As someone born in 77, I had the chance to see both teams play and the players on those teams play all of the time on their respective teams in the NBA. The Dream Team would beat the "Redeem Team" and it isn't even close.
Damn I forgot how many good Cs were in that era - Robinson, Ewing, Hakeem, Shaq - all 4 better than the best C we have today...
<br> Laettner might still make the HOF. After all it is the basketball hall of fame and not the NBA hall of fame. His accomplishments in college basketball are probably the best ever. Additionally, there's no real guarantee that Deron, Dwight, Bosh, Carmelo, or even CP3 will make the HOF. So yeah, Dream Team all the way.
I think some of you guys might overlook the fact that Bosh can stretch the floor, Lebron and Wade's athleticism at the time, Dwight Howard's ability to get a 30 20 game. Here are the stats on the two teams Dream Team vs. Redeem Team 1992 2008 W-L 8-0 8-0 PPG 117.3 106.3 Opponent PPG 73.5 78.4 PPG differential +43.8 +27.9 FG pct 57.8 55.0 Opponent FG pct 36.5 40.3 3-pt FG pct 40.0 37.7 Opponent 3-pt pct 30.5 29.9 FT pct 72.6 68.0 RPG differential +13.5 +5.6 Assists per game 29.9 18.8 Steals per game 22.1 12.5 Blocks per game 5.9 3.9 But we have to take into consideration the competition of play overseas back then and how it is now.
Larry Bird can stretch the floor too and could easily play PF against the 08 team. The 08 team really has nobody to hold barkley or malone.
2008's only advantage is the SF position with Lebron. Wade may be athletic, but so was Drexler, and Drexler was also bigger than Wade. Malone/Barkley are simply too strong for Bosh. Dwight Howard can get 20-30 against today's scrub centers. He wouldn't be able to score that easily against Robinson/Ewing.
There is only one dream team. Had there been no dream team with their pure dominance (and hence the dissapointments of some of the team USAs from early 2000s) there would be no such thing as the "redeem" team.
In a best 4 out of 7 the Dream Team would win in five games. Maybe the Redeem team could stretch it to six if Lebron goes nuts.
Awesome highlights. It is easy to forget after all these years what a slick finisher Clyde Drexler was. Every time someone starts b****ing about Clyde being a weak commentator, they better get checked and realize that Clyde was a better player than any wing the Rockets have had since he retired. (yeah, T-Mac, I said it...) Clyde could cluck like a chicken on air for a whole season and still be a Rocket legend, in my book.
If they played with 90's era NBA officiating as opposed to 2000's officiating or FIBA rules the original Dream Team would win by 40.
