Dream Team vs. Redeem Team

By Peter Christian

Few people can debate that the 2008 Olympics will mainly be remembered as the Summer Games when swimming was the most important: thing on TV, topic at work and event to schedule your evening plans around. Michael Phelps owned NBC, Beijing and the Water Cube for 8 days. However, while Phelps garnered more medals than former Olympic Record Holder Mark Spitz, there is another accomplishment within Team USA that his worth taking into consideration, in both the present and past pretenses.

The 2008 USA Men’s Basketball Team is on a mission to reclaim the gold for USA Basketball after a string of sub par performances on the international stage, but they aren’t setting out to just win the gold. They are looking to demolish every opponent in their way. Each and every member of the team has settled into their role making sure that no team can ever question that they were the best.

Except one.

With all the talk about this team being “The Redeem Team” it is difficult not to draw comparisons to the original team that exploded on the Olympic stage. “The Dream Team” in 1992 was the first USA Men’s Basketball team to feature active NBA players on an Olympic roster and they owned Barcelona much in the same fashion that Phelps has taken claim to Beijing. The question remains, which team is better, The Dream Team or The Redeem Team? Better yet, which team wins head-to-head?

At face value it seems like an extremely easy question. The Dream Team smokes The Redeem Team. Right?

The Dream Team was a collection of 10 players that were among the 50 greatest in NBA History, one other player who is in the top 60 and a token college star who mattered less to that team than Fergie did to the original Black Eyed Peas. The team was two deep (at least) at every position and even the “back-ups” were 50 times better than the next best player at their position in the 1992 Olympics. They won their games (all of them, durr) by an average of nearly 44 points and Head Coach Chuck Daly didn’t use a single timeout during the entire tournament. They had Michael Jordan on the roster just as icing on the cake. Sure, he is the best player on the globe, ever, but he is also the most competitive and most demanding-of-his-teammates player of all time. The rumors about the closed door practices for that team have become stuff of legend. Nobody could have put together a different group of 12 guys to match-up against them, to contain them, let alone beat them.

So, why on Earth would anyone even think that this Redeem Team would have a chance against the greatest roster ever created? Sure, they’ve won all their games by double digits and have handled their competition easily, especially in the second half, but their average margin of victory is only 32 points.  They play tough defense (something that USA Basketball hasn’t done since 1992) and actually run sets while still maintaining their fun-to-watch and fast paced tempo, but have had stretches of poor three-point shooting.

Plus the Redeem Team has definitely let up on teams, allowing games to look closer than they were (Angola, Greece). There is no way that MJ allows that to happen on his team.

So why are we still having this conversation?

Because:

The Redeem Team is the only roster that could give The Dream Team competition.

For the first time since before I can remember, Team USA is exactly that, a TEAM.

If for a moment you looked at the talent as being equal between the two squads there is still one factor that puts the Dream Team above the Redeem Team. Intelligence. The Dream Team was the smartest and most fundamental collection of basketball players ever. Any member of that team would simply get inside the head of their opponent and destroy them, even if that opponent was a bit more gifted athletically. Although, the Redeem Team is a collection of the most athletically gifted and creative scoring basketball players ever and that would allow the Redeem Team to keep up with the legends of 1992.

.

At the end of the day, the Dream Team would win. The match-ups all end with slight edges to the Barcelona Gold Medal winners. The following facts would hold true in the proposed game:

1)    LeBron would have to play all 40 minutes (international rules) in order to keep the 2008 squad close.
2)    Pippen would be charged with guarding James.
3)    Jordan vs. Kobe would be the most amazing full court match-up ever.
4)    Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing and David Robinson would make Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer a complete non-factor in the paint (with Boozer probably having the best success)
5)    Larry Bird, Clyde Drexler and Chris Mullin would dominate Carmelo Anthony.
6)    The Redeem Team would go small with Howard at Center, LeBron at the 4, Kobe at the 3, Dwayne Wade at the 2 and Chris Paul/Deron Williams at the point. Wade would be the toughest guy for the Dream Team to match-up with.
7)    The Dream Team’s main lineup would be David Robinson, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.
8)    The Dream Team’s bench would be 5 times more successful than the Redeem Team’s

The scoring, shooting, rebounding, defense and overall team play goes to the Dream Team. The speed, creativity and athleticism go to the Redeem Team, but as we have seen in both the NBA and in recent years in international competition, the latter qualities don’t necessarily equate to victories on the largest stage.

Final Result: Dream Team 98     Redeem Team 87

Seven Game Series: Dream Team wins 4-1.

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