Rose shot 6.3% in the ECF when LeBron guarded him. That Bulls team had a ton of heart and decent talent and I admit my bias but even with a healthy Rose I don't think they'd have a 1 in 4 chance of beating LeBron in a series, never mind that the Spurs or Warriors would be waiting for them in the Finals 6 out of the last 7 seasons.

I’m with you. I just don’t see the Rose Bulls being the assumptive champs at any point, thus Verb your perspective is out of whack.

They would have beat that Mavs team. Rose and Noah wouldn't have been shadowboxing like douchebags before games and mocking sick Dirk.

The lockout season team had the best chance and calling it at 25 is being conservative.

You guys are just LeBron dick suckers. There were way more close calls with his Heat teams than people choose to remember.

But they lost to the Heat and that was with a healthy Rose so that one isn't up for discussion. Rose averaged 23 points on 24 shots per game against the Heat in that series.

Man, who made you like this? Your act is beyond boring at this point.

Am I wrong? Roy Hibbert took LeBron to the limit. Facts.

You know what's going to be boring? Indefinite Miami Heat mediocrity now that LeBron is fading into the rearview mirror. Enjoy that bro.

Lol. The only close calls in the East were both in 2012 when Bosh was out against the Pacers and when Wade was hurt and had like 5 points in game 3 and Miami went down 2-1 and even that was only a 6 game series. Then the disastrous games 3-5 stretch against the Celtics in the ECF. That was a legitimately close call. I get that the Pacers 2014 ECF was 7 games, but that series was never in legitimate doubt. The 2011 ECF against the Bulls was a much tougher series than that Pacers one. But sure, there were close calls. I wouldn't deny that. But you already know that's not what I was objecting to.

Debating a what if D Rose was healthy scenario could actually be somewhat entertaining for a few minutes and I'm glad to engage but sometimes your constant rage schtick is exhausting.

This is true. There was a good run for a few years at least, so I'll take it. I'm used to alternating between misery and mediocrity anyway.

I'd argue that even if Rose stayed healthy the NBA was shifting away from their style (both his and more importantly Thibs) that would have made them dinosaurs by 2014 without a major overhaul in strategy and roster. Rose would have still been great, don't get me wrong, and they would always be a team you don't want to play in the playoffs, but also a team that high end talent and shooting would ultimately beat.

A potential 2012 ECF pitting the Heat against a fully healthy Bulls team would have been a classic series. Too bad it never happened. Could have defined the first half of the decade.

Not trolling; why would it have been different? Can we assume that Bosh doesn't get hurt in round 2 this time? If the Heat are healthy too they were better in 2012 than 2011 when they beat the Bulls in a tough 5 game series.

The Bulls had more shooting that year. The team got better. Not rocket science, Mr. LeBron man.

Good talk bro.

There is enough historical precedent to show great teams with little to no playoff experience tend to improve in future seasons. Bulls were young and lacking the experience the first time around, where the Heat had several players who gone deep into the playoffs before.

I think the Heat would have likely won the series, but it would have gone 6 or 7.

LeBron was scared to post up JJ Barra in the Finals back in those days. You think he's completely infallible though so what's the point in debating?

You're either willfully or unintentionally exaggerating and creating a strawman, so you're right what's the point?

I have no doubt that it would have been a good series and you might be right that it would have gone 6 or 7 games. The Bulls always played Miami tough. But Miami was a lot better in 2012 than 2011, too. They finally were running something resembling an offense instead of having LeBron and Wade alternate possessions, Wade had backed down into a supporting role, they were still capable of regularly playing very high level defense, and they weren't trotting out the corpses of Mike Bibby and Erick Dampier, etc. Those '12 and '13 teams were really, really good.

I think that Bulls team was a very good team but just not good enough to beat those Heat teams, even with Rose. They could have been a terror in the East the whole previous decade, but they just had bad timing and bad luck on injuries.

He wouldn't post up a midget. It's true. Is LeBron going to ask you to be in Space Jam 2? I heard he's getting desperate.