So
Kobe Bryant decided to make an erroneous statement that had the same
ripple effect as Vince Young’s remarks about his Eagles being the Dream
Team - that is, Kobe said the current 2012 US Olympics basketball team would beat the Dream Team. Just recently Vick decided to throw out the word dynasty and
although not as idiotic as above, his comments still throw the media into
a frenzy. When will athletes understand the affects of recrementitious,
narcissistic remarks? But this is about to Kobe and his boast. I do think that somewhere in that brain of his, probably in the dark abyss between thoughts of championship rings and adultery, he truly believes that this year’s US basketball team could beat the godlike Dream Team. And while this comment has already swept through the media and been essentially downgraded to a mere murmur at this point, I have not seen any in-depth analysis of the players and how the teams would match-up. It’s like an epic snow storm in the mid-Atlantic. It consumes the media, but it becomes an afterthought weeks following the incident and thus Kobe’s comments have been relegated to the similar afterlife of snowmaggedon. Instead of simply stating that Kobe is wrong, which appears to be the standard response, I want to finally prove that the Dream Team would beat this year’s Olympics team.
Now,
I will say that this year’s Olympic squad is probably the second best
team in US Basketball history and maybe with a few additions that
had suffered injuries prior to the Olympics they might have had a
chance. And if your aunt had balls she'd be your uncle. So if you
don't remember the responses directly following his absurd comment,
they included original Dream Team members laughing, analysts
questioning Kobe’s intentions or wondering if he had lost his mind, and even
the current coach, Coach K, who was an assistant on the real Dream Team,
insinuating that Lebron and Kobe are no Jordan. He didn’t
flat out say which team was better, but it was fairly obvious who he
would pick and let’s just say it was not the team heading to London. The
dream team had 11 Hall of Famers and is considered the greatest team
ever assembled in any sport compared to this team of 5 or 6 HOF’s or
potential HOF’s.
So,
the best and frankly easiest way to decide the better team is by
analyzing each squad’s players and figuring out who would win each
individual match-up. By taking into account the position, years of
competition, and legend status, you can make an educated guess on who
would be guarding who.
Dream Team
Christian Laettner-6’11” PF
David Robinson-7’1”-C
Patrick Ewing- 7’0”-C
Larry Bird-6’9” SF
Scottie Pippen-6’7”-SF
Michael Jordan-6’6”SG
Clyde Drexler-6’7”SG
Karl Malone-6’9”PF
John Stockton-6’1”PG
Chris Mullin-6’7”SF
Charles Barkley6’6”-F
Magic Johnson-6’9”PG
Current Team
Tyson Chandler- 7’ 1”-C
Kevin Durant -6’9”-F
Lebron James- 6’8”-F
Russell Westbrook- 6’3”-G
Deron Williams- 6’3”-G
Andre Iguodala- 6’6”-G/F
Kobe Bryant- 6’6”-G
Kevin Love-6’ft 10”-F
James Harden- 6‘6“-G
Chris Paul- 6‘0“-G
Anthony Davis-6‘10“-F
Carmelo Anthony-6‘8“-F
Matchups
Christian Laettner vs. Anthony Davis
David Robinson vs. Tyson Chandler
Patrick Ewing vs. Kevin Love
Larry Bird vs. Carmelo Anthony
Scottie Pippen vs. Deron Williams
Clyde Drexler vs. James Harden
Karl Malone vs. Kevin Durant
John Stockton vs. Chris Paul
Charles Barkley vs. Andre Iguodala
Magic Johnson vs. Kobe Bryant
Michael Jordan vs. Lebron James
Chris Mullin vs. Russell Westbrook
Christian Laettner vs. Anthony Davis
Christian Laettner -16.6 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 1 BPG, 1.8 APG
Anthony Davis- 14.2 PPG, 10.4 RBP, 4.7 BPG, APG1.4
Ok,
so the big question is who would you rather have on your team? Both
players have a decent perimeter shot although Laettner can drain the
three as he's Duke’s all-time three-point percentage leader at a
staggering 48.5%. That said, Davis is more athletic and a better ball
handler as he essentially grew over night from point guard to a big man.
