![]() ![]() So if that's what Jordan needs to begin the discussion, that 11 players from the 2012 team one day be elected to the Hall of Fame, the question would then become: How close can the 2012 team get to 11 Hall of Famers?Īt this point in their careers, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James can be considered surefire Hall of Famers. Christian Laettner of Duke was the lone amateur on the team, which defeated their opponents by an average margin of more than 51 points.īryant's comments elicited a response from Jordan, who told Associated Press reporters Thursday that there was "no comparison" between the two teams, and that he would "like to think that we had 11 Hall of Famers on that team, and whenever they get 11 Hall of Famers you call and ask me who had the better Dream Team." That 1992 team, of course, consisted of 11 eventual Hall of Famers, headlined by Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Magic Johnson, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing and Charles Barkley.ĭavid Robinson, Chris Mullin, John Stockton, Karl Malone and Larry Bird were also future Hall of Famers on the roster. Two weeks before the start of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, 2008 gold medal winner Kobe Bryant sparked a massive debate by comparing the current team to the 1992 Dream Team.īryant told reporters last week that the current Olympic team, which defeated the Dominican Republic 113-59 in their first pre-Olympic tune-up last night, could defeat the 1992 Dream Team, had the two teams been able to play in their prime. men's Olympic basketball team is already making headlines, but most of it has come from their talk off the court instead of their play on it. And they’ll look back on the Dream Team as a landmark event in that process.The 2012 U.S. ![]() “Finally there will come a day - I’m not saying it will happen anytime soon, mind you, but it’s inevitable that it will happen - that they will be able to compete with us on even terms. “They’ll go home and for the rest of their lives be able to tell their kids, ‘I played against Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.’ And the more they play against our best players, the more confident they’re going to get. “They knew they were playing the best in the world,” reflected Daly after the team won the gold medal with a 117-85 win over Croatia on August 8, 1992. One player, while trying to guard Magic Johnson, was seen frantically waving to a camera-wielding teammate on the bench, signaling to make sure he got a picture of them together. Opponents didn’t have a chance, but they didn’t care. Complete the roster with Christian Laettner, the best college player of 1991-92 and a future NBA All-Star. Add the irrepressible Charles Barkley for a little spice, as well as seven more All-Stars: centers David Robinson and Patrick Ewing, power forward Karl Malone, swingmen Scottie Pippen, Chris Mullin and Clyde Drexler and point guard John Stockton. Start with three of the game’s all-time greats: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. That’s all I can compare it to.”Īnd what a band it was. Traveling with the Dream Team was like traveling with 12 rock stars. “It was,” said Chuck Daly, coach of the 1992 team, “like Elvis and the Beatles put together. Much of that is due to the impact of the Dream Team, which attracted fans and followers wherever it went. Since 1992, basketball has exploded in popularity around the globe, rising to a place where it truly challenges soccer’s status as the world’s most popular sport. Olympic team to include NBA stars, gave fans a glimpse of basketball at its finest, and an entire world responded. What was important was that the Dream Team, the first U.S. It mattered not that it dominated the Olympic competition, beating its eight opponents by an average of 44 points. ![]() basketball team that won the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, was a phenomenon on and off the court. NBA.com takes a look back at the top moments that define the history of the NBA. Perhaps the greatest basketball team ever assembled, the Dream Team brought the U.S. ![]()
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