12/03/24
July 26, 2006
Is the current roster on USA Basketball the new Dream Team?: Comparison of this year's USA Basketball team to the likes of 92's "Dream Team"
posted by Clevelander32 to basketball at 05:42 PM - 30 comments
Both of them are pretty ridiculous stretches, honestly. Wade is not Jordan; Arenas is no Drexler; Anthony is no Bird. Could go on quite a bit. Did find it interesting that neither article directly compared the coaches, both of whom are defensively oriented and obviously fairly good within their chosen spheres.
posted by tieguy at 06:16 PM on July 26, 2006
Is this the new Dream Team? I just hope it's not the next Nightmare Team.
posted by graymatters at 06:19 PM on July 26, 2006
The Wade to Jordan anology is greatly stretched, as are most of the comparisons. I think that the team will do much better than last time around, but will never be equivilent to the 1992 team.
posted by redsoxrgay at 07:37 PM on July 26, 2006
Seriously, how can they do much worse than the last time? All they have to do is win one game, right?
posted by hawkguy at 07:46 PM on July 26, 2006
They did win 6 games in 2002 (finishing 6-3), so, no, they have to win a lot more than one game. (And bronze at the Olympics.)
posted by tieguy at 07:52 PM on July 26, 2006
No, they have to win a lot more than one game. I'd settle for some good sportsmanship, maybe even a bit of humility. This team is not the Dream Team, its not fair to even make that comparison. The Dream Team was comprised of HOFers. This squad still has a lot to prove. Remember Dream Team II? Lets look at that squad really quick (just bare with me): Derrick Coleman Joe Dumars Kevin Johnson Larry Johnson Shawn Kemp Dan Majerle Reggie Miller Alonzo Mourning Shaquille O'Neal Mark Price Steve Smith Dominique Wilkins Tim Hardaway This was Dream Team II. The same comparisons to Dream Team I were made with this squad. Maybe half of these guys will go to the HOF. Only 4 of them were on NBA Championship squads (nevermind whether they contributed or not). The current US National Team has exactly one player with a ring, and the average age is about 25 years old. This group of guys have a lot of basketball ahead of them. It is way too early in their careers (save Bowen, and Miller) to be comparing them to the likes of the Dream Team.
posted by lilnemo at 08:26 PM on July 26, 2006
There will never be another "Dream Team". The NBA is too mixed now to have all of the dominant players be Americans. This team is young and very good though and can compete alot better than we did in the Olympics a few years ago though. They where lucky to get bronze there.
posted by kidrayter2005 at 08:38 PM on July 26, 2006
The comparisons are more matches to their counterpart from the dream team. These guys are alot younger than the dream team so it's hard to stack their careers up to the dream team's, but if your just matching playing styles then I think the comparisons are valid.
posted by tron7 at 08:51 PM on July 26, 2006
but if your just matching playing styles then I think the comparisons are valid. Really? Can you truthfully say (without pissing yourself laughing) that Bruce Bowen is analogous to Scottie Pippen?
posted by lilnemo at 08:54 PM on July 26, 2006
I have to respectfully say that a lot of the players that were compared have similar styles of play, but, come on. The Dream Team has about 10 players or more who will wind up in the hall of fame or are all ready there. The new team will be lucky to get half that number.
posted by mattyg123 at 09:08 PM on July 26, 2006
Well, it's not perfect. BTW, I can say nearly anything without pissing myself.
posted by tron7 at 09:08 PM on July 26, 2006
Laettner is the only guy from the original Dream Team who won't be in the HOF, right? I guess Mullin is borderline and not in yet. (And I think you could actually argue, since it is the basketball hall of fame and not the NBA hall of fame, that Laettner deserves to be in for his college exploits, particularly The Shot and starting in four Final Fours.)
posted by tieguy at 09:15 PM on July 26, 2006
why go with the young players? try to go with the older players, they are more experienced
posted by josephnesses at 09:37 PM on July 26, 2006
give them time, the group is young...who knows in about 10 years this group could have just as many hall of famers as the original dream team
posted by Adidas410s at 10:11 PM on July 26, 2006
I think that its amazing that no matter how many times the unthinkable happens or people are proved dead wrong by making absolute assertions based on the odds, or the likelihood, of a certain outcomes, people still insist on on saying "there will never be...," or "there is no way that...," etc... I think this is possibly one of the best basketball teams ever assembled. For the first time since 1992 almost all of the best American NBA players are in, and its exciting! As was alluded to before, the biggie difference is that the Dream Team was made up of peak, or immediately post peak players, where as we are yet to see Lebron's, Gilbert's, Carmelo's Wade's, or really any of these guys career peaks. Don't condemn these guys before they have had a chance to prove themselves just because they are the young guns, and not your fogey contemporaries...
posted by everett at 10:31 PM on July 26, 2006
Kobe should had been the MJ of this team, too bad he had that surgery.
posted by STUNNER at 10:34 PM on July 26, 2006
It's a great team. An instant favorite. I still don't see enough shooters though. Lots of big time crunch players though. I think they've got a medal in them. Not sure what colour. Argentina is still wicked strong.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 09:06 AM on July 27, 2006
Are you guys even conscious when you write. The olympics arent played until 2008. The guys will be even more disgusting then they are now. Stop having a cow.
posted by Drallig9399 at 09:06 AM on July 27, 2006
They have to be fairly good now, or else we risk not qualifying for the olympics, like what happened to Clemens' olympic dreams.
posted by tieguy at 10:48 AM on July 27, 2006
Are you guys even conscious when you write. The olympics arent played until 2008. You do realize that the World Championships are played every year. Are you even conscious of what we write?
