the previous image is from nba live 95, my favorite super nintendo game when chris webber was last on the warriors. last night, webber returned to the warrior starting lineup for the first time in 14 years. back then, michael jordan was a baseball player, kids on my bus were playing magic the gathering, d2: the mighty ducks was out in theatres, and nicole brown simpson and ron goldman were still alive. times have indeed changed. and now that webber is back in the bay, i've been reminded of what an unstoppable force the live 95 warriors were.
their real-life counterparts were the second highest scoring team in the league and won 50 games. what a lot of people don't often talk about is that golden state did this despite tim hardaway missing the entire season with a knee injury. avery johnson was forced into a loud and starting role, the warriors bowed out early in the playoffs, and chris webber was traded after the season. webber and hardaway never got a chance to play together and golden state had to wait until just last year to play their next postseason game. this meant that my snes remains the only place where the warriors true potential was on full display. and because i'm pretty sure you'd like to be re-introduced to the players that composed the starting lineup of the best video basketball team of all time, here they are.
since being drafted 3rd overall in the 1991 nba draft and failing to meet his potential, billy owens has been one of the more famed draft busts in the league. but in 93-94, owens had a decent season and was rewarded by the fat cats at ea sports. owens was one of the best fifth options in the game and would routinely embarrass the vinny del negros of the world. according to the ratings, he was the second best dribbler and the third best passer on the team. in this game, he was golden state's tayshaun prince, if tayshaun were an avid magic the gathering fan.
chris mullin has since become the warriors general manager and was responsible for signing webber. off hand, i can't remember another time a former player turned gm signed one of their previous teammates. hopefully, next week mullin adds sarunas marciulionis and terry teagle to the team as well. anyways, before he was chris mullin the gm, he was chris mullin the player who i made toss up as many three pointers as possible in nba live. in real life, mullin was much more than a spot up shooter. but at the same time, in real life he battled alcoholism early in his career. and i've often heard the best way to avoid a relapse is to spend every waking minute camped behind the three-point line with one thumb on the chuck button. since mullin was the second best three-point shooter on the team, more often than not this strategy worked. and when it didn't work, at least mullin was one of the only players in the game that had a blonde flat top.
in his two previous seasons before live 95 came out, tim hardaway averaged 22.5 ppg and 10.2 apg. unfortunately because of his injury, hardaway never played a single game with chris webber. though if this game is any indication, if hardaway had played the 93-94 season, in every game the warriors would have jumped out to 70 point leads by halftime before my brother reset the game in frustration. because of his speed and quickness ratings, hardaway was almost impossible to guard. and if that weren't enough his near perfect 98 passing and 95 homophobia ratings were among the highest in the game.
growing up, latrell sprewell was my favorite player in the league. i bought had a sprewell warriors jersey and once i traded a then-expensive grant hill rookie card for like 25 latrell sprewell cards. my friends thought i was such an idiot at the time. but as it turned out, we were all idiots for spending money on basketball cards. but that doesn't change the fact that in nba live 95, latrell sprewell was ruthless. not only was he the team's best three point shooter, second best passer, and second best dunker, he was a terrific defender. one last interesting thing about sprewell, since 1980, no player has played more minutes in a season as he did in 93-94 and only ron artest has been suspended more minutes in a season as sprewell did in 97-98 after he choked pj carlesimo.
for whatever reason, even though he only spent one season in golden state, i think of chris webber more as warrior than any a bullet, wizard, king, sixer, or piston. i think it's because washington traded him for mitch richmond before he got really good, i always liked shaq and kobe's lakers more than the kings, the iverson-webber duo was a disaster in philly, and he chose number 84 on the pistons. so though he may have had better seasons elsewhere, i don't think he's ever been on a more talented team than that warriors team his rookie year. unfortunately, it's doubtful he'll be able to reclaim much of the magic that led to webber being one of the best players in live, let's just hope he does enough not to derail a possible warriors playoff berth. step number one, make sure it's another 14 years before chris webber starts another game for golden state.
since being drafted 3rd overall in the 1991 nba draft and failing to meet his potential, billy owens has been one of the more famed draft busts in the league. but in 93-94, owens had a decent season and was rewarded by the fat cats at ea sports. owens was one of the best fifth options in the game and would routinely embarrass the vinny del negros of the world. according to the ratings, he was the second best dribbler and the third best passer on the team. in this game, he was golden state's tayshaun prince, if tayshaun were an avid magic the gathering fan.chris mullin has since become the warriors general manager and was responsible for signing webber. off hand, i can't remember another time a former player turned gm signed one of their previous teammates. hopefully, next week mullin adds sarunas marciulionis and terry teagle to the team as well. anyways, before he was chris mullin the gm, he was chris mullin the player who i made toss up as many three pointers as possible in nba live. in real life, mullin was much more than a spot up shooter. but at the same time, in real life he battled alcoholism early in his career. and i've often heard the best way to avoid a relapse is to spend every waking minute camped behind the three-point line with one thumb on the chuck button. since mullin was the second best three-point shooter on the team, more often than not this strategy worked. and when it didn't work, at least mullin was one of the only players in the game that had a blonde flat top.in his two previous seasons before live 95 came out, tim hardaway averaged 22.5 ppg and 10.2 apg. unfortunately because of his injury, hardaway never played a single game with chris webber. though if this game is any indication, if hardaway had played the 93-94 season, in every game the warriors would have jumped out to 70 point leads by halftime before my brother reset the game in frustration. because of his speed and quickness ratings, hardaway was almost impossible to guard. and if that weren't enough his near perfect 98 passing and 95 homophobia ratings were among the highest in the game.growing up, latrell sprewell was my favorite player in the league. i bought had a sprewell warriors jersey and once i traded a then-expensive grant hill rookie card for like 25 latrell sprewell cards. my friends thought i was such an idiot at the time. but as it turned out, we were all idiots for spending money on basketball cards. but that doesn't change the fact that in nba live 95, latrell sprewell was ruthless. not only was he the team's best three point shooter, second best passer, and second best dunker, he was a terrific defender. one last interesting thing about sprewell, since 1980, no player has played more minutes in a season as he did in 93-94 and only ron artest has been suspended more minutes in a season as sprewell did in 97-98 after he choked pj carlesimo.for whatever reason, even though he only spent one season in golden state, i think of chris webber more as warrior than any a bullet, wizard, king, sixer, or piston. i think it's because washington traded him for mitch richmond before he got really good, i always liked shaq and kobe's lakers more than the kings, the iverson-webber duo was a disaster in philly, and he chose number 84 on the pistons. so though he may have had better seasons elsewhere, i don't think he's ever been on a more talented team than that warriors team his rookie year. unfortunately, it's doubtful he'll be able to reclaim much of the magic that led to webber being one of the best players in live, let's just hope he does enough not to derail a possible warriors playoff berth. step number one, make sure it's another 14 years before chris webber starts another game for golden state.
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