[Music] today's video is about one of the most highly discussed basketball theories in NBA history would the Chicago Bulls have won the championship in 1994 and eventually in 1995 5 if Michael Jordan had never retired in the summer of 1993 he left the game he loved to go-play another game he loved baseball fulfilling his father's dream after his tragic passing the thing is there's a lot of things at play with this hypothetical situation that a lot of people usually don't consider and today I wanted to tackle some of those aspects now one thing is for certain who the Bulls would have been going up against in the NBA Finals if they theoretically made it it in 1984 and 1995 wouldn't have changed as hem Elijah W's Rockets were the back-to-back NBA champions coming out of the Western Conference seeing that the Bulls are an Eastern Conference team they wouldn't have seen them until the NBA Finals therefore Houston's trajectory certainly wouldn't have changed at least until that point now before we get into this hypothetical situation we first have to look at what the Bulls lineup looked like when Michael Jordan was retired the first season after Jordan had retired was actually a really impressive year for Chicago they made several Acquisitions as they had signed the perimeter shooting assassin Steve Kerr they signed the versatile small forward Tony kach to an 8-year deal and they signed Bill Winnington to be a backup center this team was extremely deep as it had much of The Supporting Cast of the Bull's first threee and it has some of the quality pieces of their second three peat due to the fact that this team was well coached by Phil Jackson Scotti Pippen had a career year and they were extremely deep they won 55 games in that regular season and made it all the way to game seven of the Eastern Conference semifinals before they were controversially eliminated by the New York Knicks their 93 to 94 season was certainly better than their 94 to 95 season as their second year after Jordan's departure was a lot more tumultuous as there was chemistry issues execution issues and there was the lack of forest Grant who had left in the off season and had signed with an Eastern Conference contender in the Orlando Magic due to this Chicago was really struggling up until Jordan returned with 17 games left in the regular season as most of you all know Michael Jordan did help his Bulls to make it into the playoffs before they were eventually eliminated by Shaq Penny Horus Grant and the Orlando Magic one of the most common narratives about this season is that Michael Jordan wasn't yet back into basketball shape even in the Last Dance documentary Michael Jordan and his physical trainer talked about how he was still in baseball shape he hadn't quite got rid of his baseball body and got back into his basketball form and because of that he wasn't quite at 100% just yet do I agree with that narrative yes to a certain extent Jordan was definitely a little bit Rusty but with that being said he was still a monster in those playoffs even if you include the fact that they lost yes he did have that iconic moment where he made a crucial turnover when things matter the most but after that point Jordan was still efficiently averaging around 30 points per game while filling up the stat sheet and playing great defense so although MJ was not at 100% I do think it's a little overblown at times about the quality of shape he was in and about how well he performed again one of the biggest issues for that 1995 team was their lack of an inside presence with the absence of Horus Grant who was now on the opposing side of the Court the Bulls really struggled with interior defense and with interior rebounding and that was an aspect that Shaq and Grant took full advantage of but let's refocus and look back at 1994 the Bulls were coming off of their first threee and yes Jordan was extremely tired after that threee but with an opportunity to win four straight and with some recent acquisitions I think they would have been well equipped to do so this is one of the aspects that people almost never talk about if Michael Jordan had been on the 93 to 94 team that would have probably been the deepest Chicago Bulls team that they had ever had think about it they would have had Michael Jordan Scotty Pippen and Horus Grant but they also had a sharpshooter in BJ Armstrong who was one of the best snipers in the entire league and who was in his final season with the team and then they had also acquired another great sniper who ended up being one of the most efficient three-point Shooters in NBA history which was Steve Kerr and then they added Tony kach who was one of the greatest sixth men in NBA history and who was a versatile and long small forward SL power forward who could also do some perimeter shooting of his own again there's a reason why this team was able to win 55 games without Michael Jordan and was able to compete with some of the best teams in the entire league also consider the fact that Scotty Pippen was in the very Prime of his career now I got to mention some people in the comments might try to point out that the Bulls might not have been able to acquire Steve Kerr Bill Winnington and Tony kach if Michael Jordan was still on the roster but I actually disagree with that because in the 94 to 93 season Jordan was still still technically on the Bulls payroll as he was making $4 million which made him the fifth highest paid player in the NBA you heard that correctly Michael Jordan was a top five paid player in the NBA even while he was playing baseball so from a salary cap standpoint nothing really changes there's no reason why Jordan being on the roster would have hindered the Bull's chances of acquiring kach Kerr