An even more intriguing puzzle than the chemistry of Miami’s “Big Three”—or indeed how they would fare against Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman—is how the collective bench of the Heat would stack up against the reserve unit of the historic 72-victory Bulls.
The primary supporting cast for Chicago—consisting of Steve Kerr, Toni Kukoc, Luc Longley, Ron Harper, and Bill Wennington—all occupied highly distinct and perfectly executed roles, whereas Miami’s newly assembled reinforcements, including Mike Miller, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Udonis Haslem, Eddie House, and Mario Chalmers, will require time to carve out theirs.
Although certain analysts compare Miller to Kerr due to his perimeter touch, his overall career metrics, playing approach, and physical profile actually align much better with Kukoc. Both Miller and Kukoc are oversized perimeter/front-court players recognized mostly for their outside shooting, yet both possess offensive skill sets that feature playmaking and interior capabilities.
In almost every metric—from height and point production to mid-range shooting and rim protection—”Big Z” outperforms Longley. Meanwhile, despite giving up roughly four inches to Wennington, Haslem boasts lifetime stats in scoring and rebounding (10.0 PPG and 8.1 RPG) that easily eclipse Wennington’s marks (4.6 PPG and 3.0 RPG), even when accounting for the fact that Haslem’s playing time per game (30.9 minutes) has been more than double Wennington’s average (13.5 minutes).
Setting aside chemistry and veteran experience, the main area where the Bulls’ reserve unit holds an advantage over Miami’s is through the specific talents of Kerr and Harper. Throughout the 1995-96 campaign, Kerr converted an astonishing 51.5 percent of his three-pointers—a benchmark that Eddie House, his counterpart on the Heat, never approached (maxing out at 45.2 percent during 2004-05), and one that did not even represent Kerr’s personal record (which was 52.4 percent during 1994-95).
Contrasting Mario Chalmers with Ron Harper—who by the 1995-96 season was a seasoned nine-year pro with a history as a 20-point-per-game scorer before joining Chicago—might appear lopsided, particularly since Chalmers is only heading into his third professional season.
Nevertheless, this disparity simply serves as another clear demonstration of how much stronger Chicago’s supporting cast is relative to Miami’s.
