The best Big Three -- Jordan, Pippen & Rodman

This appears in nba.com

The best Big Three

by rick olivares

While writing about the possible reunion of Run-TMC in the Naismith Hall of Fame, nba.com Philippines editor Dino Maragay posed me the question of how Chris Mullin, Mitch Richmond, and Tim Hardaway would fare against the Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh. I said the Heat would come away winners.

So that begat a discussion on what team’s Big Three is the best.

We kept the discussion to the modern era NBA and eliminated trio’s like Run-TMC or Denver’s trio of Alex English, Kiki Vandeweghe, and Dan Issel as both teams didn’t win championships. In my book, to be able to join any “best-of” discussion, you have to have championship rings adorned around your fingers.

Having said that, we picked out a few:

Larry Bird, Kevin McHale & Robert Parish (Boston Celtics)

12 years together

3 NBA championships in five Finals appearances

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson & James Worthy  (Los Angeles Lakers)

Seven years together

3 NBA championships in six Finals appearances

Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen & Dennis Rodman (Chicago Bulls)

3 years together

3 championships in three Finals appearances

Tim Duncan, Tony Parker & Manu Ginobili (San Antonio Spurs)

11 years (now on their 12th year together)

3 championships in four Finals appearances

Dwyane Wade, LeBron James & Chris Bosh (Miami Heat)

Three years together (now on their fourth year)

2 championships in three Finals appearances

In this list, the Lakers trio only sort of became their team’s de facto “Big Three during the 1984-85 season when Worthy stepped up in place of Jamaal Wilkes.

Ditto for the Spurs but Manu Ginobili stepped up in his sophomore year (they had Stephen Jackson during the Argentinean’s rookie year).

Let’s break down first their individual and then collective stats while playing together as a Big Three.

Boston Celtics

Player	Points PG	Rebounds PG	Assists PG	Steals PG	Blocks PG
Bird	23.9	9.6	6.4	1.6	0.8
McHale	18.4	7.5	1.8	0.4	1.6
Parish	17.1	10.2	1.6	0.8	1.5
Totals	59.4	27.3	9.8	2.8	3.9

Los Angeles Lakers

Player	Points PG	Rebounds PG	Assists PG	Steals PG	Blocks PG
Abdul-Jabbar	18.7	6.5	2.4	0.8	1.6
Johnson	19.6	6.9	12.2	1.8	0.4
Worthy	17.8	5.6	2.8	1.1	0.8
Totals	56.1	19.0	17.4	3.7	2.8

Chicago Bulls

Player	Points PG	Rebounds PG	Assists PG	Steals PG	Blocks PG
Jordan	29.1	6.0	3.9	1.8	0.5
Pippen	19.2	5.9	5.7	1.7	0.7
Rodman	5.3	15.4	2.8	0.6	0.3
Totals	53.6	27.3	12.4	4.1	1.5

San Antonio Spurs

Player	Points PG	Rebounds PG	Assists PG	Steals PG	Blocks PG
Duncan	18.8	10.7	3.0	0.7	2.1
Parker	16.2	3.0	6.2	0.9	0.0
Ginobili	14.6	3.8	3.9	1.4	0.3
Totals	49.6	17.5	13.1	3.0	2.4

Miami Heat

Player	Points PG	Rebounds PG	Assists PG	Steals PG	Blocks PG
Wade	22.9	5.4	4.7	1.7	1.0
James	26.8	7.8	6.8	1.7	0.7
Bosh	17.7	7.6	1.8	0.8	0.9
Totals	67.4	20.8	13.3	4.2	2.0

In terms of durability, Boston’s trio is the most productive. The Spurs’ troika have tied the Celtics for that honor this season. If they go on to play for the 2014-15 season, they’d break that “record”.

In terms of scoring, Miami’s triple threat has the highest average with 67.4 points per game and that is not counting the numbers for this season.

The best rebounding trio belongs to Boston and Chicago who are both tied with 27.3 boards in all their seasons together. But looking at that further, that was the entire frontcourt of the Celts whereas the Bulls had their power forward, small forward and shooting guard. Dennis Rodman’s huge rebounding numbers certainly make up for the deficit.

The best passing team are the Lakers with 17.4 assists per outing but that is mainly due to Magic Johnson’s remarkable assist totals. 

Of the five teams, only Boston’s and LA’s went up against each other and that was during their prime. We know that Lakers were more successful.

The Heat and the Spurs battled in last season’s NBA Finals and Miami won by a hair’s breath.

Every Big Three has its own pluses and minuses but how do we settle which one was the best?

I will not look at the offensive and defensive ratings of each trio’s teams because we are mainly looking at the Big Three and not the team per se. So that invalidates those rankings.

However, on an individual basis, we can track that.

At the time of the Boston-LA battles, Bird and McHale were arguably the best at their positions while Johnson was the court general non-pareil. Abdul-Jabbar, though still a scoring force, was not the player he once was.

At the time of Chicago’s reign, all three players – Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman were arguably the best at their respective positions. Perhaps save for Rodman’s scoring (but that was mostly due to a lack of interest in putting points on the board as he decided to concentrate on defense and rebounding), the Bulls’ Big Three played both ends of the court. And very well if I may add. They turned defense into an art form. Unlike the rugged game of the champion Detroit teams of the late 1980s.

However, they only played three short years together. They could have played one more year together but the Jerrys of Chicago broke up their three-peat champions before their time was done.

At the time when the San Antonio Spurs were winning titles, Tim Duncan was the best at his position. Tony Parker was an elite point guard but Steve Nash was named back-to-back league MVP. Manu Ginobili never got the props he deserved in my opinion. Had he been playing in New York, Los Angeles or even Chicago, he would have made the All-Star team with regularity.

Should a “Big Three” be starters or “finishers”? Because save for Manu Ginobili who has been an on and off starter, everyone else was a legit starter for their squad. Does that diminish his stature or even his contributions? Not at all because during crunch time, he was on the floor.

I conducted an informal poll on my Facebook and the 114 respondents were composed of current PBA & UAAP basketball coaches, players, local media, and of course, fans.

Here’s how it went:

Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman – 50 votes

Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, and Worthy – 28 votes

Bird, Parish, and McHale – 24 votes

Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili – 3 votes

Wade, James, and Bosh – 1 vote

Others – 8 votes

And so Chicago’s Big Three of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman get the nod as the best.