1992 Michael Jordan Magic Johnson Larry Bird Charles Barkley David Robinson Patrick Ewing Karl Malone Scottie Pippen Chris Mullin Clyde Drexler John Stockton Christian Laettner (college fill in, should have been Shaq though) 2004 Carmelo Anthony Carlos Boozer Tim Duncan Allen Iverson LeBron James Richard Jefferson Stephon Marbury Shawn Marion Lamar Odom Emeka Okafor Amare Stoudemire Dwyane Wade You could make a good case only 1 of the current team could make the previous team roster, Tm Duncan. And even then, how much time PT would he get with a vintage Malone and Barkley (better offensive players) at the 4 spot, and Robinson and Ewing (better shot blockers) at the 5 spot. Also, interestingly only TD (1st team) made the all-NBA 1st, 2nd or 3rd team. How many international players made these teams? Three. Peja was on the 2nd team, Yao and Dirk were on the 3rd team. Gasol and Manu (along with Yao) have been the best Olympic players, but these guys do play in the NBA and couldn't make the 3rd team or all-star game. I suspect it is not so much the rest of the world caught up, as our best players lost interest in a gold medal. Does anyone doubt the Jordan-Barkley-Bird-Magic team would not still win by 40+?
You don't have Jordan-Bakeley-Bird-Magic-Ewing now. The best you can offer is Shaq + Duncan + KG + Kobe/TMac + Kidd. Shaq will be in foul trouble. International teams can shoot 3s to keep the game close.
Iverson was NBA MVP. Marbury made the All-NBA Third Team 2000, 2003 and was on the All-Star team in 2001 and 2003. Marion was an All-Star in 2003. The other guys on the US team will probably almost all make the All-Star team at some point.
I'd agree this team wasn't on par with all the other teams we've had but I think we probably would have done better if we sent in the team we had in the qualifying tournament but alas its done with...lets hope for the best in 2008
From HoopsAnalyst.com: "The '96 Olympians were almost as good as the originals. The '92 team contained all All-Stars that year, even retired Magic Johnson and Larry Bird (who did not play). Of the other 9 NBA stars, we had the whole 1st-team all-NBA and 4 from the 2nd team. We had 9 of the top 11 players from that NBA season (according to my rankings), plus Magic and Chris Mullin (#23). The best players to miss the boat in '92 were Hakeem Olajuwon (Nigerian), Brad Daugherty (3rd team all-league), and 'Nique (injured). While Mr. Jordan declined the 1996 invitation, we still gathered a full contingent of all-leaguers. 4 from the 1st team, 4 from the 2nd, 4 from the 3rd. Besides Jordan, Shawn Kemp and Juwan Howard were left off, leaving room for some great shooters: Reggie Miller, John Stockton, and Mitch Richmond. All 12 players were ranked in my top 30. Average rank was 12.3 (compared to 7.6 in '92). All were All-Stars, averaging 22.7 All-Star game minutes (23.2 in 1992). In all, the '96 edition was quite up there with the '92 squad. 2000 saw a radical departure, as many top players followed Michael Jordan's example and declined the honor. On this squad, we had 3 All-NBA 1st-teamers (Kevin Garnett, Gary Payton, and Jason Kidd); but only 1 each from the 2nd and 3rd units (Alonzo Mourning and Vince Carter). Only 5 of the 12 were All-NBA, and only 7 were even All-Stars (Ray Allen and Allan Houston the others). Four didn't rank in my top 40 for the year, and one (Vin Baker) wasn't top 100. The group averaged 14.9 All-Star minutes. Average rank 30.9 (24.0 without Baker). Now it's 2004. Tim Duncan was all-NBA first team; he's the only representative of the all-league teams. Iverson is the only other All-Star of the 12 (11). Lamar Odom is the other guy ranking in my top 20; the rest are #22-45. The 11 averaged 4.5 All-Star minutes."
A Jordan-Barkley-Bird-Magic team would not have won by 40 today. A lot has changed over the last ten years.
The rest of the world has caught up. Just watch the games and you can see that they are much more skilled than before and now run some clever set plays. Their coaches have studied basketball in the States and some of the players have made their way to the NBA. There's no doubt that the rest of the world has gotten better. However, our qualifying team last year, which still didn't have all of our best players (Shaq, Kobe, Garnett, etc.), was pretty dominant. In the final, they were up on Argentina by about 35 by halftime and ended up winning by 33. So it's not out of the question that the '92 team could still win by 40+. They did have the ultimate zonebusters in Chris Mullin, Larry Bird, and even John Stockton. Any team choosing to play zone with them three on the floor would be asking for murder. And if they choose to play man-to-man, they'd be playing even more to the strengths of the US team.
Here are some of the shooting %'s from the wing players on last year's Olympic qualifying team. Bibby 60.4% FG 57.1% 3pt Allen 58.0% FG 55.2% 3pt McGrady 54.4% FG 42.1% 3pt Carter 64.0% FG 45.2% 3pt Iverson 56.2% FG 53.6% 3pt Cumulative Team: 56.2% FG, 46.8% 3pt BIG difference in shooting percentages compared to this year's team.
I stand by I think the greater reason is not that the internaitonal teams have "caught up" in talent and skill, it is that our best team was not there. You add Bibby, Allen, Tmac and Carter to the team (throw in KG and Ben Wallace to help with interior defense) and they win every game by 20. Maybe not by 40+ like 1992, but 20+. Just think of it this way, you take the top 15 players in the world today, the US has what 12 and no other country has more than 1. It wasn't like in the early 90s there were not great foreign players--Hakeem, Sabonis, Vlade, Petrovik (sp?), Schmidt off the top of my head. Probably then 12 or 13 of the top 15 were foreign then, about the same number as today.
That's just the thing, Desert Scar. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And if our "best" don't know how to play as a team; collectively. Then, other international teams that only have one (1) star could beat our "team" that has more "stars." I do agree that the results of the Olympics would have been better if we had sent *Shaq, McGrady, Kidd, KG, Duncan.* But, it still doesn't discount the fact that International teams are truly playing as a TEAM -- Kidd, KG and Duncan being our "best" at this! We'd still have to teach each of our starting five on how to play as single UNIT. Not just five individuals. Other than Kidd. I'm not sure the others are comfortable enough (yet) to play that way; share the ball more. They are to used to being "da'man" on their respective teams. Thus, the concept of TEAM isn't *just* about adding up our best players on a roster. They actually have to "know" how to play as team; skillwise: fundamentally. They must *know* how. Now, this it talking about our "best." What about the other 440 players in the league? That should give you a better picture of the problems we have as a whole.
I think that after next season, Yao, Dirk, Pau, and Peja will all become top 15 players in the league. Actually you can make a strong argument about Dirk, Yao and Peja even become the season starts.
I agree with this. But in the 90's you had guys like Hakeem (most definetly top 15), Sabonis (def top 15), Petrovic (probably top 15) and other good players like Valde, Marculions (sp?, kinda similar to Manu actually), Schmidt, etc. It wasn't like you didn't have some great international players, and like today probably around 3 or so of the top 15, meaning we still have like 12 of the 15 best. You know, I wonder if we would have been better off just sending the Detriot Pistons. Rip would be a deadly offensive international player with his motion off the ball, release and range (his 3 pointer would be devasating from 18 inches closer, his more natural range). Billips, Prince, Sheed (ditto with Rip at 22 some odd feet), James and Hunter would also make you pay from the outside too. And you know they no how to play team defense.