He can also dominate down low and causes fear into opposing team
offensive players as he appears to have Mr. Fantastic-like arm
stretching abilities that block any ball that comes within 5 yards of
the hoop. While Christian Laettner had a decent NBA
career, it was nothing compared to his ability to dominate in the
college. I believe Anthony Davis will have a better career in the big
leagues and is way more athletic. For these reasons, I’m going to give
this to last year’s College National Champion.
ADVANTAGE - Anthony Davis
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David Robinson vs. Tyson Chandler
David Robinson- 21.1 PPG, 2.5 APG, 10.6 RPG, 3.0 BPG
Tyson Chandler-8.6 PPG, 1.4 BPG, 0.8 APG, 8.9 RPG
Alright,
I’m sorry for even putting these two in the same category, but because
of their height and position, they'd be banging the boards near the
hoop all game. While Tyson Chandler was the defensive player of the year
last year, he should not even be mentioned in the same category as
David Robinson. The Admiral would dominate every facet of this match-up
and while Chandler is stronger, there might never be anyone as ripped as
this American Hero. One is a perennial all-star and Hall of Famer, and
the other is a guy who 5 years after he retires
will be as remembered as Dustin Diamond. Not even close.
ADVANTAGE - David Robinson
__________________________________________________________________________________
Patrick Ewing vs. Kevin Love
Patrick Ewing- 21 PPG, 2.4 BPG, 1.9 APG, 9.8 RPG
Kevin Love- 17.3 PPG, .5 BPG, 1.9 APG, 12 RPG
So
this one is slightly closer than the Chandler / Robinson battle, but I
would like emphasize only slightly. The reason for the slightly is merely because Kevin
Love is a better player than Chandler. Kevin Love is more mobile and a way
better outside threat than Ewing, but what has a better percentage of
going in the rim, a lay-up or a 3-pointer? All Ewing would have to do is
get Love down low and this game's over. Also, seeing how Love is one
of this year’s “big men” on the Olympic team, he's going to be
restrained to playing down low, which is similar to what would happen if
an alligator fought a shark and was able to get him
to dry land. While Love has more RPG, Ewing dominates the rest of the
stats. Also, is it me or has Love been extremely tentative during these
warm-up games.
ADVANTAGE - Patrick Ewing
__________________________________________________________________________________
Larry Bird vs. Carmelo Anthony
Larry Bird- 24.3-PPG, 0.8-BPG, 6.3 APG, 10 RPG
Carmelo Anthony- 24.7 PPG, 0.5 BPG, 3.1 APG, 6.3 RPG
Alright,
so in his prime Larry Legend would have stomped all over Melo. But
during Bird’s Olympics he was dealing with years of neglecting his body
and health via throwing his body all over the hardwood during an amazing
career. Melo is a solid player and more athletic than Bird, but he just
doesn't have the heart of the corn-fed white boy. Bird was
extremely aggressive on both ends of the court, while Melo’s defense is
extremely subpar. But as much as I would love to give this to Bird as he
was one of the toughest players in basketball history and had better
overall statistics than Melo, Anthony is in his prime during
these Olympics. If they played against each other during their primes, I
would give it to Bird, but he was a shell of his former self during the
Barcelona Games.
