[monkey23Participant]

Ok, guys and girls. First off, I’m pratiotic – I always place my hand on my heart during the national anthem, I like baseball, I eat apple pie, and I celebrate flag day. But I secretly wanted USA to lose to Spain yesterday. Yes, I wanted to see the underdog win the game and have the NBA ballers taste some humble pie. But don’t get me wrong, I love the NBA and am a huge LeBron, Durant, Melo and CP3 fan. Plus I love the Heat, Lakers and Nets!!! But yeah, I’m still confused why Spain’s coach decided to play Marc Gasol in the 2nd quarter when he was in foul trouble. After all, he picked up his 4th foul with 5 mins to go in the first half. Yes, first half, you read it right!! Is he just a horrible coach?!! Or did Marc Gasol refuse to come out of the game?!? Would the outcome have changed if Gasol played 15 more mins in the game?!? I’d like to think yes. I think USA got a break. If it wasn’t for Spain’s foul trouble, we’d see USA lose the game. I still think the Dream Team would’ve also struggled against Spain with all Spain’s big men. And in my eyes this team is better than the Dream Team. After all, see below:

Robinson > Chandler
Ewing = Love
Malone = Melo
Barkley > Harden
Laetner < Davis
Bird < LBJ
Pippen < Durant
Mullin < Williams
MJ > Harden
Drexler < Kobe
Magic > Westbrook
Stockton < CP3

Dream Team = 4
Team USA = 6
Tie = 2

Winner = TEAM USA!!!!

Team USA has also set lots of records – Durant is all-time leading scorer, most points, most 3’s, most points in game by Melo, most 3’s in a game by Melo, etc. 
 

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Are all over the place. Why is Michael Jordan compared to James Harden instead of Kobe Bryant? Clyde Drexler was definitely better than James Harden. Malone to Melo definitely was not equal in my mind, especially going head to head. You have Harden twice! People, please stop it.

These teams are different, that is for sure. As much as the Dream Team might have a tough time with LeBron James and Kevin Durant, the 2012 team would have absolutely had their hands full with Robinson and Ewing (who Love would have next to no chance of defending). Yes, Anthony Davis will more than likely be much better than Christian Laettner. Larry Bird was old and his back was destroyed. It is not coming down to 11th or 12th men.

The Dream Team was one of a kind and their chemistry was truly incredible. The competition is better now, but that team was absolutely special, it is hard for me to believe that this current team would have beaten them in a 7 game series or one for all of the marbles. It is a great team, they hit a lot of three point shots, they still had their issues and did not exactly make it look easy at times. Every break down I see just makes so little sense, so I urge people to either do it more precisely, using actual evidence or stop. Sorry man, but this gives next to no evidence to support your claim and just uses a skew that has as many holes in it as the Nigerian defense in the 14 minutes Carmelo Anthony was on the court on August 2nd.

[monkey23Participant]

 Oops, sorry. I meant to compare Barkley to Igudola. My bad.

[invalidParticipant]

you brought me so much pain after reading that

[RUDEBOY_Participant]

What does this mean?

Dream Team =4

Team USA =6

Tie=2

[monkey23Participant]

 It means that 6 guys from Team USA (this year’s team) would win the match up (see above), while only 4 guys from Dream Team (1992 team) would win the match up. While 2 guys are tied. The conclusion is that Team USA (2012) is superior to Dream Team (1992). !!!!!

 

Go TEAM USA!!!! Woot! Woot! 

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

"I celebrate flag day."

Starts bad.

"Ewing = Love"

Gets exponentially worse quickly.

"Winner = TEAM USA!!!!"

There are no winners in this thread.

[phila9012Participant]

 I comepletly agree. This wasted everybodys time, his comparisons are stupid, like comapring barkley to igudola(that he fixed from harden), to comparsion the kevin love to Ewing (which you stated) To saying spain should have won, to saying he is american because he eats apple pie and celebrates flag day(I have never celebrated it, and there isnt much celebration of it), to saying Ewing, Robinson, Malone, Barkley would struggle with the Gasols(Yes four Hall of famers would struggle with the Gasols, they are good, but they aren’t the best big men of the era). The dream team helped inspire players around the world to play basketball, and to make it a global sport.

