Team USA Basketball: Yet Another Dream Team Versus Redeem Team Article

I think it's great that the play of the so-called Redeem Team has brought so much joy to so many people.  At the same time, too many commentators seem to be downplaying the achievements of the Dream Team and the quality of the players who competed in that era. 

Currently, there are at least five articles on B/R written in the past week which suggest that the current US Team is better than the '92 edition.  Such comments typically come from those who never actually saw the members of the original Dream Team in their prime.  They might have caught them in the odd "ESPN Classic" game, but such B/R members have a very limited sense of how basketball was played at the NBA level in the 1980s and 1990s. 

I have read statements that suggest that the Dream Team played "mostly patsy teams" back in 1992, which supposedly accounts for why Jordan and company enjoyed such a large average margin of victory back then.  While I agree that the level of international competition has improved, there were still "patsy teams" that survived even the pool stage of this Olympic tournament. 

Australia, for example, has only one bona fide NBA player in Andrew Bogut, who at best would be lucky to be considered among the Top 15 centers in the NBA today.  When the Dream Team played Australia in '92, the Australian team had two members who played stints in the NBA (Andrew Gaze and Shane Heal).  At the time, it was MUCH harder for international players to break into the league.

Quite frankly, I'm really surprised the Redeem Team allowed Spain to remain so close.  Although the Spanish team is comprised of some NBA players, none of them can seriously be considered the best on their respective NBA teams, let alone among the best in the NBA.  None are perennial All-Stars.  Gasol "earned" his surprise selection to his lone All-Star appearance as a replacement.

In light of that, I ask myself why the "best" from America cannot soundly beat—i.e. by 25-plus points—what is essentially a Spanish team of four average NBA players and a mix of Euroleague and "amateur" players? 

Yes, the international competition has improved, but I think at the same time the quality of talent on the US Team has slipped since '92.  Overall, in fact, I think that while NBA players are more athletic today than they were in the past, they are also much less skilled—especially in fundamentals. 

Athleticism allowed the Redeem Team to score most of their points on fast-break dunks off turnovers, but the lack of fundamental skills—such as screening, off-the-ball movement, and low-post moves—meant that they often struggled in half-court offensive sets in most of the games they played.

Today's stars may play some very impressive games, but they also play some rather poor ones.  Ask yourself: Would Larry Bird have gone 1-15 from three-point range like Bryant did in the first two games of the Olympics?  Would Magic Johnson have turned the ball over 12 times like James did against the Celtics in their first two games of this year's Boston-Cleveland playoff series? 

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