Saw this article on ESPN:

2007 US Team Among the Best Ever

This team does look pretty good, but I don't think you can even remotely compare the two until we get to the Olympics. This wasn't exactly a strong field that they blew through. While I'll admit that the international competition is light years better than it was back then, they really have to win the gold to even enter the discussion.

While I do think that on pure athleticism this team is up there, IMO it's hard to compare because the Dream Team had so much more experience. Most of the studs on this version are just getting started with their careers. There was no comparison in terms of accolades.

I'd still take the Dream Team mostly because of their big advantage inside. While Howard, Stoudemire, and Bosh are all quite talented and I'd kill to get any one of them on the Bulls, they aren't anywhere near as polished or dominant as Barkley, Malone, Robinson, and Ewing were back in 1992. The Dream Team could punish people inside, I don't think this version of Team USA will be doing that in the Olympics with regularity since Howard and Stoudemire are still developing their offensive skills. They're going to lean on Kobe/Lebron/Melo/possibly Wade to do most of the damage. It's also hard to top the playmaking ability you had with Magic/Stockton at the point as well as Bird and Scottie at SF and Michael at SG.

This team is good but the Dream Team was the best collection of talent ever. There will never be a better team than the original dream team.

That's not entirely true.

I understand that this team doesn't have the best players the NBA has to offer but it is pretty good. However, it's not as good as the dream team. However, if Durant & Oden develop into superstars we could have a supersick young team at the 2012 olympics.

Imagine a team of

Greg Oden
Amare
Chris Bosh
Dwight Howard
Lebron James
Kevin Durant
Carmelo Anthony
D. Wayde
Gilbert Arenas
Chris Paul
Deron Williams

(Howard, James, Carmelo, Wayde, & possibly Oden and Durant all have a chance to become top 50 ever caliber players)(meanwhile if D. Williams continues to improve, he'll be one of the best PG's ever.)


Who knows how good these players will be in 5 years.

Kobe? (although he will be 34 by then)
Carlos Boozer?
Kevin Martin (though highly unlikely)
Joe Johnson? (though unlikely)
Ben Gordon?
Corey Brewer?

Possible stars in 5 years (or much sooner)
Lamarcus Aldridge (if it happens)(he definately has the skills to become dominate)
Tyrus Thomas (if it happens)(if he puts it all together he'll be scary))
Tyson Chandler (could be a bit better by then)
Al Jefferson? (could be pretty damn good in 5 years
Luol Deng? (could happen)
Rudy Gay?
Josh Smith?
Brandon Roy?
Monta Ellis?
Mike Conley?
Andre Iguodala?
Jeff Green?

Not to mention any great rookies we could have in the next 3 years that could develop by the time 2012 hits. (O.J. Mayo, Michael Beasley, Eric Gordon, Derrick Rose, Bill Walker)

The only question is will we ever get them together all on the same team. I think this year was a great step towards doing that.

Charles Barkley F 6-6 250 29 Phoenix Suns (Auburn) Bala Cynwyd, PA
Larry Bird F 6-9 220 35 Boston Celtics (Indiana State) Brookline, MA
Clyde Drexler G 6-7 222 30 Portland Trail Blazers (Houston) Portland, OR
Patrick Ewing C 7-0 240 30 New York Knicks (Georgetown) Fort Lee, NJ
Earvin Johnson G 6-9 220 32 Los Angeles Lakers (Michigan State) Beverly Hills, CA
Michael Jordan G 6-6 198 29 Chicago Bulls (North Carolina) Chicago, IL
Christian Laettner F 6-11 235 22 Duke University Angola, NY
Karl Malone F 6-9 256 29 Utah Jazz (Louisiana Tech) Salt Lake City, UT
Chris Mullin F 6-7 215 29 Golden State Warriors (St. John's) Alamo, CA
Scottie Pippen G/F 6-7 210 26 Chicago Bulls (Central Arkansas) Northbrook, IL
David Robinson C 7-1 235 27 San Antonio Spurs (U.S. Naval Acd.) San Antonio, TX
John Stockton G 6-1 175 30 Utah Jazz (Gonzaga) Salt Lake City, UT


This was the first dream team. First and foremost, we can just throw Christian Laettner out of the discussion for obvious reasons. Larry Bird although a great player was 35 years old. A llittle old and definately not at his peak. Other than that, almost everyone on the team was in their prime. Chris Mullin was a great shooter. Ewing was okay but not the best. However, Robinson was a beast. If this team had Hakeem, I would for sure give it the best ever without a doubt crown.

The 2012 team could consist of players that are all in the prime of their career.

