# Will there ever be another Dream Team?



## UD40 (May 12, 2005)

Simple question, will there ever be another team (from anywhere) like the '92 Dream Team?


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## Sir Patchwork (Jan 12, 2005)

Honestly, I think 2008 will give the dream team a run for it's money. 

LeBron will be like 23, Melo will be 24, Wade will be 25, Kobe will be 29, Chris Paul will be 22, Dwight Howard will be 22, Chris Bosh will be 23, and so on. These numbers are rough estimates, because I'm not sure exactly how old some of these guys are and I don't feel like looking it up, but you get the point. These guys are so young, and time so far has proven that these guys develop at a rapid pace. 

We could be looking at a real special collection of talent by 2008 if everything falls in place right, because all of these guys are about progress. Greg Oden should also be playing with the team by then. 

Now it's a different question if you're asking if any team will absolutely destroy teams like the original dream team did, because that's more dependant on the competition. That dream team would not have destroyed the 2004 Argentina team by 38 points. It would have been under 15 points.

USA had basketball as a primary sport way before any other country, which is why we dominated for so long. Some of the other countries adopted basketball as a primary sport probably 15 or so years ago, so they have naturally made up a ton of ground in catching up. That gap is only going to keep closing and eventually become non-existent.


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## rainman (Jul 15, 2002)

i dont think you'll see it, first off in 92 all the guys showed up, there wasnt this thing where the vets didnt want to play, bird/magic were there and they were to some extent past their prime but they still showed up. the second thing is i dont see players ever being as fundamentally sound as those players and that will show more in international competition. anyone trying to suggest this bunch(and i do think they will win it all this year) is as good as that 92 team is showing their age, no offense.


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## ralaw (Feb 24, 2005)

No, from top to bottom every single player (outside of Leatner) from the 92' squad was an elite player, who was an all time great. I think the 92' Dream Team had heart and competitiveness; however, I think the 08' squad will display these same attributes. The 92' Dream Team was more experienced than this 08' team considering before the they arrived for the Olympics. The 92' team had already won 5 NCAA championships, 9 NBA MVPs, and a 12 NBA championships. I think the 08's team has comparable talent, but not comparable basketball IQ and skill.

The 92' team had virtually the perfect balance from dominance in the post with Ewing and Robinson, Malone and Barkley; dominance on the wing with Jordan, Magic, Drexler, Pippen and Mullin; perimeter defense in Jordan, Pippen and Stockton; perimeter shooting in Bird, Mullin, Stockton; and leadership in Jordan, Stockton, Magic and Bird. The 92' Dream Team is the best team ever and will continue to be for a long, long time.


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## CSILASVEGAS (Jan 14, 2006)

I'm just curious, but why did we not include players like Tim Duncan, Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, Allen Iverson, Jason Kidd, who have proven that they can win it in international competitions rather than send guys that have relatively no experience. I guess the best thing to keep up with the world, and keep that Dream Team status for a long term is have a mixture of veterans like the ones i mentioned and a bunch of young guns like Bron Melo Wade Bosh and Kirk. I feel that having veterans can help in the maturity factor of their younger teammates.

For example, Duncan can be a good mentor for Howard or Bosh so that when Duncan retires, the two guys would have learned a lot from Tim and gained experience from playing as well.. just a thought...


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## girllovesthegame (Nov 3, 2005)

CSILASVEGAS said:


> I'm just curious, but why did we not include players like Tim Duncan, Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, Allen Iverson, Jason Kidd, who have proven that they can win it in international competitions rather than send guys that have relatively no experience. I guess the best thing to keep up with the world, and keep that Dream Team status for a long term is have a mixture of veterans like the ones i mentioned and a bunch of young guns like Bron Melo Wade Bosh and Kirk. I feel that having veterans can help in the maturity factor of their younger teammates.
> 
> For example, Duncan can be a good mentor for Howard or Bosh so that when Duncan retires, the two guys would have learned a lot from Tim and gained experience from playing as well.. just a thought...


Well this is what Coach K and Colangelo said in regards to the team selection...apparently instead of going with a team full of "all-stars", they went with more role players.

