Best USA Olympic Team: 1992 Dream Team - 2008 Redeem Team

[pavyracer]

Michael Jordan & Charles Barkley vs Kobe Bryant & Lebron James

Which team was the best?

[DrunkHorseplayer]

2008 > 1992 > 1976 > 1960

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Give me the '92 squad

[Goat Milk]

Gonna go with the redeem team just because all those guys were in their primes and Bird and Magic were basically bench players at that point. If Bird and Magic healthy, obviously Dream Team easily.

But you look at D Wade who came off the bench and led team USA in scoring and shot like 75% from the field--I think Wade is better than everyone on the dream team not named Jordan (considering magic and bird age).

Kobe was in his prime
Lebron in prime
Wade

Too much to handle

[RudyRuetigger]

Gonna go with the redeem team just because all those guys were in their primes and Bird and Magic were basically bench players at that point. If Bird and Magic healthy, obviously Dream Team easily.

But you look at D Wade who came off the bench and led team USA in scoring and shot like 75% from the field--I think Wade is better than everyone on the dream team not named Jordan (considering magic and bird age).

Kobe was in his prime
Lebron in prime
Wade

Too much to handle

charles barkley led the dream time in scoring

did i see that in a trivia here or something???

[Goat Milk]

charles barkley led the dream time in scoring

did i see that in a trivia here or something???

Not sure who led Dream Team, was too young to remember anything from that Olympics. But I'll take D Wade over Charles Barkley as a player. More skilled. More of a force on both ends. Impossible to handle in his prime.

[pologq]

I like the redeem team but i am not sure the dream team would go down easy

[MinnesotaFats]

Redeem team would struggle to get to 85 points in an actual game vs dream team

The eurostep and all the travelling James does wouldn't fly

I think James's physicality would pose a threat but noone on 08 squad is a better shooter than anyone on 92 squad

[homie1975]

Magic Johnson was playing in 92 while hiv positive. Pretty remarkable

[MinnesotaFats]

Magic Johnson was playing in 92 while hiv positive. Pretty remarkable

Magic may have been HIV positive for 5+ years and playing. We'll never know....

[Goat Milk]

Redeem team would struggle to get to 85 points in an actual game vs dream team

The eurostep and all the travelling James does wouldn't fly

I think James's physicality would pose a threat but noone on 08 squad is a better shooter than anyone on 92 squad

Eurostep is a legal move....It's 2 steps...I use it all the time. It's an evolution in the game.

PG: Cp3, D-will, J Kidd
PG: Magic, Stockton

SG: Kobe, Wade
SG: Jordan, Drexler

SF: James, Melo
SF: Pippen, Mullin, Bird

PF: Bosh, Boozer
PF: Barkley, Malone,

C: Dwight
C: Robinson, Ewing


As you can see it's pretty dead even. The Dream team has better bigs, and the Redeem team is superior at the PG and SF positions considering ages and levels at the time of play. Most interesting matchup is obviously Wade Bryant/Jordan Drexler, the 4 best SGs of all time.

Lebron and Melo is way too much for Pippen and Bird and Mullin to handle. Melo is one of the best Olympic players I've ever seen, and I think it's due to the 3 pt line being a little closer. That's his spot. PG wise, I don't see Stockton or older Magic being able to chase around a prime Chris Paul. I think Paul is a better player for his career than Stockton.

Also I think Chris Bosh is highly underrated. If he never went to Miami to win 2 rings and go to 4 straight finals, he'd be averaging 23 and 10 every single year of his career for about 12 years. Great player, great big who can pick and pop and hit 3s in the olympics if needed.

There is always a good chance the dream team would win though because they have Michael Jordan, but with him and Kobe both in their primes at the time, I would say that is pretty much a wash.

[rm18]

If the Dream Team plays serious they do not play with a point guards they go.

Drexler
Jordan
Pippen
Barkley
Robinson

[jjgold]

It would be a good game lean Jordans team

[pavyracer]

You are delusional if you think that Bosh, Boozer and Howard have any chance of stopping Barkley, Malone, Robinson and Ewing. The Redeem Team will be out-rebounded and out-hussled under the basket.

[deltgen]

Eurostep is a legal move....It's 2 steps...I use it all the time. It's an evolution in the game.