Dwight Howard could be a good if not better/more dominate than Barkley in 5 years. Maybe not offensively, (but who knows) but definately on the boards and defensively. Lebron in 5 years could be better than Magic. I'm sure I'll get my head bit off for that but it's true. Kevin Durant could be better than everyone on the list other than MJ? Oden could become a David Robinson (although I'm not that high on him). Then you have Carmelo & Wayde who when healthy are great scorers and team players. But what I think I am the highest on is the class of PG's we could have. Deron Williams and Chris Paul are special and will only get better with age (unless Paul gets hurt). Then you have Conley who may or may not become special.

Then you have a lot of other question marks like Aldridge, Tyrus, Jefferson, Deng, Smith who could be great players or just good players. 5 years is definately enough time for any of them to develop.

5 years for not only the unproven to develop but also 5 years for our young talent like Lebron, Melo, Wayde, Howard, Amare to hit their peak as players.

You can throw all the ifs out the window as far as I'm concerned. There will never be a team as good as that 92 squad, ever.

Bird still averaged 20.2 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 6.8 assists in the 91-92 season, though he did miss some games. That's still pretty damn good. I'd say you don't give Ewing enough credit either, 24-11.2-2.98 is a pretty dominant stat line from that year. True, Hakeem would have made it a bit scarier (I don't think he was eligible for the US until the 96 team, could be wrong though), but Ewing and Robinson are already extremely imposing.

I will admit, if they could get Duncan and Garnett to play it'd be an awful lot closer. Those two and Kidd will be done by 2012 then, and it's a toss-up as to whether Kobe will still be playing this well by then. That's a lot of your sure-fire Top-50 stars that are already there.

It's not totally out of the realm of possibility, but it'd be pretty tough. You had 3 top-10 All-time players including the guy widely considered to be the best ever and 10 guys that made the NBA's 50 greatest ever list (granted it needs some revising, but none of them are really at risk IMO). While Lebron and Wade will likely be considered on that tier by then and guys like Bosh/Howard/Durant/Oden/Rose plus probably a few others have the ability to get there, that's still a lot of development to do, especially on those last 3.

The way I see it the two spots where they need to close the gap are up front and at the point. With Lebron (Side comment: he's CONSIDERABLY more comparable to Michael/Kobe than Magic as a player in terms of style/skills) and Wade you've got two top-notch guys on the wings as well as Carmelo and Durant supporting (though they could use a defensive stopper, Michael/Scottie=bad night for your wing players). But you need 4 guys that can score, rebound, and defend up front (well, at least 3 on the D front. The Round Mound of Rebound was okay but not stellar). All of those guys still need to improve on at least one of those categories. As for the point, Magic and Stockton were about as good as you can get at the position. Paul and Williams are solid and could potentially end up somewhat close to Stockton/Kidd, but I don't see either of them reaching Magic-levels. Honestly the guy I'm the highest on is Derek Rose, he's got some serious ability. He could end up being Jason Kidd with more consistent scoring.

That's an awful lot of speculation though, we'll have to see what happens. They've got the athletes to potentially make it interesting and Lebron and Wade look pretty damn special. They need to up the production and improve the depth a fair amount though.

I agree with this as well. We have evolved into specialists for the Olympic teams, and that tells me right there that we aren't as good as 92. Guys like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and company could do it all. They played defense. They shot from deep. They posted up... etc, etc. Plus as was mentioned before, there are still some of the NBAs best players who haven't committed fully to this program. Don't get me wrong, this is still the best collection of talent in the world, I just don't know if the burning desire to demolish the world exsists in this group.

they arent as good as the 92 team, but they are close. lebron, redd, melo, amare, kobe, etc. this team is rediculous. it will take a huge melt down to not win the gold in beijing

92 Dream Team, more like Utah Jazz/Chicago Bulls vs the 2007 team. Seriously lol.

Lofty comparison, rather ridiculous to compare two teams from different eras of basketball. Since the 90s, the game has become more of a fast tempo, fast break type of game, higher scoring and more talented players are playing the game not only in the US but internationally.

I think this would be an excellent matchup. The 92 team played weak competition internationally back then unlike now you look at just last year, the US lost, that was rather unthinkable 10 years ago for the Dream Team to lose. Of course a year later or today they are blowing out every team regardless of the lineup on the floor.

If I had my choice Ill take the 92 team any day of the week though, its built of a bunch of players who worked well together and like some of you stated can do it all unlike now your 2007 team has a bunch of players who try to do everything themselves, of course this will work against a bunch of scrappy no name international players but how bout against a 92 team or hell your champions the Spurs?

Its funny just the other day I was arguing between a coupld buddies about this. They were saying, oh that team is built of hall of famers it would be an easy win. Im like and who is to say in 10 years from now most of the players on this team wont be? Kidd should be, Lebron will be, Kobe will, yes it might be rather early to make this assumption but players are putting up better numbers now than in 92 not that this could change the matchup.

This argument could go many ways though.

Here, I'll end the argument: That team had Jordan. Alright, game over.