_"I was very pleased with the entire selection process. The manner in which it was conducted included all parts of United States' basketball, from the professional level to the colleges and high schools. Everyone was considered.* It is obvious that we're not trying to put a collection of all-stars together.* The goal is to put together as good of a basketball team as we possibly can. I believe we've done that with this group of players," said USA and Duke University head coach Mike Krzyzewski. _

http://www.usabasketball.com/seniormen/2006/06_mwc_players.html


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## ralaw (Feb 24, 2005)

CSILASVEGAS said:



> I'm just curious, but why did we not include players like Tim Duncan, Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, Allen Iverson, Jason Kidd, who have proven that they can win it in international competitions rather than send guys that have relatively no experience. I guess the best thing to keep up with the world, and keep that Dream Team status for a long term is have a mixture of veterans like the ones i mentioned and a bunch of young guns like Bron Melo Wade Bosh and Kirk. I feel that having veterans can help in the maturity factor of their younger teammates.
> 
> For example, Duncan can be a good mentor for Howard or Bosh so that when Duncan retires, the two guys would have learned a lot from Tim and gained experience from playing as well.. just a thought...


I don't think putting the best players in the league together virtually making an all-star team is the best way to go any longer....atleast for today's players. The international teams are way more advanced from where they were in 92' and most of this success is due to the American game. Now in saying that I believe if the 92' team played against today's international competition they would beat teams by 25+ppg rather than the 40+ppg they accomplished in 92'.


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## Greg Ostertag! (May 1, 2003)

Yep... the 2008 French National Team. They have appeared in my dreams.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

The Dream Team had a lot of star power, but they would have gotten jobbed by Argentina too.

They were beating countries who had never played basketball before. I swear they beat the Jamican Catholic Girls Middle School team for the gold.

So no. We'll never be that far ahead of the rest of the world in basketball again.


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## pliumbum (Mar 23, 2004)

Sir Patchwork said:


> USA had basketball as a primary sport way before any other country, which is why we dominated for so long. Some of the other countries adopted basketball as a primary sport probably 15 or so years ago, so they have naturally made up a ton of ground in catching up. That gap is only going to keep closing and eventually become non-existent.



Nah, USSR has had it as primary sports since the 60s. As well as Yugoslavia. That's why Serbia and Lithuania are that tough.

I see the reason elsewhere.

The population of the USA is 299 million. Lithuania - 3.4 million. Serbia - 9.7 million. Argentina - 40 million. France - 63.6 million. Spain - 44.4 million. Italy - 58.7 million. 

What I mean, is that the US is the biggest country with nice basketball traditions. The only two countries in the wourld with larger population are India and China. India is much more interested in cricket than in basketball, and China has only just (after Yao) become interested in basketball. Although it's quite funny to watch, as Chinese seem to think that the most important in the basketball is the center, and the taller the better  It seems that China is only producing centers and nothing more. btw, i have even read about this, that chinese think so.

So, multiply lithuanian basketball players 100 times, so that it is equal to american basketball players.. And we'll see which country is the best basketball country in the world.


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## RomaVictor (Feb 16, 2004)

futuristxen said:


> The Dream Team had a lot of star power, but they would have gotten jobbed by Argentina too.
> 
> They were beating countries who had never played basketball before. I swear they beat the Jamican Catholic Girls Middle School team for the gold.
> 
> So no. We'll never be that far ahead of the rest of the world in basketball again.


Huh? That is patently absurd. Argentina "jobbed" a group of inexperienced international players with a terrible jerk-off coach in Larry Brown and a terribly put-together WC 2002 squad.

As for the quality of competition, you may remember that Lithuania formed the core of the great Soviet teams. Here's who was on the Lithuanian team in 1992:
Arvydas Sabonis (1992 Sabonis, not the one we'd see in 2000)
Rimas Kurtinaitis
Sarunas Marciulonis
Arturas Karnisovas
Valdemaris Chomičius (on the 88 Gold Medal team.)

