What Was the Greatest Team In NBA History?

So ESPN finally finished their miniseries The Last Dance, its return to fawning over Michael Jordan and his team... I've forgotten what they were called.

Oh yeah, the Chicago Bulls.

It did remind people born after 1990, and thus too young to really remember the 1991-98 Bull dynasty, that there were once basketball players better than LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

Of course, there were also once basketball players better than Michael Jordan, and teams better than his Bulls.

So I decided to consider the great teams in NBA history, and figure out which one was the best.

I'm going to go by a single season, not by era. I'm going for peak performance here. So this will not be the 1991-98 Bulls vs., for example, the 2015-19 Golden State Warriors.

I'm also going to observe the Bob Ryan Rule of Basketball History. Ryan, the great Boston Globe sports columnist, knows more about the NBA than anyone else who's never played in it. On a 1996 ESPN Classic special titled The Great Debate, which aired within weeks of the Bulls' record-setting 72-win title season, he was a panelist, suggested that the 1986 Boston Celtics were the greatest team ever, and pointed out that the rules used to be different.

Specifically, he said that the 1954 institution of the 24-second shot clock completely changed the game, and rendered what was great before then inoperative. He cited Joe Fulks, the scoring champion in the NBA's 1st season, 1946-47, leading the Warriors, then in Philadelphia, to the league's 1st title; and George Mikan, leader of the Lakers, then in Minneapolis, to 5 titles in 6 years from 1949 to 1954. Here's what Ryan said:

Before that, I'm not going to kid you. I don't think Jumpin' Joe Fulks makes it in today's NBA, except maybe as a 12th man. George Mikan? A good backup center. A great player, deserved every accolade he got. But, today? He's Greg Kite with a hook shot.

And that was 24 years ago, before we had Shaquille O'Neal at his peak, before Kobe played so much as a regular-season game beyond high school, before LeBron got to junior high, before we knew Dell Curry had a kid (Steph).

For my cutoff point, I'm going to use not 1954-55, the 1st season with the shot clock, but 1961-62, the 1st season with 80 or more regular-season games.

So here's my 16 teams, all seasonal NBA Champions, seeded by number of regular-season wins, and let me note that they were chosen for perceived historical significance, not for number of wins alone:

1. 1996 Chicago Bulls, 72-10
2. 1972 Los Angeles Lakers, 69-13
3. 1967 Philadelphia 76ers, 68-13
4. 1986 Boston Celtics, 67-15
5. 2000 Los Angeles Lakers, 67-15
6. 2017 Golden State Warriors, 67-15
7. 2008 Boston Celtics, 66-16
8. 2013 Miami Heat, 66-16
9. 1987 Los Angeles Lakers, 65-17
10. 1983 Philadelphia 76ers, 65-17
11. 1989 Detroit Pistons, 63-19
12. 1965 Boston Celtics, 62-18
13. 2014 San Antonio Spurs, 62-20
14. 1970 New York Knicks, 60-22
15. 1994 Houston Rockets, 58-24
16. 2019 Toronto Raptors, 58-24

Note that the team currently holding the single-season record for wins, the 73-9 2016 Golden State Warriors, lost the NBA Finals.

I tried to limit the number of times a franchise could have won it. But with the Celtics and Lakers, it was too difficult to limit them to 2, let alone 1. So they each have 3.

LeBron is here once, with the 2013 Heat, not the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers (57-25). I wanted to include the 2004 Detroit Pistons, who pulled one of the great Finals upsets of all time, defeating the "superteam" Lakers. But with a record of 54-28, I couldn't include them. Come to think of it, with all that high-profile talent, the '04 Lakers were only 2 games better than that over the regular season.

And as much as I wanted to include the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers, with a 49-33 record, I just couldn't. They were actually a better team the next year, 58-24. The aforementioned Bob Ryan pointed out that, for a year, from March 1977 to March 1978, they played as well as any NBA team ever has. But injuries did them in as far as the Playoffs were concerned: They went out in the 1st round then available, the Western Conference Semifinals (the round of 8), to their geographical rivals, the Seattle SuperSonics, whose 1978 NBA Finalists and 1979 NBA Champions (52-30) also don't make this list.

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So here's my tournament:

First Round

1. 1996 Chicago Bulls vs. 16. 2019 Toronto Raptors. Dennis Rodman shuts Kawhi Leonard down. That eliminates any hope for the Raps. Bulls in 4.

2. 1972 Los Angeles Lakers vs. 15. 1994 Houston Rockets. I love this matchup in the paint: Wilt Chamberlain vs. Hakeem Olajuwon. But the Lakers also had Jerry West and Gail Goodrich as outside shooters. If I had the '95 Rockets, with Clyde Drexler added, it might have been better. But, according to my own rules, I took the '94 Rockets, who were 11 games better (if not more talented). And I just don't see the rest of the Rockets holding off the rest of the Lakers. Lakers in 6.

