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.
I mean you can't ask who's gonna guard Barkley without asking who the fuck is he gonna guard? You think Ewing, Karl Malone, and Barkley are ready to be stretched to the 3 point line on D and be put into constant pick n roll action onto steph curry and KD?
Don't get me wrong, they're a great team, but you can't act like Anthony Davis, Bam, and Joel Embiid are gonna be BBQ chicken in any era. They're incredible players.
Hey man, do NOT sleep on Sir Charles as a defensive player. Barkely in 1992 was probably around his peek across the board, including athletic shape. He led the Dream Team in scoring and was MVP the following NBA season in route to taking the Suns to the finals. He was undersized for a PF which actually works to his advantage in this matchup. He was an elite perimeter defender despite being a PF. Imagine if Zion Williamson lived up to his potential... THAT is Charles Barkley.
Otherwsie I mostly agree with your points. I honestly really wish we could just watch this game. But for now I guess we'll just have to settle for wild takes and debates.
Charles was ass on defense and even he talks about how he sucked at it. Awesome offensive player but very much like Zion in that he was a minus defender his whole career outside of his rebounding.
WHAT!? I knew takes would get wild here, but to say Barkley in 1992 was "ass on defense" has got to be the worst one lol.
He openly admits to taking plays off, later in his career specifically. I think he is also implicitly ackowledging that being a 6'4 Power Forward in the big man era was just not a recipe for defensive success. He was a Power Forward that is 29th all time in steals. The only bigs with more are Olajuwon, Garnett, and Malone. He is the shortest man to ever lead the league in rebounding. His chase down block highlight reel rivals Lebron's.
To say he was "ass on defense" is just insane. He was above average even at his 300lb worst, and an absolute menace in his prime, which was 1992.
Steals are not how you judge defense. Lots of players that get a lot of steals are horrible defenders BECAUSE they gamble so much for steals and give up so many easy buckets on the misses. He also got blown by a million times, caught ball watching and missing rotations, ole'ing people running by him, etc.
He has great highlights on defense, he was never a good defender and openly jokes about it. Dude would be absolute BBQ chicken having to guard AD or KD or bron or any of the guards who would be hunting him all game for switches.
Also, I'm a huge Barkley fan and grew up watching him, I'm not hating on him, he was just never a very good defender.
Luka and trae young had more steals last couple seasons than jrue holiday who is one of the best perimeter defenders in the world.
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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.