Thursday, July 12, 2012

The Dream Team Has No Competition


So I awoke this morning and watched a replay of one of my favorite programs, a little diddy known as ‘Around the Horn.’ On it one of the esteemed columnists, Mr. Bill Plaschke said one of the craziest things I have ever heard. Right up there with an argument I heard on the train how Lil’ Wayne was better than Tupac or Biggie. You see Mr. Plaschke said the craziest basketball related thing I ever heard. He claims that the 2012 USA Basketball team could beat the dream team. I’m gonna say it again because it bears repeating. He claims that the 2012 USA Basketball team could beat the dream team. So I’m gonna line the rosters up side by side and let’s just give a fair analysis of who is better shall we?

Centers:
1992 Dream Team:                                                          2012 Men’s Team:
David Robinson                                                               Tyson Chandler
Patrick Ewing
This is not what Tyson is used to.

I don’t even need to tell you where the advantage lies. David Robinson and Patrick Ewing will haunt the dreams of Tyson Chandler.

Advantage: Dream Team

Power Forwards:
1992 Dream Team:                                                          2012 Men’s Team
Karl Malone                                                                     Blake Griffin
Charles Barkley                                                                Kevin Love
Christian Laettner
They got Kevin Love trying to guard me? Thats turrible.

Again…word? While Griffin and Love would eat Laettner’s lunch, if they even gave Barkley and Malone a side glance they would get their souls destroyed.
Advantage: Dream Team

Small Forwards:
1992 Dream Team                                                            2012 Men’s Team
Larry Bird                                                                         Kevin Durant
Scottie Pippen                                                                   Lebron James
Chris Mullin                                                                      Carmelo Anthony
                                                                                        Andre Iguodala
Chris Mullin is just criminally underrated.

This is where there is some argument for the current team. Lebron and Durant are 1-2 in the league right now while Melo is still a dominant if not ball hogging scorer and Iggy is an immensely talented wing defender. Larry Bird at the time was a shell of his former self dealing with back injuries, Mullin was an amazing scorer but overall the 2012 group gets a slight nod.

Advantage: 2012 Team

Shooting Guard:
1992 Dream Team:                                                          2012 Men’s Team:
Michael Jordan                                                                 Kobe Bryant
Clyde Drexler                                                                   James Harden

Shut up. We all know who get this one.

Advantage: Dream Team

Point Guards:
1992 Dream Team:                                                          2012 Men’s Team:
John Stockton                                                                 Chris Paul
Magic Johnson                                                                Deron Williams
                                                                                       Russell Westbrook

This one is not as tough as I thought it would be. I think the size and speed of Williams and Westbrook would dominate Stockton, and Chris Paul vs Magic would be a basketball nerd’s dream. Overall the athleticism and speed of this year’s guard would be the deciding factor.

Advantage: 2012 Team

Overall I fully expect the men’s team to win gold in London but comparisons to the Dream Team must stop. They remain the most dominant team in the modern era winning their games by 51.5 points per game.  Dream Team would easily coast to victory. No question.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I recently read an article that claimed that the '92 team was not the greatest of all time that most (and quite nearly all) of us hold them up to be. While I do not disagree with you, the article (ESPN I believe, or a Chicago writer you posted on FB maybe) made some valid arguments, mostly age of some of the dream team (Bird on his way out for example, which you did mention), or some injuries playing a factor (no Olajuwon for instance), or the fact that Magic, while not only older, was also out of the league for a year or two (not sure on exact dates, don't have the article up) after his announcement/retirement of contracting AIDS.

Also, one most note that the competition level of the rest of the world has steadily closed the gap to the USA, so much so that the likes of the margin of victory of the original dream team will never be matched again.

That said, I would maybe give more credit to Love/Griffin, but still, overall hands down, my vote is in the '92 team.

The Chocolate Puma said...

I give Griffin/Love credit as being good, but be honest and look into your soul, Charles Barkley and Karl Malone would eat them alive. try and dunk and Barkley and you may get thrown into the third row. Also outside of Bird/Magic the rest of the Dream Team was in their prime and under 30. And again they won by more than 51.5 points a night. Domination.