'93 Suns/'95 Rockets/'96 Sonics/'97 Jazz

[gengiskhan]

1993 Suns: Very Balanced. MVP. Solid Bench. Good chemistry. Could score at will. Average Defensively.

1995 Rockets: Weird Balance. Good chemistry. Solid Bench. Runner up DPOY. unpredictable at times . Plays better under extreme pressure. Great leadership from Phi slamma Jama twins.

1996 Sonics: Decent Balance. Great chemistry. Runner up MVP. DPOY. played great half court D. Could not score at will.

1997 Jazz: Very Balanced. MVP. Runner up DPOY. very good chemistry. Could score at will. Great under pressure. Solid perimeter Defense.

Its tough between 1 & 2 so......

1. 1993 Suns = 1997 Jazz

2. 1996 Sonics

3. 1995 Rockets

[Sarcastic]

There's no way in hell that 1988-1993 Barkley was good as 93-95 Hakeem. Barkley doesn't come relatively close to having the defensive impact of perhaps the GOAT shotblocker.
Offensively? That's alittle more debatable. However, I would take Dream's 94 and 95 postseasons over any of Barkley's runs. Additionally, 93-96 Dream- other than Drexler- had no other teammate that was as good as offensively as KJ, Majerle, Dumas, Ainge, Ceballos, and Chambers. Dream didn't have the opportunity to play on a team that made the second round without him the prior year. I don't care about Lang and Hornacek either lol.

As for this list, I think you can make a really strong argument for the 96 Sonics as the best team. They won 64 games. That half-court trap defense they ran was brutal. They could swarm any post presence (as I should know) and harass guards. Kemp was also underrated as a defender in the pain; when he focused, he was quite good. Of course, you had guys like Payton, McMillan, Askew, and Hawkins swarming the ball-handler and still have the speed to return back to harass the open shooter. That defense was so good and quick that some opponents actually questioned its legality and claimed that it was like a "zone". Offensively, they had the dynamic duo in Payton and Kemp; plus, they could shoot the ball like crazy. That team had like 7 legit outside threats.. set playoff records.. Too bad, they had to go against the GOAT and a top three/four team of all time in the 96' Bulls in the finals lol

Are you referring to 1980-present?

Shot blocking:
Wilt Chamberlain >>> Hakeem

[cdbleb]

Sonics
Suns
Jazz
Rockets

[Dream34]

Well, I did say "perhaps". I never saw Wilt play live because I- to put it bluntly- was not old enough to see the 60's and 70's. I know he did challenge Kareem and his skyhook in his twilight years so I'm not gonna deny that he's a great shotblocker. If I criticize Wilt, it's gonna be more so the about how the pace inflated his stats and his "wilting" in the playoffs. That's for another time though.. regardless, I still think Olajuwon is the best shot-blocker I have seen live.

[Micku]

Barkley was injured and they couldn't close Houston out, despite a pair of 20+ rebound efforts and a 34/14 Game 6.

93 Suns only have 1 of the three best players when matched against any of those: Keem/Drex, Glove/Kemp, Malone/Stockton.... Barkley and... Kevin Johnson?

Kevin Johnson kicked ass. Very underrated pg.

[Mrofir]

Kevin Johnson kicked ass. Very underrated pg.

he did and was and your avy is fantastic but really he's not in the same tier as stockton\payton ultimately which is why i argue barkley is not to be forgotten in the top 20 pantheon or higher

[Keith]

1.

The only team you listed that has a good center my personal favorite The Dream.

2.

Good team they could have won a championship if Michael Jordan wasn't born.

3.

I don't remember seeing them together in their prime but Glove was great and Kemp was a beast. Add Detlef that must have been a fun team to watch.

4.

Didn't care for them. If they didn't play the Bulls they would have lost to another EC team.

[ShaqAttack3234]

1995 Rockets were the best.

Their regular season record doesn't do them justice. They got Drexler late in the season and Hakeem missed some time around then so they didn't have that much time to gel, but Hakeem played at a level comparable to anyone in NBA history during that playoff run, Clyde was rejuvanated and capable of big games himself providing an excellent sidekick, Horry was athletic and versatile back then, Smith and Cassell gave them a good duo at PG and Elie played well too. Their role players were clutch as well. It's no fluke that they beat a 60 win team, a 59 win team, a 62 win team and a 57 win team.

With Dream dominating in the post and with his mid-range game as well as his passing, Houston's 3 point shooting and Clyde's all around game giving them the necessary second scorer and perimeter threat, it was just a matter of them playing to their potential. And of course, Dream playing at such a historically great level gives them an advantage over most teams as well.

1988-93 Barkley was as good as 94 and 95 Hakeem.

[Sarcastic]

1995 Rockets were the best.

Their regular season record doesn't do them justice. They got Drexler late in the season and Hakeem missed some time around then so they didn't have that much time to gel, but Hakeem played at a level comparable to anyone in NBA history during that playoff run, Clyde was rejuvanated and capable of big games himself providing an excellent sidekick, Horry was athletic and versatile back then, Smith and Cassell gave them a good duo at PG and Elie played well too. Their role players were clutch as well. It's no fluke that they beat a 60 win team, a 59 win team, a 62 win team and a 57 win team.

With Dream dominating in the post and with his mid-range game as well as his passing, Houston's 3 point shooting and Clyde's all around game giving them the necessary second scorer and perimeter threat, it was just a matter of them playing to their potential. And of course, Dream playing at such a historically great level gives them an advantage over most teams as well.

Not really surprised you picked the team that beat Shaq.

[Dream34]

The craziest thing is that we didn't have a true power forward during the whole time. Thorpe was obviously traded; our backup in Herrera got injured. The 1995 Rockets used scrubs like Chilcutt (who would just roam outside for long threes), Jones (a 42 year old guy), Brown (plays hard but has no offensive game and is only 6'6), and eventually Horry who was more of a three in those days. Just ridiculous.
That series against the Jazz was just crazy.. Dream tore them up even though he was still recovering from his iron-deficiency anemia. Maxwell- also had the anemia problem-went AWOL after missing the potential game-winner in the opener of that series too, but they still managed to pull that out. The whole Suns series and coming back from shutdown.. they almost lost that series too. Wesley Person-- a hell of a shooter-- had a wide open shot from behind the arc.. was halfway in. They went 11-2 to finish the 95 postseason- pretty impressive imo.

[Keith]

Bulls vs. Rockets would have been interesting. I think Houston would have won but we'll never know..
Hakeem was unstoppable inside and blocked up the middle.

[xxxSuperStar]

Rank these teams

Rockets (purely "The Dream." Nobody on the other teams could stop him, he could stop the other teams' bigs easily..and then add in The Glide)

Jazz (Best 1-2 Combo, great in finals with slow-down or transition)

Sonics (great for that year. GP means all)

Suns (Barkley isn't a winner. Period--too ball dominant. Too much short against the others' bigs etc. For as good as he was, he could be exposed, which he always was)

[Samurai Swoosh]

1 - 1993 Suns
2 - 1996 Sonics
3 - 1997 Jazz
4 - 1995 Rockets

[ShaqAttack3234]

Not really surprised you picked the team that beat Shaq.

What does that have to do with anything? They're also the only team on this list that won a title, they also have easily the best player of any of these teams, arguably the best sidekick of any of these teams and the best inside/outside balance. Not to mention that they seemed more clutch.

[Rose]

I'm not exactly sure how you chose the Rockets. IMO

Sonics
Suns(still wish Chuck hadn't gotten lazy after 94)
Jazz
Rockets