Quote:
Originally Posted by RainMaker
Besides teams the Bulls faced in the finals who were all better than this year's Magic, there was always a lot of competition in the East. You had the Knicks who were perfectly built for that era of basketball. A Magic team that featured Shaq and Penny (along with some others). The Hornets squad was pretty good with Mourning and LJ. There was also some good Heat and Hawks teams from that time. The Nets had a solid squad with Coleman and Anderson while the Cavs were always a solid playoff team in the beginning of the era.
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You mention many "good" teams, but not elite teams. Other than the Bulls, the only other team you could put in that "eliteosphere" is the 90' Rockets.
Let's look at this decade (primarily in the Western Conference). The Spurs and Kobe/Shaq Lakers are elite teams. You could probably put the Pistons in there as well (with, like, seven consecutive trips to the conference finals). How about the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns at full strength? I'd take either of those teams over the Magic with an underdeveloped Shaq/overrated Penny and a Hornets team that did next to nothing. As for the Knicks, when were they relevant outside of that brief period of time when Jordan retired? Maybe I'll give you the Pacers, but I have trouble naming anyone on that team other than Reggie Miller, Mark Jackson, and Rik Smits. Only Jackson may have the stats, but Miller is the only one that screams HoF there. 1990 Hawks/Heat? Please! The current Hawks are better than those Hawks.
Methinks a lot of your arguments are steeped in nostalga instead of fact.