — would fare.

“My initial thoughts are that it is literally impossible to even compare, because the rules are so different and the eras are so different,” Kerr said. “We would overload the strong side on Jordan, and they would call illegal defence; and they would put their hands all over Curry, and the refs would call a foul. That make sense?”

It does, but that takes some of the fun out of the debate. Let’s start with the biggest problem facing the Bulls — who guards Curry?

“The only thing I know for sure is I had no chance to guard Steph,” Kerr said. “So I would say, we would probably have had to put a combination of Scottie (Pippen) and Harp (Ron Harper) on Steph.”

Kerr said the versatility of both teams — particularly in small ball line-ups — would result in constant switching on defence. Offensively, the Warriors have a more balanced attack but the Bulls have Jordan. So who wins?

“I believe it would hinge on a step-back Steph Curry 3 over Michael Jordan at the buzzer,” he said. “And we’ll never know if it goes in or not.”

Warriors are on historic pace through the first 15 games of the season. pic.twitter.com/BSEa4AU8iy

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 23, 2015

CHASING HISTORY

The Warriors tied the record for the best start to a season in NBA history with a 118-105 win against Denver on Monday (AEDT). Now there’s talk of surpassing the record 72-10 season of the Bulls.

Golden State’s Klay Thompson is on record as saying 73 wins are possible for the defending champions. Curry thinks it would be a tall order — but has also indicated it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.

“We know how hard it was to win 67,” Curry told the San Jose Mercury news. “You feel like, what games did you give along the way? But we’re off to a better start than we were last year, and I think we have talked about we’re a better team, so a lot goes into that.

“That would be nice to hit (72 wins) and something that we would be very proud of obviously. It’s still more to the formula of winning a championship. We want to be at the best we can be, and if that’s 72, 73 wins, then so be it.”

— with AFP

Originally published as Steve Kerr on ‘96 Bulls vs ‘16 Warriors