The Golden State Warriors are on a historic playoff run right now, having won all 14 of their games including 2-0 against the defending champion Cleveland Cavs in the NBA Finals.
Of course, the Finals are far from over and we all know LeBron James and the Cavs are more than capable of overcoming a two-game deficit, but that hasn't stopped people from wondering how this Warriors team ranks all-time.
And when you're talking about all-time great teams, the 72-10 Chicago Bulls are going to be in the discussion.
ESPN reached out to several Vegas bookmakers to see how they think this year's Warriors squad would stack up against Michael Jordan's 1996 Bulls team, and a majority had GSW as favorites.
According to ESPN,
"Five of the six had the Warriors favored, from as high as -8 at the MGM (per Jay Rood, vice president of race and sports at MGM Resorts) to as low as -2 at William Hill US (per Nick Bogdanovich, director of trading, William Hill US)."
"Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook manager Jeff Sherman set the line at Golden State -6.5 and a series price of Chicago +300 and Golden State -360."
"It's a different era now, and today's game is played at a pace unlike in the 1990s," Sherman told ESPN. "Players are bigger, faster and stronger than back then."
Factoring in the rule changes from '96 until now is also a crucial piece when exploring this hypothetical series. Matthew Holt, COO at CG Analytics, reportedly told ESPN via email,
"The biggest factor is what rules is [the] game being played under," Holt said.
"Being able to hand check would make the Bulls [the] favorite and their roster was built for that. In the no-handcheck era, the Warriors' current roster is much better suited and would have some serious speed and shooter advantages at several key positions."
Check out some of the numbers below.
