Question:

Redeem Team vs. Dream Team?

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Here is an article that actually brings up some interesting view points if the 2 teams were to go head-to-head. Are these point of views more factual or fictional in your opinion? Thoughts?

BEIJING – With each successive blowout, each complete manhandling of competition exponentially greater than Magic, Michael and Larry could have fathomed, the question about the current USA men’s basketball team isn’t about redemption, it’s about greatness.

As in, is this the greatest basketball team ever assembled?

Could they even take the original Dream Team?

Immediate reactions of blasphemy aside, the debate is certain to heat up if Team USA continues its blitzkrieg of the Beijing Olympics and wins the gold.

The team play has been extraordinary, the defense suffocating and even the outside shooting precise. On top of its game, the 2008 team is a tour de force to behold, its 119-82 annihilation of world champion Spain being the finest indication that this, at the very least, is the best Olympic team since 1992. And that includes a rather dominant 1996 U.S. club.

“They wanted to show everyone they are superior, and they did,” shell-shocked Spanish center Pau Gasol said.

Superior even to the original squad? Here’s why the argument, first broached by Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post, is at the very least a valid one.

The 1992 team didn’t need to bring its “best” team to Barcelona to roll through the Olympics. USA Basketball selected it in part based on personality, marketing and even lifetime achievement.

Magic Johnson had been retired for a year. The Larry Bird of ‘92 was long past his prime, six years removed from his final league most valuable player award.

John Stockton was chosen over Isiah Thomas because Michael Jordan didn’t want Thomas around. Twelfth-man Christian Laettner, the NCAA player of the year, was selected as a nod to the past days of collegians representing the country.

Those four players averaged the fewest points on the team. Not that any of it mattered. The U.S. outscored opponents by an average of 43.8 points per game and became a phenomenon in the process.

In 2008 there is no such luxury, not with the improved play of the rest of the world.

The final players on the current U.S. team are Tayshaun Prince and Michael Redd. Prince is a defensive stopper with his pterodactyl-like wing span. Redd is a dead-on outside shooter.

All 12 of the current American players are either in their prime or about to enter it. This team is younger, quicker and certainly more focused, mostly because it needs to be.

Comparing results at these games is almost futile. The 1992 team could party the night away in Barcelona, roll out of bed and still win by 40. There have been no reports of such a thing here, where preparation is paramount.

“We realize that we made a sacrifice to come out here, and part of it is our bodies need to sleep,” said Carlos Boozer. “This is what we signed up for. Let’s go do whatever it takes to get it. If it takes leaving the arena at one in the morning to get the gold medal, we’ll [do it to] get the gold medal.”

The thing is, had they needed to be, the 1992 team would’ve been just as focused. Jordan would have assured that.

If anything tilts the balance forever in the original team’s advantage, it is MJ. In the summer of 1992, he was 29 years old and in the middle of winning six NBA championships and five NBA MVPs, numbers that could’ve been higher had he not chosen to play baseball for a season and a half.

He is undeniably not only the greatest player in the history of the game, but arguably its greatest crunch-time player and, along with Bill Russell, the best at simply finding ways to win. If it came down to a final shot, who’s betting against him?

The current team, as talented as it is, would have no logical answer.

Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, considered the three best players and outrageously gifted in their own right, are all a step down from MJ.

However, the idea of Kobe defending Jordan, his idol, would be intriguing.

Conversely, the 1992 team has nothing quite like the physical freak that is the 6-foot-8, 240-pound LeBron. Scottie Pippen on him would be a hellacious matchup, though.

As good as the perimeter talent on the 1992 team was – especially Jordan, Pippen, Clyde Drexler and knock-down shooter Chris Mullin – the current squad is deeper and certainly capable of its own fireworks.

It is inside where the 1992 team would hold a significant advantage and likely determine the game.

The Dream Team’s post combinations were breathtaking – Patrick Ewing and David Robinson at center and Charles Barkley and Karl Malone at power forward, all in their prime. The current group of Dwight Howard, a tender 21 years old, Chris Bosh and Boozer would be overwhelmed and perhaps systematically fouled out. Carmelo Anthony, an uninterested defender, would have to be counted on here to help.

The only way for t

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  1. only way to find out is if they play each other


  2. there was no need to paste the whole article, people know how to click on a link...

    i think the dream team was awesome but the argument that "they were effortless while the new team is trying really hard" doesn't really work. sure it's true but it's not a valid argument. the dream team was going up against a world that had never faced NBA caliber players before. as basketball became more and more popular around the world leagues overseas became more competitive, so much so that international players became more and more common in our own league. in fact, the complacency of the US was a big factor in the rest of the world closing the gap and surpassing us in recent years. the redeem team today faces nba players and international players that could possibly go nba if they wanted. so i think what today's team is doing is more impressive, they're beating teams by the same margin but against teams and players much more experienced in playing at this level.

    the argument that the dream team has the best player (MJ) is true but also invalid. with squads as deep and talented as these, the slight talent advantage of one player over the rest is not significant enuf to determine the outcome. if MJ was heads and shoulders above every1 then yes it wud be significant enuf, but today's talent is not so inferior.

    now the argument that the dream team is better and deeper inside...that is very valid. thsi is where MJ wud feast becuz double teaming him on the perimeter means ur gonna get dunked on inside by their bigs. iv always felt that the weakest part of the redeem team is their inside presence. while it works fine for these olympics, it would not bode so well against a team with such hallmark bigmen. they do not have enuf depth to sustain the blows from constant pounding inside and would foul out. while the 08 team doesnt depend on the post up game necessarily, it is proven that against the best of the best, you need solid defense inside and an inside game of your own. against the 92 team, this cant happen, and agaisnt the best of the best, playing from the outside just wont cut it. (again, also proven time and again)

  3. The dream team has Michael Jordan, no brainer Dream team would win.

  4. I thought this was a good opinion piece:

    http://thoughtsfromthejockstrap.blogspot...

  5. redeem team

  6. i would say dream team would win and that's a good article

  7. There's no question that the 92 team would destroy these guys.... the author can yak about Lebron all he wants, but if Bosh, Howard and Boozer get in foul trouble trying to guard softies like Pao Gasol and his little brother Mark, they'd have NO CHANCE against Ewing and Robinson.

    And while it's true that the rest of the world might be getting better, the author fails to mention that the 1992 Dream Team didn't have to practice together for THREE  YEARS in order to learn how to play basketball.  After the 1992 NBA season was over, they got together for the "Tournament of the Americas", wiped up the floor with those teams, and then flew on over to Barcelona where they demolished the rest of the world.

    The 1992 team didn't have to practice together for three years, because they all knew how to play basketball the right way.  Idiots like Billy Packer came out and said that you can't win a gold medal with a bunch of superstars... how'd that prediction work out, Mr. Packer?

    Carmelo Anthony might be "in his prime", but 100 Carmelo Anthonys don't have one-millionth of the basketball IQ of the worst NBA player on the dream team (whoever that would have been).  That 1992 team knew how to play basketball...every phase of the game.

    The 1992 team had about 9 first ballot HOF players.  This 2008 team doesn't come close to that.

    If the 1992 team would have started working out together in 1989, they'd beat this year's team by 60 points, easily.

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