The Miami Heat made headlines after changing the NBA landscape by forming a “Big 3” in LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. The move became a hot talking point within the NBA community, and among those who shared their insights were former NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy and Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen.
According to JVG, the Heat was already showing potential to equal or even surpass the 1995-96 Bulls’ 72-10 record, given the amount of talent they had.
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“I would think that everybody would think they would have a great shot at it … I just think if they’re healthy, the discrepancy between their talent level and the next level is so great, that I just don’t see how they lose games,” Van Gundy said. “I think they’re that good.”
As expected, that remark did not sit well with Pip. To prove that Van Gundy was wrong about his take, Scottie even challenged Jeff to a bet.
“Those guys’ [the Heat] biggest goal is to win a championship and not try to win 72 games,” Pippen told reporters at the time. “But if Jeff Van Gundy wants to take a bet, I would bet him that they won’t break it.”
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“I don’t want to elaborate on what Jeff Van Gundy said,” he added. “Who is he to say that they’re gonna break the record? He coached for numerous years in this league, and he hasn’t been able to break it, so we’ll wait and see.”
Pippen thought the Celtics were better than the LBJ-led Heat
Even though the Heat’s star-studded squad looked impressive, Pippen emphasized that chemistry is utterly different from talent. At that point, Pip even thought the Boston Celtics’ veteran “Big 3” of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce were still better than the newly-stacked LBJ-led Heat team.
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“You can put a lot of great players together, but it’s about building chemistry,” Scottie explained. “There have been a lot of great teams put together. But that doesn’t really seal the deal.”
“I think that Boston is still the best team in the East,” he added. “Miami has to prove themselves.”
Truth be told, it was a little too early for Van Gundy to make such a prediction. In the end, he was unsurprisingly proven wrong.
The Heat’s “Big 3” lasted for four years. In that stretch, Miami’s best record was 66-16 in the 2012-13 season. Even the Heat failed to break the ’96 Bulls’ 72 wins; their 66-16 record tied with the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks as the eighth-best regular-season record in NBA history.
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Kukoc echoed Pippen’s sentiment
Like Pippen, his former Bulls teammate Toni Kukoc also didn’t think that the 2010s Heat was a better team than the ’90s Bulls.
“I think it would be arrogant to say they wouldn’t have a chance, but I think we were a better team overall,” the former international NBA star once told Slam of the LeBron-led Heat and MJ-led Bulls comparison.
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The Heat’s “Big 3” still did not fail to live up to the hype, though. They were able to win back-to-back NBA championships and even had the chance to go for a historic three-peat, but ultimately lost to Kawhi Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs in the 2014 Finals before LeBron left back to Cleveland and ended the South Beach project.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Dec 21, 2025, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.