1992 Dream Team vs 2012 USA Basketball Team

Do any of you guys believe the 2012 team has a chance? I am discussing this on facebook with a few friends and would like to hear more opinions. I think 2012 has a legit chance but MJ is the GOAT at his absolute peak in '92. Lebron, who is my favorite player, is IMO the most athletic player of all time and is at his peak right now too. Bird and Magic were dinosaurs on the Dream Team but they had legit size with Robinson and Ewing.

1992 team kills this team. By at least 10 points.

a 5 game series the dream team wins 4..a few by a big margin.

I would probably say '92 wins 4 games to 2 in a 7 game series. MJ in his prime is a huge factor. I am interested to see where Kobe, Lebron, CP3, and Durant end up after their careers. The first 2 are probably going to make the top 10 and Durant still has a wide spectrum of possibilities. CP3 will go down as one of the 5 best PGs IMO.

It's the whole generational argument which is tough. Are guys bigger and faster and more athletic? Have the rules of the games changed, changing players skill sets? Yes.

The Dream Team is relatively better, historically it's not even a comparison. But I'd bet on the 2012 team. They have more experience in international play and train much more extensively. The Dream Team was thrown together, practiced for like a month and then went out and played. Good teams beat good players, and I think the 2012 team is more of a team because of how USA basketball is run now.

no way that this team would beat the 92 team. in a 7 game series, i could see the 92 team maybe losing one just because obviously lebron, kobe, and durant could all get hot and just hit shots and you couldnt stop it. but i even doubt they would win one game. lets compare them.

they rotated starters so lets just kind of make it up

92 starters-
pg- magic
sg- mj
sf- barkley
pf- malone
c- ewing

12 starers
pg- paul
sg- kobe
sf- lebron
pf- durant (although carmelo might have this roll)
c- chandler

first off, who is guarding magic? magic may have been old but was in no way washed up by that time. he was still a great player at that time. he was 6'9 and you think that CP3 is guarding him? if thats the case then he is going to have his way with him. MJ destroys kobe at this stage of his career. if they were both in their primes then kobe would do alright but jordan would do as he pleased against this kobe both offesnively and defensively.

i think that barkley would have a tough time guarding lebron then would get super physical which lebron does not like at all. i guarantee that barkley gets in his head. and even if that doesnt work, he could always switch with mj and mj could guard lebron and make him cry. i think that durant would be the hardest to guard because of his height and shooting ability but he would be a defensive liability on malone. no way he can guard malone. then if lebron tries to guard him, barkley would have his way with durant on offense. lastly, ewing would make chandler have to come out of the paint because he can shoot pretty well. this would be a decent match up but ewing would still score more or less while chandler isnt at all an offensive player so ewing wouldnt have to worry defensively.

ill make another post describing the bench.

so now we have the bench players. even if somehow, the starters of the current team can at least keep up the the 92 starters, the 92 bench would just destroy the current teams bench.

92 bench
pg- stockton
sg- drexler
sf/pf- pippen, bird, mullin
c- robinson

12 bench
pg- westbrook, williams
sg- harden
sf- iguodala
pf- carmelo
c- love

i think that the pg position would be the most competitive. westbrook is super athletic and williams is also very good. i think that they could get to the rim but then you have the problem with robinson guarding the paint so they would be semi successful but not overly successful. drexler was just amazing. i think that people forget how good he was. people used to compare him to jordan when they were in the NBA together. he would absolutely destroy harden on offense and either westbrook or williams if either of them played sg (which they do sometimes). he would do fine defensively on them too. i cant see any of the current unit being able to stop drexler at all.

bird wasnt completely worthless but was about done at this point. he could still play though and hit shots. pippen would guard carmelo and im sure would stop him because he is a great defender and is a solid offensive player too. carmelo is terrible at defense and wouldnt be able to stop pippen. iguodala is a good defender and an averge offensive player. they could draw the offense to the paint enough so that mullin could hit his 3's still and wouldnt have to worry too much about defense. the biggest mismatch is at the center. what is love going to do with robinson? love cant defend at all so robinson would score at will down low. also, love is a great rebounder but would be way less effective of one if robinson was down there to steal them from him. the main thing that love can do is hit from the outside so it would draw robinson away from the paint. but still, they could always switch up and have someone else guard him on the perimeter.


so in conclusion, i literally see no way that the current team wins in a 7 game series but i dont even know if they could win 1. the only way that i can see it happening would be if jordan and a few other key players are just off and the current team has half of their players playing the game of their life.