ADVANTAGE - Carmelo Anthony
__________________________________________________________________________________
Scottie Pippen vs. Deron Williams
Scottie Pippen-16.1 PPG, 0.8-BPG, 5.2 APG, 6.4 RPG
Deron Williams-17.6 PPG, 0.2 BPG, 9.2 APG, 3.3 RPG
Scottie
Pippen would have been any other team’s top guard in his day but
decided to play in the shadow of Jordan and gain basketball glory through victories, not personal acclaim. He
was also underpaid tremendously, which goes to show his mentality of
team first. Deron Williams is a strong PG and is as explosive as it
gets, but Pippen was one of the best defensive players in the game. He
is strong enough to take Deron’s abuse and while not as quick, he was so
defensively sound he could hang with Williams. There is also a 4”
difference that would allow Pippen to dominate. Scoring wise they're
similar and while Deron has a better AG percentage, Pippen wins
every other battle. Offensively, they surprising have similar games for
such a big height differential, but what makes Pippen
indispensable is his ability to transition seamlessly between roleplayer and the go-to play maker when necessary.
ADVANTAGE - Scottie
Pippen
________________________________________________________________________________
Clyde Drexler vs. James Harden
Clyde Drexler- 20.4 PPG, 0.7 BPG, 5.6 APG, 6.1 RPG
James Harden- 12.7 PPG, 0.3-BPG, 2.5 APG, 3.4 RPG
Clyde “The Glide” Drexler was the man and is a legend while James Harden is a mere 6th
man. Sure, he was an all-star and would start on most other teams, but
Clyde would dominate this man. I mean, statistically, it's not even
close. Even with his beard and his signature move of holding the
ball way in front in order to lure defenders into fouling him like
Sandusky lured prepubescent children into the shower, he would not be
able to outscore Clyde. Personally, I like James Harden a lot and feel
that he has a lot of upside, but this is not even close.
ADVANTAGE - Clyde
Drexler
_________________________________________________________________________________
Karl Malone vs. Kevin Durant
Karl Malone- 25 PPG, 0.8 BPG, 3.6 APG, 10.1 RPG
Kevin Durant- 26.3 PPG, 1 BPG, 2.8 APG, 6.6 RPG
Personally,
I think Kevin Durant is the most important player on the Olympic Team
this year as his game is best fitting for International play. He can
drive and dish, he's a basketball sniper, and yet is tall enough to
play any position on the court. His defense is a little subpar though,
which is where Malone excelled. Karl Malone is one of the best PF’s to
ever play the game and as his nickname stated, he is the mailman due to
the fact he always delivered. He was also extremely jacked and could
power the hell out of Durant. Sure Malone had one of the best careers a
player can have but, honestly, barring any injuries Durant
could have the same. Statistically, they're pretty close and thus
would most likely end up having the same numbers if they played against
each other.
ADVANTAGE - Even
_________________________________________________________________________________
John Stockton vs. Chris Paul
John Stockton- 13.1 PPG, .2 BPG, 10.5 APG, 2.7 RPG,
Chris Paul- 18.8 PPG, 0.1 BPG, 9.8 APG, 4.5 RPG
Chris
Paul is always one of the most athletic individuals on the court and
way more athletic than Stockton, but Stockton played the game as
technically sound as anyone ever. Sure, Paul is averaging more PPG, but
that’s out of necessity as he was on a Hornets team with no help. Not
only is Stockton the best point guard of my lifetime, he is one of
the best point guards of all time and an ideal teammate for a team of
all-stars and legends. No one could stop either team except for themselves, that is, they're so good the only way they could lose would be to mess up their own game,
which means that they would need to eliminate the amount of turnovers. And while I could rely on someone like Stockton, CP3 can have
games when he can get slightly out of control.
ADVANTAGE - John Stockton
_________________________________________________________________________________
Charles Barkley vs. Andre Iguodala
Charles Barkley-22.1 PPG, 0.8 BPG, 3.9 APG, 11.7 RPG
Andre Iguodala- 15.3 PPG, .5 BPG, 4.9 APG, 5.8 RPG
For
all of the loud mouth, tough man persona of Barkley, you tend to forget
that he was one hell of a basketball player, leading his Suns through
some epic playoff runs. This man averaged a double-double for his career
and is considered one of the best rebounders ever. Sir Barkley would
pummel Iguodala into submission. While I have to give Iguodala the
advantage around the perimeter, it wouldn't be close in every other
aspect of the game. I mean, Barkley is better in every stat besides,
APG. PPG and RPG are not even in the same court.