PG: Cp3, D-will, J Kidd
PG: Magic, Stockton

SG: Kobe, Wade
SG: Jordan, Drexler

SF: James, Melo
SF: Pippen, Mullin, Bird

PF: Bosh, Boozer
PF: Barkley, Malone,

C: Dwight
C: Robinson, Ewing


As you can see it's pretty dead even. The Dream team has better bigs, and the Redeem team is superior at the PG and SF positions considering ages and levels at the time of play. Most interesting matchup is obviously Wade Bryant/Jordan Drexler, the 4 best SGs of all time.

Lebron and Melo is way too much for Pippen and Bird and Mullin to handle. Melo is one of the best Olympic players I've ever seen, and I think it's due to the 3 pt line being a little closer. That's his spot. PG wise, I don't see Stockton or older Magic being able to chase around a prime Chris Paul. I think Paul is a better player for his career than Stockton.

Also I think Chris Bosh is highly underrated. If he never went to Miami to win 2 rings and go to 4 straight finals, he'd be averaging 23 and 10 every single year of his career for about 12 years. Great player, great big who can pick and pop and hit 3s in the olympics if needed.

There is always a good chance the dream team would win though because they have Michael Jordan, but with him and Kobe both in their primes at the time, I would say that is pretty much a wash.

Good post Goatmilk--this is a good way to see it, with the rosters listed by position. I do have some minor arguments with your matchup synopsis though. Pippen was a phenomenal defender--he would absolutely be able to check James, Anthony, and even Bryant and Wade. The 1992 team would be at a defensive disadvantage at PG but not quite the way you see it. Magic Johnson was never considered anything more than an average defender, so at no point in his career would he have locked down Paul, but Stockton was a bit underrated--he would be able to disrupt Paul and Kidd enough, and they would not be able to totally defend him, so I think that that position is much more of a push than you think. Would be a heck of a game.

[Goat Milk]

You are delusional if you think that Bosh, Boozer and Howard have any chance of stopping Barkley, Malone, Robinson and Ewing. The Redeem Team will be out-rebounded and out-hussled under the basket.

I don't think they can stop those guys, but Howard won like 4 straight DPOYs. He was actually a great defender in his prime, unlike a Rudy Gobert, and also put his team on his back and took them to the finals. There's was a time we were talking about Dwight as one of the top 5 centers of all time. Chris Bosh, as I said, was 23 and 10 if he played as the first option on a team. I don't think he was that much worse that Barkley overall. Barkley was better yeah but not by that much.

Good post Goatmilk--this is a good way to see it, with the rosters listed by position. I do have some minor arguments with your matchup synopsis though. Pippen was a phenomenal defender--he would absolutely be able to check James, Anthony, and even Bryant and Wade. The 1992 team would be at a defensive disadvantage at PG but not quite the way you see it. Magic Johnson was never considered anything more than an average defender, so at no point in his career would he have locked down Paul, but Stockton was a bit underrated--he would be able to disrupt Paul and Kidd enough, and they would not be able to totally defend him, so I think that that position is much more of a push than you think. Would be a heck of a game.

Stockton was actually a good defender, I just think Paul at this time was the premier pg in the world. He was pretty much unstoppable, and he was barely a side piece for team USA behind Bryant James and Wade. Those are 2/3 best SGs of all time, and the best SF of all time, which is why I give them an edge. Pippen can contain James but all these players like Drexler Jordan James Bryant Wade can only be contained, never stopped. The 2012 team was probably equally good with KD Westbrook and Harden and basically just take out Wade and Bryant lost a step but was still the top player in the world probably after James.

[Hman]

Eurostep is a legal move....It's 2 steps...I use it all the time. It's an evolution in the game.

PG: Cp3, D-will, J Kidd
PG: Magic, Stockton

SG: Kobe, Wade
SG: Jordan, Drexler

SF: James, Melo
SF: Pippen, Mullin, Bird

PF: Bosh, Boozer
PF: Barkley, Malone,

C: Dwight
C: Robinson, Ewing


.

Look at those rosters.

Original Dream Team & it's not even close

[Hman]

.

Stockton was actually a good defender, .

LOL you think?

Only the NBA's All-Time Steals leader and won't be broken for a long, long time

One of the only great players in all of sports who is still vastly underrated

All-Time steal AND assists.

Both sided of the ball.

We'll never see that in sports again.

[kid dienamite]

Dream Team would win by double digits.