The 92 forward line would annihilate this forward line.

powerpuncher nice ideas..look the game is played at pro nba rules or so called international rules the 92 team crushes them.there too deep in all time great talent plus the big guys like robinson ewing are far better in a pick and roll work the inside to the big man etc etc.karl malone outmuscles anyone on the current team.magic even at that stage played like he never left the game..he would put on a performance for the ages.pipen and jordan defensively were masters.the 92 team is loaded with guys with strong minds.pressure means nothing to them.they would mentaly break this team.

freakzilla wrote:The 92 forward line would annihilate this forward line.

Wow, I feel the exact opposite. I think the strengths of 92 are MJ and centers while the PG and forward positions are this year's strength. Pippen, maybe the best wing defender of all time, guarding Lebron or Durant would probably be the most interesting matchup. Barkley and Malone are physical but I think Lebron and Melo could handle the physicality.

UBeeg9cats wrote:

freakzilla wrote:The 92 forward line would annihilate this forward line.

Wow, I feel the exact opposite. I think the strengths of 92 are MJ and centers while the PG and forward positions are this year's strength. Pippen, maybe the best wing defender of all time, guarding Lebron or Durant would probably be the most interesting matchup. Barkley and Malone are physical but I think Lebron and Melo could handle the physicality.

no way would melo or lebron would want any part of malone or barkley. if you watched the heat/pacers series, pacers did so well because they played physical. lebron has always had a problem when the other team is not only not afraid of him, but actually bully him. melo is strong but isnt that physical. if they are going to start him at PF, he is not going to be able to defend barkley or malone.

Barkley and Malone would laugh at having Lebron or Melo guarding them.

powerpuncher wrote:

UBeeg9cats wrote:

freakzilla wrote:The 92 forward line would annihilate this forward line.

Wow, I feel the exact opposite. I think the strengths of 92 are MJ and centers while the PG and forward positions are this year's strength. Pippen, maybe the best wing defender of all time, guarding Lebron or Durant would probably be the most interesting matchup. Barkley and Malone are physical but I think Lebron and Melo could handle the physicality.

no way would melo or lebron would want any part of malone or barkley. if you watched the heat/pacers series, pacers did so well because they played physical. lebron has always had a problem when the other team is not only not afraid of him, but actually bully him. melo is strong but isnt that physical. if they are going to start him at PF, he is not going to be able to defend barkley or malone.

Lebron had a .298 WS/48, 30.7 PER, and oRtg of 118 and dRtg of 97. Melo was .16, 21.1, 106, 102 respectively. Barkley went .205, 24.5, 119, and 106. Malone .237, 25.4, 118, 103. That means the 2012 averages .229, 25.9, 112, and 100 while the 1992 averages .221, 24.95, 119, and 104. Those numbers are not far off of each other with the 2012 being more efficient and better defenders and the 1992 being better offensively. I also don't think Chuck and Karl would've played together much. Pippen was the most versatile player on the Dream Team and a premier wing defender. Also, you are forgetting Durant. The 7-5 wingspan and offensive explosiveness gives 2012 another weapon. Barkley was so good in 92 that he couldn't make the playoffs.

UBeeg9cats wrote:

powerpuncher wrote:

UBeeg9cats wrote:

freakzilla wrote:The 92 forward line would annihilate this forward line.

Wow, I feel the exact opposite. I think the strengths of 92 are MJ and centers while the PG and forward positions are this year's strength. Pippen, maybe the best wing defender of all time, guarding Lebron or Durant would probably be the most interesting matchup. Barkley and Malone are physical but I think Lebron and Melo could handle the physicality.

no way would melo or lebron would want any part of malone or barkley. if you watched the heat/pacers series, pacers did so well because they played physical. lebron has always had a problem when the other team is not only not afraid of him, but actually bully him. melo is strong but isnt that physical. if they are going to start him at PF, he is not going to be able to defend barkley or malone.

Lebron had a .298 WS/48, 30.7 PER, and oRtg of 118 and dRtg of 97. Melo was .16, 21.1, 106, 102 respectively. Barkley went .205, 24.5, 119, and 106. Malone .237, 25.4, 118, 103. That means the 2012 averages .229, 25.9, 112, and 100 while the 1992 averages .221, 24.95, 119, and 104. Those numbers are not far off of each other with the 2012 being more efficient and better defenders and the 1992 being better offensively. I also don't think Chuck and Karl would've played together much. Pippen was the most versatile player on the Dream Team and a premier wing defender. Also, you are forgetting Durant. The 7-5 wingspan and offensive explosiveness gives 2012 another weapon. Barkley was so good in 92 that he couldn't make the playoffs.

i already stated that durant would be the hardest man to defend on the floor. i think that he would need the big game. and again, you can give me numbers, but i have watched a lot of lebron. he hates it when people get physical with him which is exactly what barkley and malone would do. im not saying that lebron would have a 5 point game or anything, im just saying that he probably wouldnt even hit 20 unless the offense with mostly through him.