Best All-Time Professional Basketball Team

When discussing the best all-time professional basketball team it is impossible to look over the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls. This team recorded the most wins ever by an NBA team in the regular season with 72 victories. This is three more wins than the second best record which is shared by the 1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers and the 1996-1997 Chicago Bulls which both notched 69 victories.

In 1995 - 1996 Coach Phil Jackson led a very talented group of players who had great chemistry together. Michael Jordan led the team with other stars such as Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. Other role players included Steve Kerr, Ron Harper, Toni Kukoč, and Luc Longley. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen obviously provided the team with great offensive talent but it was the team’s defense that made them so successful.

Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman were each selected to the 1995-1996 NBA All-Defensive First Team. Scottie Pippen is arguably the greatest perimeter defender to ever play in the NBA. Pippen would be assigned the opponents best player each game which lifted that pressure off of Jordan. This allowed him to conserve his energy to use towards the offensive end of the floor. The old motto "defense wins championships" was definitely truthful for this Chicago Bulls team. The Bulls won their fourth ever championship in 1995-1996 and this was the best basketball team Chicago has ever produced.

Michael Jordan blocks Hersey Hawkins.
Thanks to flickr.com for the picture. Source: Vedia

Other notable awards that players on this team won were the NBA’s MVP award. Michael Jordan won this honor averaging a league best 30.4 Points per game. Both Jordan and Scottie Pippen were named to the All-NBA First Team joining the likes of Karl Malone, David Robinson, and Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway. Phil Jackson won the Coach of the Year award and Toni Kukoč won the 6th Man of the Year award. Also, Dennis Rodman led the league in rebounding posting 14.9 boards per contest. All of these great individual efforts combined with the team’s ability to play in sync led them to become the best pro b-ball team of all time.

Dennis Rodman. Thanks to flickr.com for the picture. Source: Vedia

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The before mentioned 1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers had great aspects such as their NBA record 33 game win streak and hall of famers like Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, and Elgin Baylor. They, along with a few other teams, can be mentioned in the discussion of greatest of all time. However the '95-'96 Chicago Bulls truly dominated like no other NBA team has done before or after. They only lost two games at home during the entire season and posted an average point differential of 12.2 points per game.

These Bulls also grabbed the NBA record for most road wins in a season with 33. During these 72 victories, the Bulls notched both 18 and 13 game win streaks while posting an undefeated month of January.

Scottie Pippen. Thanks to flickr.com for the picture. Source: Vedia

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When it came to the NBA Finals, the Bulls were matched up with the Seattle Supersonics who led their attack with Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp. The Bulls took a commanding three games to one lead in this series before losing the next two games in Seattle. It was then in game six where the Bulls celebrated their fourth NBA Championship with a 12 point victory.

The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' unbelievable numbers, coupled with their cohesiveness and intensity on the floor, make them the greatest individual NBA team the league has ever seen.