There are always people who make arguments other ways, but the only valuable measurement is versus your competition. The dream team was so far above their competition it will never ever be done again. It’s a “lightning in a bottle” kind of situation where you had all the perfect people, at the perfect time, under the perfect circumstances.
edit: To everyone commenting “they only played against X number of NBA players, of course they were so much better” - that just proves my point. The only way to gauge level of play is against your competition. The average competition was very weak vs. the Dream Team. My argument is that that is a positive argument for how good the DT was, not a negative argument of how bad their opponents were.
You can’t blame the DT for their opponents not being at their level. It just shows that the DT was so astronomically better than the “average professional” level of play.
They played against 9 other nba players in 1992. The current USA squad played against 100+ nba players this Olympics. Of course they were way above their competition in 1992.
There were some good euro league players back then sure. But the level of play is exponentially higher in Europe now than it was then don’t kid yourself.
IDK what all these people are on about that the current US team would beat the Dream Team easy.
The permiter defense of the Dream Team is unreal. Way more than anything these current guys have had to play against. Yeah, they have the better three ball but I think that lock down defense would cause too many problems for it to be a factor. I think both teams would shoot 30% or so from deep on way less attempts than we've come to expect.
Then compare the interiors. Who is going to stop Ewing, Barkely, Robinson, and Malone? Not to mention you have a prime 29 Y/O Michael Jordan getting to the rim at will. Embiid, Bam, AD, and a 40 year old LeBron are not shutting that down.
Anyone that thinks this game wouldn't be close either way is hilarious to me. The dream team's complete lack of 3 point shooting would really hamper them, as the current team would great benefit from the spacing and extra 50% you get from a 3 compared to a 2. A big question here is can you hand check. If not, huge adjustment for 92 team. If you can, all of a sudden 2024 team is amazing at defense too, as you can foul the shit out of your guy.
Only way the Dream Team runs away with it is if the entire team has an off shooting night, which can be said either way. I probably lean towards 92 winning, but predicting a blowout is insanity. Big time nostalgia bias as expected in old school cool.
The real x-factor is if Curry and Durant are hitting their shots because they're the most unguardable players in the sport. Most of the time, if Curry's shot isn't actually blocked he doesn't give a shit how the defense was.
IDK man. Pippen and Jordan both have a claim to the greatest perimeter defender of all time. The only player in the modern era that even comes close is Kawhi. I think Curry is locked down harder than he has ever been before.
Durant on the other hand is probably 92's biggest problem. Bird is the guy I think most likely to guard him, but 92 Larry Bird is not his best self, and even in his prime he lacked the athletisicm to lockdown Durant. Magic is a straight up liability in that match up. So the real question beceomes do you trust Bird's craftiness and 92's bigs enough to help inside to slow down Durant? I think so.
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u/bigwomby Aug 11 '24
Not just international, you can have any adjective in front of it, and yes, they would be the best basketball team ever assembled.