[RUDEBOY_Participant]

DREAM TEAM Never Called a Timeout..TEAM USA had to come from behind several times…

Coach K complained about Spain’s height..

Coach Daly had a hard time finding playing time for Ewing,Malone and Robinson..

[Memphis MadnessParticipant]

The Dream Team was great because they had some of the highest Basketball IQ guys in history. Also the two best passing point guards ever along with Pippen, Bird, MJ, and Barkley.

On the flip side, the Dream Team wasn’t as prolific from 3 and their best long range threat (Larry Bird) would have trouble guarding guys on the 2012 team, unless he was matched up against Kevin Love.

The Dream Team was really tough to beat because their bigs were not only skilled and strong, but also athletic. I think LeBron could guard those guys a bit (LeBron is actually built like Karl Malone) but it might take something away from his offense. The 2012 team would have to be red-hot from 3, keep the rebound battle close to even, and stay out of foul trouble (especially Tyson Chandler) for Team USA to beat the Dream Team. Having a Vintage Kobe performance would help too. While on the other hand, the Dream Team would be favored if they were basically all healthy.

CP3 isn’t in Magic’s or Stockton’s league but he is very good. Tough, chippy, and he came through against Spain to give us that huge lift down the stretch. High BBIQ too. I think if Russell Westbrook had Jordan’s basketball IQ or Stockton’s he would be a beast. He is basically the X factor off the bench for this current team.

As far as centers go, the 1992 team was very very good. Two high level Hall of Famers, second best ever at the 5 behind the 1996 team which featured Shaq and Olajuwon. Tyson Chandler isn’t up there with those guys in their primes. He seems more like the older David Robinson that won a couple of titles with Tim Duncan. … Anthony Davis isn’t up there either but he also just completed his freshman year in college. I wonder how much A.D. is different at this point than Ewing, Robinson, Shaq, or Olajuwon. I think that in four years A.D. will be much improved and one of our main guys off the bench as the high motor, energy, defensive glue guy who can also rebound, block shots, and dunk. Sort of a combination of Tyson Chandler and Iggy.

The 2012 team played very well as they put on explosive scoring runs and pulled away in the second half in most games. Spain played a great game and their combination of two all-star 7 footers inside with a third big man off the bench who led the NBA in blocked shots is something that I don’t think the Dream Team faced. Spain really, really missed Ricky Rubio, but their back court still had some decent talent like Jose Calderon, Llull, and JC Navarro. Rudy Fernandez is a solid small forward too. Just a really good all-around team with a ton of size inside. Not sure the Dream Team faced a team like that.

I am already looking forward to our 2016 team. Hopefully LeBron, Durant, and Carmelo still play and bring Rose, Howard, and some other new greats with them. That team should be even better than this one. They will need it though, if Spain comes back with Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka (two guys who should both be in their primes) with an elder statesman in Pau Gasol, plus a healthy, and deadly, Ricky Rubio. Spain will need some replacements for Calderon, Rudy, and Navarro, but I think they can do it.

[mercyman25Participant]

>> (Larry Bird) would have trouble guarding guys on the 2012 team, unless he was matched up against Kevin Love. << Only due to the fact that bird was old and had major back issues.

[BlazermannParticipant]

^^ lmao Anthony Davis a mix of Iggy and chanler lmao stop smoking your piece pipe and step away from the key board

[Memphis MadnessParticipant]

^^^

I think in 4 years that Anthony Davis will be bigger, stronger, and more well rounded. With decent offensive skills in both shooting, posting up, and passing. Iggy is basically a high-motor, rangy defensive type. While I don’t think A.D. can guard 2’s I think he will be able to guard both power forwards and centers later in his career as well as some small forwards, especially slower international small forwards.

I also think that he could give the 2016 team some of Tyson Chandler’s inside toughness, defense, rebounding, and shot blocking.

I think that in four years that Anthony Davis could be a bigger, stronger AK-47 type who gives you defense, hustle, athleticism, length, and slashing. With AK-47 being better at the 3 spot with A.D. being a stretch five but a guy who can still guard some of the international small forwards. I think Davis gets some more range on his shot, too. So maybe he could go against one of Spain’s small forwards in 2016 (whoever they get to replace Rudy Fernandez).

