The Golden State Warriors without question can stake a claim to being the best team in the NBA’s current era. Appearing in four consecutive NBA Finals and winning three titles affords them that right. According to Draymond Green, though, the Warriors deserve to be declared the best NBA squad of the modern era.
Green stepped into some precarious territory this week by entering into an arguably can’t-win debate by stating his current Warriors squad would be able to dispatch some truly iconic NBA squads from the past several decades.
In a discussion with ESPN’s Sam Alipour, Green makes the case that the Warriors in their current incarnation would be able to topple the dynastic Showtime-era Los Angeles Lakers from the 1980s and the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls who reigned in the 1990s.
“I’m usually very reluctant in saying ‘Yeah, we’re better than those teams in the '80s or the ’96 Bulls. It’s all subjective,” Green said on “Hang Time,” as transcribed by Clutch Points. “Do I think we could have beat the Lakers of the '80s? Yes. Do I think we can beat the ’96 Bulls? Yes. But I think we’d beat them in the way the game is played today.”
As noted by Green, such discussions are subjective. These kind of debates that pit teams from different eras obviously are merely trivial exercises and occur in a vacuum. No definitive conclusion obviously can ever be reached due to the respective eras’ differing styles of play, different rules, the list goes on and on.
That said, don’t expect discussions of this matter to continue, mostly because they’re an enjoyable and provocative pursuit.
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