Would you be surprised to learn that Hall of Fame forward Dennis Rodman once again said some crazy stuff about the modern NBA? On Tuesday’s “Reiter Than You” on CBS Sports, Rodman asserted that the Run TMC Golden State Warriors were better than today’s team led by Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. You can watch for yourself above.
“Guess what, remember that [Run TMC], what they called it, Golden State back in the day?” Rodman said. “They was way better then. They were scoring like 130 points a game back then. They was way better then than now.”
Let’s disregard the fact that I’m pretty sure Rodman referred to Run-TMC as “T-Run-Z.” Here’s a quick refresher on what Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin actually did in their two seasons together:
- In 1989-90, the Warriors led the league by averaging 116.3 points per game. That, however, was almost entirely because of their style of play -- they led the league in pace, averaging 105.9 possessions per game, per Basketball-Reference. When you account for that, they only had the 12th-best offense. Since they also had the league’s second-worst defense, they finished 37-45 and missed the playoffs.
- In 1990-91, Golden State averaged 116.6 points per game, which was second in the league. The Warriors also improved to sixth in offensive rating and 23rd (of 27 teams) in defensive rating, largely thanks to Hardaway’s emergence as a star in his second season. They went 44-38 and beat the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs, but fell to Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers in five games in the second round.
In the last three seasons, Golden State has a record of 204-38, with one championship and the all-time wins record. I would like to be shot into space and never hear a take like this again.