The reason I am thinking that A.D. might have to be that guy is we might need to add both Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum (or another legit 7 footer) to the 2016 to go along with a pure shooter at the 2 guard spot (maybe Klay Thompson to replace some of Kobe’s shooting) and maybe even add Kyrie Irving at point guard to go along with Chris Paul and D Rose. If it were up to me I would start Russell Westbrook at the 2 guard spot with Klay Thompson off the bench as the designated 3 point sniper. If we do this then we might not have enough room for an Iggy type AND a Tyson Chandler type, so Anthony Davis might have to fit the bill in both those areas as a backup power forward.

I am thinking that our 2016 could look like this:

Starters:

PG: Derrick Rose
SG: Russell Westbrook
SF: Kevin Durant
PF: LeBron James
C: Dwight Howard

Bench:

PG: Chris Paul
SG: Klay Thompson
SF: Carmelo Anthony
PF: Kevin Love
C: Andrew Bynum

Reserves:

PG: Kyrie Irving
PF: Anthony Davis

This team would be absolutely HUGE inside with our 3 greats at the 3/4 spots (Carmelo, Durant, and LeBron). Good shooting guard duo too, with CP3 and D Rose being our two-headed attack at point guard. I have Kyrie Irving as a deep reserve both for his point guard skills and his outside shooting. We could also use Kyrie in some two point guard sets.

Our first team would be freakishly talented with all five guys being in their prime or just towards the end of it (LBJ and Howard) but still close enough to peak form. Our second unit would also be really big and would be a great shooting lineup. Anthony Davis would be our defensive and shot blocking specialist who could play either big man spot. I like Kyrie as the extra point guard who can hit the 3. If we don’t get Kyrie then I could see us going with another 2/3 guy like James Harden who can do some of everything or maybe even a pure scoring 2 guard like Eric Gordon. I think that MKG and Kawhi Leonard could also figure into the debate as the 11th/12th man. Or we add another big man like Blake Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge, Greg Monroe, DeMarcus Cousins, or another veteran like Chris Bosh.

[Meditated StatesParticipant]

Made this whole thing lose credibility. Destroyed inside is what would have happened to the 2012 team. Only 5 fouls in FIBA and 2012 big men would have gotten killed in there.

[durantula83Participant]

They should really restrict monkeys from making threads…

[joecheck88Participant]

 Can we at least stop comparing the competition? Spain & Argentina are leaps and bounds better than anyone the dream team played. I’m not saying the 2012 team would beat the dream team, they wouldn’t. But the dream team may have called a timeout or two against the current competition. If the 2012 team had Wade, Hiward, and Rose we could debate I think but without them, can we please stop? 

[PureshooterParticipant]

You had me at "pratiotic".

[aamir543Participant]

My take on the Dream Team vs 2012 Team USA, it’s close, it’s not like the media makes it out to be, 2012’s perimeter players matchup with 92’s perimter guys tick for tack. Westbrook, CP3, Durant, Kobe, Lebron, and Melo can definatly matchup with Jordan, Pippen, Barkley, Stockton, Magic, and Drexler. The reason why I think the Dream Team would win a 7 game series in 6 games is because of A) The bigs, and B) Michael Jordan being at his absolute peak that year. But this Team USA is nothing sneeze at, and they went into London and got the job done.

[ENOGSIWONdede]

BS matchups, and some of your grades are not true either let me change them around:

 Robinson > Chandler

Ewing = Love

Malone = Melo

Barkley > Harden

Laetner < Davis

Bird < LBJ

Pippen < Durant

Mullin < Williams

MJ > Harden

Drexler < Kobe

Magic > Westbrook

Stockton < CP3

 

new one:

 

Jordan>Lebron

Barkley>Durant

Robinson>Melo

Malone>Love

Ewing>Chandler

Stockton>Williams

Magic>Paul

Pippen>Westbrook

Mullin>Iggy

Drexler>Harden

Bird>Davis

Laettner>Kobe(team killer)

Dream team 12

USA 0

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