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 11:28 AM on July 27, 2006
(Actually, Weedy, they are played every four years, staggered in between Olympic Games. But your point is taken, nonetheless.)
posted by smithers at 11:42 AM on July 27, 2006
"There will never be another "Dream Team". The NBA is too mixed now to have all of the dominant players be Americans" Yup, kidrayter2005. The Dream Team was as much about a point in time as it was about the players. Its sort of like hockey's first big international event. There will never be another 72 Team Canda or an event like that again no matter how hard they try and try to recreate it. I'm glad Canada actually managed to win the first big hockey event. It's allowed us to gloat ever since regardless of our sometimes only modest success at "our" sport since.
posted by hb74147 at 12:07 PM on July 27, 2006
Once they compared Chris Paul to John Stockton, I stopped reading. Paul is a nice player and all, but this butt-munch is comparing court savvy and intelligence with youth and energy. Same with the Carmello vs. Chris Mullin comparison. Carmello may even be the better player, but his game is exactly the opposite of Mullin's. The Dream Team will be once: That one time it was a novelty, everybody wanted in, and everybody was just happy to be playing in a historic game.
posted by LostInDaJungle at 12:08 PM on July 27, 2006
There will never be another 72 Team Canda or an event like that again no matter how hard they try and try to recreate it. I'm glad Canada actually managed to win the first big hockey event. To be fair, I think the team from the 1987 Canada Cup was a better squad. As well, I think the games from 1987 Canada Cup finals were far more entertaining and exciting than the 1972 Summit Series. Obviously, I recognize the historical impact of the 72 Summit Series, but I wish people would stop declaring it the greatest team assembled. The fact that the WHA players were denied access to the team means it's not even close. As well, the 1987 Soviet team was chock full of all-stars/HOF'ers. To me, that's the primo hockey series every played. Regarding the USA basketball team: As a Raptor fan (by location only), I'd like to see Bosh make the squad. I've always figured the hype about him was strictly local, but this seems to validate that hype.
posted by grum@work at 12:27 PM on July 27, 2006
Here's how I see it: Dwayne Wade/MJ= c'mon. King James / Magic= They kinda look alike Amare doesn't have the caboose Barkley does. Chris Paul/Stockton= What are you smoking? Carmello / Mullin= Anthony has better hair Morrison / Bird= Oh wait, Adam didn't make the team Huh, whaddya know. I'm as helpful as ever.
posted by THX-1138 at 12:38 PM on July 27, 2006
"To be fair, I think the team from the 1987 Canada Cup was a better squad. As well, I think the games from 1987 Canada Cup finals were far more entertaining and exciting than the 1972 Summit Series." But, the point is that the first one, the 72 edition is that special nostalgic team everyone remembers because of the timing, not the players. '87 WAS great, I saw some of the games right here in Hamilton and it is fondly remember by hockey fans, but the 72 team is seen as part of our common culture, kind of like other countries remember their great military victories. (...hey, weren't we talking about basketball?...)
posted by hb74147 at 01:10 PM on July 27, 2006
The comparison is pattently absurd. If you look at the NBA website you can see that 10 of 12 original Dream Teamers are listed as being not just HOF but among the 50 greatest ever to play the game. http://www.nba.com/history/50greatest.html I think that the closest comparison in any sport, ever, would be MLB all-star games back in the 30's through the 50's and even there I think the numbers would fall way short. I think as an absolute best case scenario, then maybe this current squad could include Wade, Anthony and James among those elite ranks.
posted by kyrilmitch_76 at 08:12 PM on July 27, 2006
Seconding kyrilmitch_76's first paragraph. I can't believe this article was printed. Really, it's not much of a player-to-player comparison when you have to qualify the present-day Team USA player's summary with stuff like: "He doesn't quite have Ewing's offensive moves..." (well then, he ain't Ewing, is he?) "...not as good a defender as Stockton... but has the same mindset" (I play with Rec League players that have Stockton's mindset...For whatever the fuck that's worth...) That said, give a couple of these guys 10 years and the comparisons *might* be valid. I'm never buying Stoudamire as Barkley or Joe Johnson as Bird (give me a fucking break), but Wade could become Jordon and LeBron could evolve into Magic (but there's a long way to go in both of those cases). Unlikely at best though.
posted by 27 at 11:34 PM on July 27, 2006
no.