It's just simply arguing semantics, because we will really never know how one great team from another decade or era will fare against a similar juggernaut.
Take this edition of the Golden State Warriors, that has every expert, pundit and former NBA star debating whether their team would formidable against the Dubs. This time it was Richard Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace who addressed whether they’d beat this loaded and undefeated Warriors squad.
Hamilton, while joining CBS Sports, and Wallace, while on the Timeout with Taylor Rooks podcast, addressed whether the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons would be able to handle the Dubs, as they are currently constructed with Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and others.
“I think we’d dominate them,” Hamilton said, before quickly softening his take. “No, we don’t dominate them. I think we beat them in a seven-game series, and I think it goes seven. But at the end of the day, we match up good with them. We’re also bigger. We could have switched everything, one through five, against them. We had great defenders. Rasheed and Ben Wallace were some of the best perimeter defenders, not just on the block but also could guard guys out on the perimeter.”
Wallace doubled down on the narrative.
“We’d run through them,” Wallace told Rooks. “Not even close. We played defense. … The way we played, we would have locked them down. The things that we did in Detroit will never be done again on defense.”
As far as matchups go, the Pistons would have been fine with Billups and Hamilton matching up well with Curry and Thompson. Tayshaun Prince would have been a formidable matchup for Kevin Durant, as would Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace as well.
Any advantage for the Pistons would have come from Sheed and Ben Wallace owning the glass, while matching up perfectly well with the Warriors front court.
