Power ranking Michael Jordan’s Bulls teams

1. 1995-96 Chicago Bulls

• 72-10 record (.878)
• +12.8 point differential
• 115.1 offensive rating
• 101.8 defensive rating
• +13.4 net rating
• 15-3 playoff record (.833)

The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls are the greatest team Michael Jordan ever played on, and they’re arguably the greatest team the NBA has ever seen. Though the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors eventually topped the Bulls’ historic 72 regular-season wins, that team failed to capture the title. That makes these Chicago’s 87 combined wins between the regular season and postseason the most in NBA history among any team that actually won the title and second-most period.

The Bulls’ plus-12.2 point differential is still the third-highest mark ever, trailing only the 1971-72 Lakers (plus-12.3) and 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks (plus-12.3). They led the NBA in offensive rating, defensive rating and net rating. They ripped off a 15-3 run to the title, with a monstrous plus-12.1 net rating in that span and only one loss leading up to the Finals.

What made this season even more spectacular is that it was Jordan’s revenge tour after coming back late in the 1994-95 season and being doubted once the Bulls lost to the Orlando Magic in the conference semifinals.

The 72 wins; Jordan winning MVP and becoming the first player to win four Finals MVP awards; trouncing the Knicks once again in the conference semis; sweeping that Magic team in the conference finals; and then beating a 64-win Seattle SuperSonics team in the Finals? All of that was an unmistakably pointed response to anyone doubting whether MJ and the Bulls were still NBA alpha dogs after the baseball sabbatical.

That Finals series wasn’t the definitive exclamation point some were hoping for, especially after Chicago went up 3-0 in the series and then let the Sonics hang around until Game 6. But between Jordan, Pippen, the arrival of Rodman, Steve Kerr, Luc Longley, Ron Harper and the emergence of Sixth Man of the Year Toni Kukoc, the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls were the pinnacle of MJ’s championship years and may still be the greatest title team ever.