ADVANTAGE - Charles Barkley
__________________________________________________________________________________
Magic Johnson vs. Kobe Bryant
Magic Johnson- 19.5 PPG, 0.4 BPG, 11.2 APG, 7.2 RBG
Kobe Bryant- 25.4 PPG, 0.5 BPG, 4.7 APG, 5.3 RPG
When
Kobe decided to make that comment, the analysts were billing this
marquee match-up (as well as the match-up below) as one of the top tier fictional
battles of all time. This would be interesting and, honestly, it’s
extremely difficult to say who would end up as having the advantage. These are two players who have had two of the most ideal
sports careers of anyone. They both have their MVP’s, rings (both while leading the L.A. Lakers, in fact), and are
permanently ingrained in basketball history. It would be a
tough match-up, but seeing how this was towards the end of Magic’s
career and he had just found out he had HIV, I have
to give it to Kobe, although he's slowly getting close to the end of
his own pro-life. Sure Magic is considered to be one of the best PG’s ever,
but by the time the Olympics came around he was simply tired. Now,
while Kobe really has not contributed in the warm-up Olympic Games, I
have a feeling that he won't stay in the background during the real
competition. That said, he isn’t even the best player on this year’s
Olympic basketball squad. Is it me or is it never the best player who
makes these false boastful proclamations?
ADVANTAGE - Kobe Bryant
__________________________________________________________________________________
Michael Jordan vs. Lebron James
Michael Jordan- 30.1 PPG,0.8 BPG, 5.3 APG, 6.2 RPG
Lebron James- 27.6 PPG, .8 BPG, 6.9 APG, 7.2 RPG
Michael
Jordan is the greatest basketball player ever. Sorry Lebron, but Jordan
is simply Jordan and there might never be another player like him, and while
you might eventually be as close to the second coming of him as humanly
possible, he would win this battle. Lebron is the leader of this year's
Olympic squad but I would rather follow Jordan into battle than Lebron,
any day. That’s all that needs to be said.
ADVANTAGE - Jordan
__________________________________________________________________________________
Chris Mullin vs. Russell Westbrook
By process of elimination, these two are the final match-up and,
honestly, this just comes down to speed vs. power. I’m not going to bother, but if I
really had to choose, Mullin was a great player, and probably the least
spoke about HOF’er ever.
ADVANTAGE - Chris Mullin
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
So there doesn't appear to be much of an argument. The advantage, 8-3 goes to THE DREAM team. As you can tell from
the statistics, overall the dream team had higher numbers and while
Magic and Bird were towards the end of their careers, the majority of
the original players only had a few years in the league and were still
in their prime. Plus, if you compare the averages of steals per player
per team, the dream team averaged .45 more steals a game (1.74-1.29
although I did not include the college kids), which can make or break a
team. Their defense was unparallelled for a team that could make a run
faster
than Usain Bolt’s 100 meter. So while this
year’s Olympic Squad might be overall more athletic, the Dream Team had
better scorers, tougher players, the height advantage, and would
physically beat the shit out of the 2012 team. In fact, this year’s team
has struggled in warm-ups against two of their harder opponents
(Argentina and Brazil) which in my opinion were due to their
deficiencies in the paint and around the boards. Sorry Kobe, you guys
just don't compare. It would be a double digit loss.
Maybe if Rose and Wade weren't injured, if Griffin didn't get injured
in Team USA's practice a few weeks ago, and Howard was on the team and
actually contributed, which he did not do in Beijing, Kobe would have a
better argument. Even though there will never be a true answer as this epic match will never occur (unless we invent time travel), I think it's fairly obvious the Dream Team, the best team of all time, would come out the
victor.
- Kyle
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