3. 1967 Philadelphia 76ers vs. 14. 1970 New York Knicks. An old-schooler's dream. We know what Willis Reed, Walt Frazier and the rest did against Wilt and the Lakers of 1970 (won in 7), 1972 (lost in 5) and 1973 (won in 5). But the '67 76ers were a better team (if not quite a more successful team, by half a game).

The '70 Knicks had an 18-game winning streak, a record broken 2 years later when the aforementioned '72 Lakers won a still-standing 33 straight. But the '67 76ers started off 41-3. That's insane.

The '67 76ers had a 30-year-old Wilt to occupy Willis, Hal Greer to battle Clyde, Luke Jackson against Dave DeBusschere, Chet Walker against Bill Bradley, and Wali Jones against Dick Barnett. I'm sorry, my New York Tri-State Area brethren, but the men from the Convention Hall on the banks of the Schuylkill were just too strong for Red Holzman's well-disciplined Knickerbockers. Sixers in 6.

4. 1986 Boston Celtics vs. 13. 2014 San Antonio Spurs. Were these Celtics really that great, or were they just lucky that the Rockets had eliminated the Lakers? The Celtics had beaten the Lakers in the Finals in 1984, but the Lakers had beaten them in 1985, and would do so again in 1987. That's, as Bruce Willis would say, "just the fly in the ointment, Hans, the monkey in the wrench, the pain in the ass."

The aforementioned Bob Ryan said of the '86 Celtics, "How's this for a definition of the greatest team ever: The team that could beat you in the most different ways!" That's an interesting definition, but hardly a definitive one. He added, "And by the way, nobody could guard Kevin McHale! Nobody!" Tim Duncan could handle either McHale or Robert Parish. And who's going to handle Larry Bird? Maybe Tony Parker.

Look, if the '14 Spurs could beat the Miami LeBrons, they could beat the '86 Birdmen. That doesn't mean that they would, only that they could. The great teams of the Eighties were meaner, and Red Auerbach, by then only the president of the Celtics, could have done what he did to the Lakers, and turned off the air-conditioning in the visitor's locker room at the Boston Garden.

But Ryan had a point: The Celtics could beat you in various ways. A strong inside game with Parish and McHale. A strong outside game with Bird, Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge (later the GM who built their 2008 Champions). And a very good bench, including a healthy-for-once Bill Walton: Bringing him on was what Ryan called "saving my best for last, the one you cannot top!" Celtics in 7.

5. 2000 Los Angeles Lakers vs. 12. 1965 Boston Celtics. Prime Shaq and young Kobe vs. prime Bill Russell, young John Havlicek, and the meanest bunch of bastards in NBA history. Do the Lakers think the referees are going to save them this time? Against Auerbach's Celtics? Dream the hell on! You think Shaq is too much of a monster for Russell to defend? Russell had his problems with Wilt Chamberlain, but not always. The Boston defense would concentrate on shutting Kobe down, and this would be over quickly. Celtics in 5.

6. 2017 Golden State Warriors vs. 11. 1989 Detroit Pistons. Could Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson have handled Isiah Thomas and the rest of the Motor City Bad Boys? There is a precedent, although it's not basketball, it's hockey: The Montreal Canadiens of 1971 and '73 stopped the Big Bad Bruins of Boston, who won the Stanley Cup in 1970 and '72; and then, after 2 years of Cups by the Broad Street Bullies, the stylish Flying Frenchmen outplayed and swept the Philadelphia Flyers in 1976.

The 2016 Warriors proved that a better team could be worn down and beaten in 7 games. The 2017 and '18 Dubs proved that adding a talent like Durant could make a difference. Steph and Isiah cancel each other out, and maybe Rodman and Bill Laimbeer could handle KD, and maybe Joe Dumars could handle Klay. But the Warriors just had too much overall talent. Warriors in 7.

7. 2008 Boston Celtics vs. 10. 1983 Philadelphia 76ers. Kevin Garnett vs. Moses Malone. The rest of the Celtic "superteam" vs. Julius Erving, Andrew Toney, Bobby Jones, Maurice Cheeks? Child, please. Sixers in 5.

8. 2013 Miami Heat vs. 9. 1987 Los Angeles Lakers. Even at 40, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is not going to lose to prime LeBron. LeBron also has Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Ray Allen? Kareem also has Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Byron Scott. Lakers in 5.

Quarterfinals. Highest remaining seed vs. lowest remaining seed.

