73 -9

I've been contemplating for the last couple months how I feel about the run of the Golden State Warriors this year. An increasingly prevalent story line for this incredible team has been their pursuit of the Bulls record wins in a season. 72-10 is the best 82 game record and occurred during the Bulls heyday when I was a huge fan of the team and Michael Jordan. It appears inevitable that this year's Warriors team will eclipse that record. How do I feel about that?

My initial perspective was that I didn't want them to beat the record. The Bulls were my team at the time that I played and was most interested in basketball. I want to remember that Bulls stretch as the best team in regular season history. But as I thought about it I found myself sounding like all those retired professional athletes that lament the game (not just basketball; baseball, football, etc.) that is played today, how pampered players are today, and how their teams would have kicked the teams of today's butts.

Here is the news flash to our father as well as the rest of the world: things change. Everything changes over a 20, 30, 50 year stretch. And just because it changes doesn't mean its bad, it doesn't mean the people involved aren't as good (as players or people), or that there is some nefarious conspiracy that favors current events. It simply means that things have changed.

In order to fill the void driven by 24 hour sports TV and radio, discussions about "the best players/teams of all time" and comparing players across generations have become necessary. The best 50 NBA players of all time. These are incredibly difficult comparisons and do an incredible injustice to all players or teams involved in the comparison. The game Julius Erving played was different than Rudy Tomjanovich, which is different than the game played by Michael Jordan, which is different than the game played by Kobe Bryant. I don't think Lebron would be as successful as he is today if he had to play in the 70s. And I don't think Jerry West would be nearly as successful if he had to play the game of today. Players and teams are a product of the game as it is played in their generation. They aren't better or worse, they are perfectly suited to the game that they played when they played it.

I'm not going to be one of those curmudgeons that wants my era of basketball to always be considered the best. The Bulls teams during the run led by Michael Jordan were the best of that era of basketball. And the current run of the Golden State Warriors is the best we are seeing in the game right now. I'm excited to see history, I hope they beat the Bulls 72-10 and I hope they win another NBA championship.

One other important component to me is that I like the Golden State team, I like their players, and I think they play the game the right way. It is a team sport and the reason they win is not because Stephen Curry is the best player in the NBA. They win because they play as a team. Curry is Jordan, Klay Thompson is Scottie Pippen, Draymond Green is Horace Grant. Andre Iguodala is Dennis Rodman. They've figured out how to put their egos and bank accounts aside and sacrifice just a little personal gratification to win the ultimate team prize. The San Antonio Spurs are the same way. And the Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder probably won't win an NBA title until their leaders learn the same lessons and are willing to make the same sacrifices.

Go Warriors!