Magic Johnson: LeBron and Redeem Team Don't Compare to Dream Team

Scrimmages were considered more entertaining than most championship games, the term Hall of Fame was a given, 45.8 point average margin of victories were common, and in Magic Johnson's eyes, he witnessed the "greatest shot I have ever seen." These were all aspects of the 1992 Dream Team, something that can never be repeated, not even by the renowned Redeem Team. 

If you were a member of the '92 Dream Team, you might as well be marked down as one of the greatest to play the game—that's how big a deal it was then, and still is today. 

Magic Johnson was the starting point guard for the '92 Dream Team, and he went as far as saying, "Man, you talk about some of the greatest basketball I've ever played in or had been a part of, that was it." When arguably the greatest point guard to play the game recalls such a high level of competitiveness, you can do nothing but take his word for it.

With so much pride and respect towards the '92 Dream Team, it is almost an insult when someone even mentions the '08 Redeem Team (who isn't any pushover in any other instance) in comparison to the greatest assembled team in the history of the game.

As Magic put it, ever so lightly, "Kobe [Bryant] and them won by 22 points. Ehh, 22 points? We won by an average of 44 points. So when they want to step up to that, you tell them we'll be waiting on them." Not to mention that the average margin of win was actually 45.8, not 44, but you get the point. 

Obviously names like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard and Jason Kidd (to name a few) and an average margin of win of 27.9 points just weren't enough for Magic. If that's the case, no team, in a realistic sense, will ever live up to the hype and respectability of the '92 Dream Team, a team that will forever be compared to for years to come. 

Magic may have jokingly fidgeted in his chair to set up for his eventual comments towards the '08 Redeem Team, but don't let the renowned Magic smile fool you, his words were straight from the heart—something all members of the '92 Dream Team will hold onto until the day they can't talk about it anymore. The year of 1992 will indeed be the greatest offseason basketball we will see, and that's the end of it, nothing more, nothing less. The Dream will always conquer the Redeem.