That team was beaten by the US 126-76. That's FIFTY-ONE points. I'd make the argument that Arvydas Sabonis is a superior player to anyone on the current Arg..wait, he is DEFINITELY a better player than anyone on Argentina. Sarunas Marciulonis was an actual GOOD NBA player. Karnisovas was a great international player. As was Kurtinaitis. That same Soviet squad beat an American team in 88 with many of those same guys and that US squad had some pretty big names on it.

The Croatian team that lost by 30 points both times to the US featured names like:

Toni Kukoc (best European player for years, still IN the NBA even though he's ancient)
Drazen Petrovic (another player better than anyone on Argentina's squad)
Dino Radja (NBA player, not great but he was in the league)
Stojko Vrankovic (another NBAer)

No way a team with Barkley, Jordan, Magic, Drexler, Malone, Robinson and Ewing doesn't steamroll this Argentinian squad. 

The world has caught up to some degree. But we also are ignoring that the Dream Team was comprised of 'in prime' or 'crafty veteran' players who were all not only talented and athletic still but very experienced. Imagine the current team (or the best players not on the team, like Kobe) in another 2-4 years.


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## s a b a s 11 (Dec 31, 2002)

No.

Stuart


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## RomaVictor (Feb 16, 2004)

Let me also add, futurist, that an NBA team with Duncan, Iverson, McGrady, Kidd, Carter, et al beat Argentina in the gold medal game of the 2003 Qualifying Tournament by THIRTY THREE points.

(the first game they played in that tournament was close and the US won by 8 but the US will have that potential to just run someone else out of the building--a team with HoF players at every position would definitely be able to do the same.)


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## Anima (Jun 3, 2003)

No, the 2008 team could be as talented as the Dream Team but I don't think we'll ever see another team dominated like they did. The reason isn't because of the talent on team USA is declining but rather the talent around the rest of the world is raising quickly as evidenced by the amount of foreign players in the NBA.


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## clownskull (Jun 21, 2002)

futuristxen said:


> The Dream Team had a lot of star power, but they would have gotten jobbed by Argentina too.
> 
> They were beating countries who had never played basketball before. I swear they beat the Jamican Catholic Girls Middle School team for the gold.
> 
> So no. We'll never be that far ahead of the rest of the world in basketball again.


will the us team and future ones ever enjoy the level of dominance like they used too? no, i seriously doubt it too. but the 04 argentine team beat the 92 usa team?- no way. the 92 team is far too balanced from top to bottom. they not only had the best players, they at least had a great coach (one of the best in the world in chuck daly) . that team was loaded with many hall of famers with unmatched court vision. they weren't loaded with a bunch of 1 on 1 ball hogs. the dream team had too many stellar defenders in guys like pipen and jordan and stockton. that was the greatest defensive backcourt in the history of international ball. and if needed, i'm sure they could have supplied all the offense needed to beat a team like argentina even though they had plenty of other help at hand.

the first sighns i saw that usa hoops was really in jepardy was in 94. that roster was loaded with a much more youthful roster of 2nd and 3rd year players mostly. they won the tourny of the americas but werent really a team. and for too many years, the process was to simply take a pro coach and a roster of the most marketable names (a.k.a. jersey sales) who accepted a roster spot. thus the struggles. the whole sytem just didn't work anymore because that dream team was just about the only team with which it could work. for years it went on and the losing formula was tried and tried.

now, they seem to have a pretty good system at hand such as selecting playes to try out instead of just giving them a spot if they decide they might like to play. this is probably the best team since the 92 dream team but theres no way they could beat the 92 team. this current usa team would probably lose to dream team by about 15 or so.


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## RomaVictor (Feb 16, 2004)

clownskull said:


> now, they seem to have a pretty good system at hand such as selecting playes to try out instead of just giving them a spot if they decide they might like to play. this is probably the best team since the 92 dream team but theres no way they could beat the 92 team. this current usa team would probably lose to dream team by about 15 or so.


I think the 96 team was better than this team. More experience and an excellent frontcourt.

I can see what you're saying about 94 being just a bunch of guys, but the results were still pretty impressive considering that.


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## clownskull (Jun 21, 2002)

yeh, you might be right. the 96 team had hakeem when he was still great. they were not bad at all.


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