1. 1996 Chicago Bulls vs. 12. 1965 Boston Celtics. Don't tell me Havlicek and Sam Jones couldn't guard Jordan. Even if they can't, it's irrelevant. You think Luc Longley is going to stop Russell? The Bulls proved that an NBA team could be an all-time great team without a dominant center. But that's because the NBA didn't have dominant centers at the time.

The best was Hakeem, and we never got to see a Bulls vs. Rockets final. The next-best was Shaq, and while the 1995 Orlando Magic beat the Bulls in 6, that was when Jordan was working his way back into playing shape. They faced each other in the Playoffs again in 1996, and the Bulls swept. The next-best center was Patrick Ewing, and the only time the Knicks won -- indeed, the only time the Knicks have ever beaten the Bulls in the Playoffs -- was in 1994, during Jordan's gambling-related suspension 1st retirement.

No, I don't care if a team does have Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman: If their top center is Luc Longley, they are not going to beat a team whose top center is prime Bill Russell. Celtics in 6 -- clinching at the United Center in front of 22,000 stunned Bulls fans.

2. 1972 Los Angeles Lakers vs. 10. 1983 Philadelphia 76ers. Wilt was still great at 35. Moses Malone was at his peak at 28. And the Sixers were deeper. Sixers in 5.

3. 1967 Philadelphia 76ers vs. 9. 1987 Los Angeles Lakers. Maybe this should have been the Finals. The most talented team in each's respective decade. But while the '67 76ers may have been stronger, the '87 Lakers were a bit faster. I don't think Hal Greer, Wali Jones, Chet "the Jet" Walker and Billy Cunningham can keep up with "Showtime." Lakers in 6.

4. 1986 Boston Celtics vs. 6. 2017 Golden State Warriors. The Dubs already had their hands full with the Bad Boy Pistons. And Bird's Celtics may have been rougher. True, the Celts also had their hands full in their 1st-round matchup, with Duncan's Spurs. Maybe the Dubs' sheer athleticism wins out. Maybe.

Throughout their history, the Celtics have "gotten lucky." This time, "The Luck of the Leprechaun" might not be enough to hold off Golden State's sheer athleticism. Warriors in 7.

So that's "upsets" in all 4 Quarterfinals, after 3 in the 1st Round.

Semifinals

6. 2017 Golden State Warriors vs. 12. 1965 Boston Celtics. The Warriors have already had to handle the Isiah Pistons and the Bird Celtics. Now, they go up against Russell's battered bastards of Boston. A team that would do whatever it took to win, within the rules -- and, sometimes, not.

Honest referees might be willing to call more fouls on the old-time Celtics. And the Warriors might be too athletic and too fast for the old-time Celtics. But did the old-time Celtics have too much talent? They would have had the home-court advantage. The argument for the Warriors is that they beat peak LeBron, so they could beat peak Russell. It would be close. Warriors in 7.

9. 1987 Los Angeles Lakers 10. 1983 Philadelphia 76ers. In that aforementioned Great Debate, Bob Ryan's argument against the '83 76ers was that there was a team that could have beaten them. The Sixers swept the Lakers in the Finals, but James Worthy (then a rookie) and Bob McAdoo (by then, a veteran but a good backup for Kareem, and key to beating the Sixers in the '82 Finals) were both hurt.

If we presume that everybody is, and stays, healthy for this tournament, Moses might be able to handle a 40-year-old Kareem. And Dr. J might blow past Big Game James. So the question is, can Jones and Toney handle Magic? This is a Magic 4 years older and wiser than the one they handled in '83, 5 years beyond the one they didn't handle in '82, and 7 years beyond the rookie the didn't handle in '80. This would be some series. Lakers in 7.

This SI cover was actually done for the 1988 Playoffs,

but it was mostly the same team.

Finals: 6. 2017 Golden State Warriors vs. 9. 1987 Los Angeles Lakers. Finally, a Warriors-Lakers matchup worthy of the Northern California-Southern California rivalry so often intensified by Giants vs. Dodgers, A's vs. Dodgers in 2 World Series, 49ers vs. Rams, Raiders (no longer) vs. Chargers, Cal vs. UCLA in college basketball, Earthquakes vs. Galaxy, and, sometimes, Sharks vs. Kings or Ducks.

Athleticism and speed won't save the Dubs vs. "Showtime." Quite the opposite: The late 2010s Warriors are exactly the kind of team the '80s Lakers would have been well-suited to run ragged. Nobody playing today passes like the '80s Lakers. The 2019 Raptors did well enough at it to befuddle the Dubs in 5 games, and even they couldn't do it like Magic's Lakers.

There's another difference: Jordan's Bulls would beat you, and Jordan would scowl at you and let you know you'd been humbled; Magic's Lakers would beat you, and Magic would smile at you, humiliating you even more. Lakers in 5.

The 1987 Los Angeles Lakers: The greatest team in NBA history.