2012 Offseason: 92 Dream Team vs Team USA 2012

Thanks to Kobe Bryant, Charles Barkley, and now Michael Jordan, there has been a lot of debate about how the two US Olympic Teams would perform against each other.  Call me a fan of the classics but I really do think things aren't even close.  While Team USA 2012 may have more star power at the top of the line-up, the overall depth and the impact of players 1 through 12 give me much more confidence in the original dream team. 

First, let's compare them position by position, taking into consideration the abilities of the players at the time of the respective Olympics.  With this consideration for example, I would have Scottie Pippen as the top small forward on the team since this was already during the time Larry Bird had a bad back and was not the Bird of legend.  Similarly, for the 2012 team, we are now looking at a 30+ Kobe Bryant, who is clearly no longer as critical a player as Lebron James and Kevin Durant.  Given these considerations, my view would be as follows:

C:  Patrick Ewing vs Tyson Chandler  -->  Advantage Dream Team
F:  Karl Malone vs Lebron James  -->  Advantage USA 2012
F:  Scottie Pippen vs Kevin Durant  -->  Advantage USA 2012
G:  Michael Jordan vs Kobe Bryant -->  Advantage Dream Team
G:  Magic Johnson vs Chris Paul -->  Advantage Dream Team
C:  David Robinson vs Kevin Love  -->  Advantage Dream Team
F:  Charles Barkley vs Carmelo Anthony  -->  Advantage Dream Team
F:  Chris Mullin vs Andre Iguodala  -->  Advantage Dream Team
G:  Clyde Drexler vs Russell Westbrook  -->  Advantage Dream Team
G:  John Stockton vs Deron Williams -->  Advantage USA 2012
R:  Larry Bird vs James Harden -->  Advantage Dream Team
R:  Christian Laettner vs Anthony Davis -->  Even

Based on the above matchups, the original Dream Team wins 8, Team USA 2012 wins 3, and the amateurs even out since both were insignificant anyway to both teams.  This does not take into consideration the degree of the matchup, where Ewing and Robinson for example have a dominant advantage over Chandler and Love, while James and Durant have sligth advantages over Malone and Pippen.

I recall there was a 1992 team member who said that only 3 players from the 2012 team would make it on the 1992 team.  That's actually a good estimate.  My own view would be that James, Durant, and Kobe make it over Laettner, Drexler, and Bird, given his already being oft-injured by that time.  You can also make an argument for Chris Paul or Deron Williams getting the nod over Stockton.  Still, that leaves a solid 8 slots on the team belonging to members of the Dream Team.

As shown in the gold medal game against Spain and in the game against Lithuania, Team USA 2012 is vulnerable to a strong inside game.  They offset this with athleticism.  Teams that attempted to compete with them on even terms such as Argentina were blown out, but teams that pounded the ball inside had more success.  The Dream Team actually has superior size and a stronger inside game than Spain (Robinson, Ewing, Malone, Barkley would dominate Pau & Marc Gasol, Ibaka, Reyes), while also having what Spain did not...athleticism on the wings with Jordan and Pippen being able to defend the likes of Lebron, Durant, and Kobe.  While the Dream Team does not have as much perimeter depth as the 2012 team, the presence of athletic bigs, particularly on defense, would allow them to compensate for that.  While the 2012 team has more athleticism on the roster from top to bottom, the Dream Team had a better balance of athleticism and size, anchored by an athletic Robinson.  Imagine Lebron or Kobe having to get by Jordan/Pippen on the outside and then to be met at the ring by Robinson.

All in all the advantage of the Dream Team is because of its depth.  When it came to must win games, Team USA 2012 had a much shorter rotation -  James, Durant, Bryant, Paul, Anthony, Williams, Chandler/Love.  The others could not be counted on to play extended minutes (Westbrook, Davis, Harden, Iguodala).  Even against an opponent like Spain, I can imagine most of the Dream Team players would still be able to play significant minutes, with the exception perhaps being Laettner, who really did not have anything more than ceremonial value on the team.

A last point to make would be that I feel there are more players on the Dream Team who would be preferred over the players on the 2012 Team USA than vice versa.  From the perspective of the Dream Team, I can imagine strengthening the team by taking James over an injured and aging Bird, Durant over Drexler, and Chris Paul in place of Laettner to give the team a quick attacking point guard to complement Magic's size and Stockton's pass first approach.  From a purely talent standpoint, it would be Kobe instead of Paul and play Pippen as the 3rd point guard.

Conversely, there are more Dream Team players who would fill in needs on the 2012 team.  First to go would be the big men, with a clear upgrade offensively and defensively by taking Robinson, Ewing, and Malone in place of Chandler, Love, and Davis.  Jordan and Pippen would be an upgrade in overall talent over Harden and Iguodala while matching the level of athleticism.  With Pippen and Jordan capable of taking over as the 3rd point guard, I would also take Barkley or Mullin over Westbrook.  Barkley will improve the team's inside game, while Mullin could be chosen if the desire was to improve outside shooting.  I personally would rather take Barkley and Mullin over Anthony.  As a power forward, Barkley is the better rebounder and defender, while on the wings, Mullin a better shooter.

All in all, I feel that the 1992 Dream Team is the better team as evidenced by the fact that they have more players who can strengthen the 2012 Team USA as compared to 2012 Team USA players who can strengthen the Dream Team.