I just want to mention that in the good old days the best teams would kick the crap out of the San Antonio Spurs or Los Angeles Lakers.
1980s consisted of 23 teams.
This knocks around 80 players out of the league.
Teams ran the ball, passed the ball, none of this standing around bullshit.
The current Lakers team on paper looks so great to everyone, Karl Malone is half the man he used to be, Gary Payton is not the 1996 Glove, Kobe is out of shape and to some extent his mind (Eagle, Colorado), no matter what anyone says.
Maybe they could win a title today, but in 1985, 1986 or 1987?
The 1972 Lakers featuring Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West were sick, but these players even in their younger years couldn't hold back Bill Russell and the Celtics team play. Not to mention Willis Reed, Earl Monroe and Clyde Frazier Knicks teams, among others.
But I want to focus on the two teams, the 1985 (or 87 whichever) Lakers and 1986 Celtics.

The 1986 Celtics had everything, no doubt, Dennis Johnson was a solid veteran, with great ballhandling ability and his defense was complete, Danny Ainge was a more athletic John Paxson or Steve Kerr with the all the shooting skills, Power Forward was Kevin McHale considered a master of low post moves, at Center was the Chief Robert Parish as solid as a big man you could have, blocking shots, scoring and running sweet pick and rolls with Bird, who by the way was the small forward on this team, he had just sealed his third straight MVP. I would like to see Deaven George guarding Bird, maybe Fox? [this team featured 7 players who had played in an All-Star Game, 4 players from the 50 Greatest Players List and three Playoff MVPs]
http://www.celticstats.com/season/8586.html
http://www.celticstats.com/player/larrybird.html
Look at 1985 through 1988 tell me about today's players, guys like Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan have nothing on these numbers.
1987 - 28.1 ppg 9.2 reb 7.6 ast 1.8 steals 1.0 blocks
(He was not the MVP either, tells you how good Magic was)

http://www.lakerstats.com/playerprofile ... ayerid=152
Checkout 1982 when Magic was 22, looks like a whole season of triple-doubles to me, Jason Kidd is like a ballboy next to Magic.
The 1985 Lakers had everything as well, starting at the point with Magic, what can you say about Magic Johnson? They also had Jabbar, Worthy, Byron Scott and Bob McAdoo, along with Michael Cooper and Jamaal Wilkes.
This team averaged 118 points and shot .545 FG% as a team.
http://www.lakerstats.com/indregstats.php?season=8485r
Check the FG percentages, yes they ran and got layups, but they didn't jack up threes and run constant clearouts like today. When I say today basketball in the NBA is ugly, this NBA was gorgeous.
Now I am not saying these are the greatest teams ever, I am saying that they were two teams that would have won 72 games in 1996 or 2003.
This is open for comments, but keep it real.
Compare the 96 Bulls to the 86 Celtics.
The 1996 Bulls featured the most dangerous player that ever laced up, no question, this guy pushed the 40-1 at home Celtics by himself in 1986 gushing for a mighty 63, so to say any team could beat this team perhaps might be biting off more than one could chew.
1996 Bulls vs. 1986 Celtics
There is one question here: Can Jordan go off for 55 points per game with Dennis Johnson in his shirt to counter the huge scoring edge the Celtics have in the paint? He has to if the Bulls are going to beat the Celtics. Pippen should be able to match Bird on the scoreboard & bother him on D but Pippen won't stop Bird overall. Bird can get his shot off as well as pass into the post where McHale & Parish can score over Rodman & Longley, plus McHale can hit the open 20 footers that Rodman will give him when he sits under the basket waiting for rebounds. The Bulls also have no match for the energy and fire that Bill Walton brings in off the Celtic bench, especially since Walton, McHale & Parish will have to extend themselves very little in one-on -one low post defense. When the Bulls guards are forced to double team the post Danny Ainge & Dennis Johnson will hit their share of the open shots. Ainge shot .386 from 3 point range in 1985-86. Scott Wedman & Jerry Sichting are a perfect outside shooting counter to the Bulls duo of Toni Kucoc and Steve Kerr off the bench. One final fact that is overlooked: In the 1986 playoff game after Jordan lit the Celtics up for 63 points the Celtics stuffed Dennis Johnson & some prudent double teams down MJ's shirt and held him to 28 points as they routed the Bulls in game 3, eliminating them from the playoffs. People also forget that Jordan poured in 50 in game 1 and the Celtics still won easily by 18 points. The 1996 Bulls are way better than their 1986 counterparts, but they have the same glaring weaknesses. The answer to the question above is NO, Jordan averages 40 to 45 points a game in this match up but the Bulls lose anyway because they get out gunned in the paint.
1996 Bulls vs. 1987 Lakers
This match up is plain and simple: If the Bulls "Big 4" shut down Johnson, Scott, Worthy and Green from the Lakers they can still go inside and get production from Kareem. The same cannot be said for the Bulls if the Laker's quartet hold their own against the Bulls "Big 4". Mychal Thompson is a big X factor for L.A.. Thompson was excited to be the final piece of the Laker's title puzzle as he brought in enthusiasm and intensity off the bench, similar to what Walton did for the Celtics in 1986. Toni Kucoc provides an extra offensive punch which the Bulls are going to need off their bench, but Steve Kerr's effectiveness will be limited when he has Cooper in his face. If Byron Scott feasts off the open 3 pointers he gets when the Bulls double team the low post then the Lakers could turn this into a blowout.
From this site:
http://pw1.netcom.com/~bjalas/basketbal ... eltics.htm
http://pweb.netcom.com/~bjalas/basketba ... lakers.htm
http://pw1.netcom.com/~bjalas/basketbal ... hbulls.htm
By the way these guys like Melo, Bron, Garnett, Kobe and McGrady are nothing new. Magic Johnson jumped center in the NBA Finals and eliminated the 76ers without their team Captain Kareem, Magic was 20.
Moses Malone jumped from High School.
Julius Erving was 22 when he averaged 27.3 ppg and 15.7 reb in his rookie year in the ABA.
http://www.basketballreference.com/play ... =ERVINJU01
People say give him time, well okay then, where and when is Tracy McGrady gonna win something? MVP? NBA Title?
He's almost 25 now, even Bird who was in College for 5 years had a title at age 24. His team may have been better than McGrady's, but that was because of Bird, not inspite of him.
I am not flaming anyone, only stating it like I see it. (I am not talking about Paul Pierce this time, and at least Pierce has won some playoff series')