1. 1992 Dream team (the OG) all HOF's besides Laettner (avg margain 43.8 points)
2. 1996 team (take out Jordan, Bird, & Magic & replace with Hakeem , Shaq, Reggie, Payton) (avg margain 31.7 points)
3. 2012 team (struggled with Spain in Gold medal game, Lebron, Kobe, Westbrook, Paul, Melo, Durant, A. Davis) (avg margain 32.1 points)
4. 2008 Redeem team (couldn't put Spain away in the gold medal game) (avg margain 27.8 points)

[2daBank]

Dream Team would win by double digits.

1. 1992 Dream team (the OG) all HOF's besides Laettner (avg margain 43.8 points)
2. 1996 team (take out Jordan, Bird, & Magic & replace with Hakeem , Shaq, Reggie, Payton) (avg margain 31.7 points)
3. 2012 team (struggled with Spain in Gold medal game, Lebron, Kobe, Westbrook, Paul, Melo, Durant, A. Davis) (avg margain 32.1 points)
4. 2008 Redeem team (couldn't put Spain away in the gold medal game) (avg margain 27.8 points)

I haven’t given it enough thought to really say but wouldn’t it be fair to point out the rest of the world has gotten drastically better at basketball since the original dream team? I think that explains margin and overall difficulty much more so than simply saying that makes the ‘92 team superior. Don’t think the original dream team would cake walk over the rest of the world now days. It’s in large part thanks to them why the quality of basketball has risen globally.

[Goat Milk]

Dream Team would win by double digits.

1. 1992 Dream team (the OG) all HOF's besides Laettner (avg margain 43.8 points)
2. 1996 team (take out Jordan, Bird, & Magic & replace with Hakeem , Shaq, Reggie, Payton) (avg margain 31.7 points)
3. 2012 team (struggled with Spain in Gold medal game, Lebron, Kobe, Westbrook, Paul, Melo, Durant, A. Davis) (avg margain 32.1 points)
4. 2008 Redeem team (couldn't put Spain away in the gold medal game) (avg margain 27.8 points)

2dabank is right, there weren't really any international NBA players playing in 92. Look at who Jordan faced in the gold medal game. Croatia. Their best player was tony kukoc. Lol. Ricky Rubio by himself is better than Kukoc. Not to mention both Gasol brothers who are both 1st ballot hall of famers.

[Goat Milk]

Look at those rosters.

Original Dream Team & it's not even close

As I said though, if Magic and Bird were healthy I would take them by a mile. Pippen was never a top 5 player in the NBA at any point in his career, barely averaged over 20 even without MJ. I would take D Wade as a player over Scottie Pippen any day of the week. MVP conversation entire career, scoring title, finals mvp, a one man wrecking crew on both sides of the floor. Jordan and Kobe to me is a wash, even if Jordan is better it's not by much. Lebron usually played the 4 and he would eat up Charles Barkley. It's not like Robinson and Ewing are having their way with a prime Dwight Howard either, one of the best defensive centers in history. Like I said it's a pretty even matchup imo. Would be a 7 game series, but slight edge to 08 team because they have more speed on the wings and more players in their primes.

[Hman]

As I said though, if Magic and Bird were healthy I would take them by a mile.

Yessir I agree I was was basing on both teams healthy in general

[kid dienamite]

2dabank is right, there weren't really any international NBA players playing in 92. Look at who Jordan faced in the gold medal game. Croatia. Their best player was tony kukoc. Lol. Ricky Rubio by himself is better than Kukoc. Not to mention both Gasol brothers who are both 1st ballot hall of famers.

That Croatia team had 5 NBA players on their roster including their best player Drazen Petrovic.

[asiagambler]

USA actually trailed Croatia 26-25 at one point in the game. I think that was only time in entire tournament they trailed

[Goat Milk]

That Croatia team had 5 NBA players on their roster including their best player Drazen Petrovic.

you're right i forgot about petrovic, pretty good player

[homie1975]

Magic may have been HIV positive for 5+ years and playing. We'll never know....

Good point!

[kid dienamite]

I haven’t given it enough thought to really say but wouldn’t it be fair to point out the rest of the world has gotten drastically better at basketball since the original dream team? I think that explains margin and overall difficulty much more so than simply saying that makes the ‘92 team superior. Don’t think the original dream team would cake walk over the rest of the world now days. It’s in large part thanks to them why the quality of basketball has risen globally.

Could you imagine if the 92 team was in a 2 point game in the 4th qtr against the Gasol Bro's & a 17 year old Ricky Rubio...they would have been blasted for that. 92 team was too long & strong for anyone.

The biggest difference between the 92 & 08 team was the depth...while guys like Boozer, Redd. D. Williams, & Bosh were solid players, they would have gotten run out of the gym.