Team USA Basketball 2012: Changes 2012 Team Must Make to Surpass '92 Dream Team

Kobe Bryant recently said that the 2012 USA basketball team could defeat the famous '92 Dream Team, but unless the 2012 version changes a few things, that claim makes little sense.

The 1992 team, led by Michael Jordan and company, absolutely decimated the rest of the world during the competition, hence the nickname. Every team after has aspired to match, or somehow exceed, their outstanding results.

The 2012 roster is a deeply talented unit, and while things have looked good so far, Bryant and his teammates could have issues even winning the tournament, let alone matching the ’92 team.

Things have to change quickly for the 2012 team to win the tournament and even begin to justify making comparisons. Here are changes the 2012 team must make to surpass '92 Dream Team.

Rebounding

If 2012 team is going to have a shot at winning it all this year, it is going to have to see a drastic jump in rebounding averages from that of the early exhibition games.

For comparison’s sake, the ’92 Dream Team excelled at rebounding the ball and controlling possession. Patrick Ewing average 5.3 boards a game, as did Karl Malone. Charles Barkley and David Robinson both averaged 4.1 per game.

To date, the 2012 squad has only one player over the 5.0 average threshold—LeBron James with 5.3 per game. It is still early and they were only exhibition games, but something has to change—and fast. 

Field a More Athletic Lineup

This sounds like a really generic statement—and it is. The 2012 USA team, despite winning, has been overmatched on the court to this point because they are lacking athleticism.

Big men have been scoring at will down low with the only formidable defensive player on the roster, Tyson Chandler, having underperformed to this point. Kobe Bryant has shown his age defensively as well, but the real concern remains in the post.

For the 2012 USA team to become more athletic, versatile players such as Kevin Love and Anthony Davis need to see much more playing time as the tournament progresses. The team needs added length and athleticism down low to win now and be comparable to the ’92 roster. 

Start Kevin Durant over Carmelo Anthony Permanently

Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony both started two games in the exhibition period, but only one was impressive and also made the players around him better.

That would be Durant, not Anthony.

Durant was spectacular offensively, averaging 18.8 points per game. There was not a defender he faced that had any hope of shutting him down, and that will likely continue throughout the course of the tournament.

The same cannot be said for Anthony. He averaged a measly 9.8 points per game and at times simply looked ordinary. He also had less assists than Durant and trailed by a large margin in the shooting percentage category.

For the team to be truly dominant, Durant has to start every game and Anthony’s minutes have to be reduced in exchange. Durant is second only to LeBron James on this roster, and even that is debatable. 

Score Much More from Here on out

The ’92 Dream Team was the most dominate team ever assembled to grace a basketball court, and a large part of that was the jaw-dropping statistics the team compiled in every game. In fact, the team scored over 100 points in each contest during the 1992 Olympics.

To date, the 2012 USA team has scored over 100 points in two out of four exhibition contests. Only three players average double-digit point per game totals—Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

James and company only average 99 points per game right now, and for fair comparisons to the ’92 team to make any sliver of sense, that average is going to have to jump drastically. 

More Consistency Will Lead to Expected Domination

It sounds simple on paper, but consistency is crucial for the 2012 USA team to dominate. The USA is expected to dominate every team it encounters, so one misstep will be considered a massive upset and disappointment.

The Dream Team was the model of consistency. They scored so many points and shut other teams down so effectively that the point differentials in every contest were astounding. The ’92 team defeated Angola by 68 points, Lithuania by 51. The list goes on.

These numbers seem astronomical, but they are not quite impossible to match. If LeBron James, Kevin Durant and company are firing on all cylinders, they can put up similarly staggering point differentials.

The shape of the basketball world has changed in a big way since 1992. Globally, more countries have improved over the years and are much better than their 1992 counterparts.

With that being said, the 2012 USA men’s basketball team has the ability to be as good as their 1992 counterparts, but everything must come together at once, and borderline perfectly.

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