and Winnington if MJ was on this extremely talented Squad I have no question that they would have won in the high 60s or possibly even 70 games with this group I'm also confident that they would have steamrolled through the Eastern Conference as always New York would have been a little bit of a battle but they went to seven games with the Chicago Bulls without Michael Jordan now as you all know the Houston Rockets led by aim elijuan would be waiting in the NBA finals and historically that was one of the toughest matchups for the Chicago Bulls between the years of 1991 and 1993 Houston dominated Chicago in the regular season even Michael Jordan has spoken in the past about how Hakeem Elijah won was one of their toughest matchups as guys like Bill cartright didn't have a chance going up against the dream anybody who knows basketball firmly believes that the dream would have got his and would have put up monstrous numbers in this series but the thing is I don't know if that's that's enough to make up for everything else as an out-of-conference matchup the Bulls and the rockets went up against each other twice in that 1994 regular season and the bulls actually split the series with the Rockets as each team won a relatively close game it was already pretty competitive but if you give Michael Jordan and the prime of his career a prime Scotty Pippen a still strong Horus Grant and the best and deepest Supporting Cast that he's ever had then I have very little doubt in my mind that the Bulls would end up winning their fourth straight Championship I think they would have been heavy favorites in that series and personally that's what I would have put my money on with confidence so yes if MJ had not left to play baseball I believe he'd have at least seven NBA championships and would have completed a historic foreat where he had defeated hakee elijahwan and the Houston Rockets but the thing is things get a lot more interesting in 1995 because in that off season Horus Grant had left the Chicago Bulls for the Orlando Magic and again we saw what happened in reality when Jordan rejoined the bulls with 17 games left in the regular season some Bulls fans might suggest that Horus Grant would have stuck around if he had just won his fourth straight championship and although that makes sense money was a big factor in that decision for Grant none of us can say for certain outside of Horus whether or not he actually would have left the Bulls if Jordan was still around but seeing that Orlando made Grant one of the highest paid players in the NBA I think it's fair for us just to assume for this video that he still ends up leaving the Bulls which again lead Chicago very lacking in the interior Houston had also made a major acquisition as they had acquired Clyde Drexler from the Portland Trailblazers to help them try to win their second straight Championship now here's something people need to remember the Houston Rockets in 1995 had won their second straight championship in reality but they were not this Juggernaut type team they actually had an underwhelming regular season as they finished that year with 47 wins and 35 losses and then even in the postseason they had to fight tooth and nail just to make it all the way to the NBA finals in the first round against the Utah Jazz they defeated Utah three games to two and then in the Western Conference semi-finals against the Phoenix Suns they barely won that Series in seven games and then in the Western Conference Finals in a tough battle against David Robinson they ended up winning in six games yes they swept the Orlando Magic in four games in the 1995 NBA finals and that is the iconic series that everybody remembers but before that every other series was basically a really tough match that they were barely able to overcome but again Chicago wasn't at full strength either remember the Bulls don't have Horus Grant they hadn't acquired Dennis Rodman until the following year basically meaning they have no strong power forward position and then at the center position they're also weak in 1995 as bill cartright was no longer with the team meaning that the Bulls had a center rotation of will Purdue and Bill Winnington neither of those guys are incredible players on offense or defense and aim Elijah one would have ate them alive in 1995 as great as Jordan would have been and as great as Pippen would have been they had some serious holes that could be exploited they would have lost the battle of the boards both offensively and defensively and as far as Rim protection and points in the paint it wouldn't have been even close due to this I honestly believed that even if Michael Jordan had never retired and had been around for the full season in 1995 they still would have lost to hem Elijah one and the Houston Rockets in the 1995 NBA Finals again we're talking about Michael Jordan and in reality he has a perfect undefeated record in the NBA Finals so you can never count him out but if you ask me if he had never retired in the summer of 1993 I think he ends up with seven championship rings instead of six he would have won seven championships in the span of eight seasons assuming the horse Grant still leaves in 1994 and Dennis Rodman still joins in the summer of 1995 but that's just my opinion based on the information we have and based on the matchups so what do you guys think would the Bulls have won the championship in 1994 and 1995 if Michael Jordan had never retired the first time and how do you think that result would have changed his legacy I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comment section below thanks for watching as always always make sure to like And subscribe for more basketball content and I'll see you guys in the next video