To dream or redeem

In a Yahoo! Sports exclusive, Dan Wetzel glorified an argument first hatched by Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post - which is better, the 1992 Dream Team or the 2008 Redeem Team. And if they were to play, who would you think will win?

We all have seen the basketball games on TV and the Redeemers have been dominating and outclassing the opposition in Beijing. With their team play, really tight defense, jaw-dropping dunks and surprisingly precise shooting, they have shown to the rest of the world their mastery and superiority of the game they had invented. But are they more superior to the original squad of 1992?

USA Basketball did not find the need to bring its best to Barcelona. The 1992 team was formed based on personality, marketability and achievement.

Larry Bird was six years gone from his last league MVP award and was way past his prime. Magic Johnson had been retired and was inactive for a year. John Stockton was picked over Isiah Thomas because Michael Jordan won’t play on the team if Isiah is around. Duke University’s Christian Laettner, the college player of the year, was included as a tribute to the eventual demise of collegiate representation in international tournaments.

These four players had the lowest scoring averages on the team but it didn’t really matter as this squad systemically routed the opposition by an average of 43.6 points per game.

With the rest of the world catching up with Team USA, the present crop has prepared well. All 12 players on the Beijing squad are either in full bloom or just about to burst. It is a younger, stronger, quicker and focused team.

MJ was the stabilizer on the Barcelona squad. He was 29 then and at the peak of his playing career. Kobe, LeBron and Dwayne Wade are exceptional players in their own rights and are obvioously the 3 best players on the Beijing squad, but they are still steps below MJ’s stature. However, Kobe matching up against MJ would be a treat.

1992 didn’t have the 6-8, 240 pounder LeBron bulldozing and flying through defenders but Scottie Pippen defending him would be a great matchup. Barcelona had good perimeter shooters in MJ, Pippen, Clyde Drexler and Chris Mullin but Beijing’s editiion is deeper and has made some fireworks of their own.

The post is where the 1992 team has the clear edge. All in their prime, no one can match up with Patrick Ewing and David Robinson at center and Charles Barkley and Karl Malone at power forward. The current group of Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer and Carmelo Anthony are not lacking in talent but they will be overwhelmed and will look like kindergartners matched againts Ewing and company.

The only way the Beijing squad can win over the Barcelona team is to run, run, run. They should push the ball, score in transition and prevent the 1992 team from playing the post.

1992 breezed through the tournament almost without effort. In case you haven’t noticed, the current team have been tenaciously vicious on defense, ganging up on the opposition’s point guards. In a poll of about 4,000 votes, the original Dream Team had 82% and the Redeem Team got 18% as to who would win if both teams meet in a hypothetical match up. The Barcelona team still remains as the greatest basketball team ever assembled but we can never argue the fact that the Beijing squad has been playing more intense basketball than any other Dream Team assembled.

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