Taking on France July 29th...

The roster:
Lebron James (SF... Point Forward)

Kobe Bryant (SG... Scorer/Facilitator)

Kevin Durant (SF... Stretch the floor big)

Russell Westbrook (PG... Buckets)

James Harden (SG... Range)

Kevin Love (PF... Boards/Interior Scoring)

Chris Paul (PG... Leadership/Distributor)

Blake Griffin (PF... Highlights)

Carmelo Anthony (SF... Buckets/Post scorer)

Andre Iguodala (SF...Defense/dunks)

Tyson Chandler (C... Defense)

Deron Williams (PG... Range/Offensive Initiator)

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I hope they lose.

Ar-gen-ti-na!
clap-clap-clapclapclap

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Commie bastard.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Does any other team have a decent shot of winning the gold? I would guess Spain, Argentina, and some of the old Iron Curtain countries would be the likely candidates.

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Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

Russia number 1, USA ptui!

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Very perimeter oriented UsA team...

Spain is the 2nd best squad supposedly. Led by the always musky looking Gasol brothers...

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Goes w/o saying. All European men look "musky".

Rubio isn't playing so that really limits Spain's already limited chances.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Actually Spain is a real contender for the gold, and they're even missing one of their best young players in Rubio...

Pau Gasol
Marc Gasol
Serge Ibaka
Juan Carlos Navarro
Rudy Fernandez
Jose Calderon

Their roster has 5 guys 6'9" or taller. If Chandler gets in foul trouble against Spain the US would be at risk defensively.

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Kobe said 2012 USa team would beat 1992 dream team... Ruhrow.

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Sure if they played today, that would be their only shot.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Dream team would kill 2012 down low, but Id love to watch the wing players go at it.

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No it wouldn't. Magic and Bird were shells of themselves at that point.

It would be a close game either way. Im not sure why anyone is surprised Kobe thinks that though. I'm pretty sure he truly believes last year's Lakers could've beaten the '96 Bulls. It's how he's wired.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Dream Team is so much better. Chris Mullin would terrorize Lebron.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Magic and Bird could sit on the bench and watch the rest of them take care of this years team.

I am not surprised Kobe feels like that at all, I would be worried about him if he thought otherwise. It is not a big deal, he just happens to be wrong.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

He might be wrong, but he has a more informed opinion than you or i do. Sounds silly to say he's wrong about an unprovable, hypothetical situation. Especially because he's probably right.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

How is his opinion more informed than you or I? His opinion is completely bias. There is no way he can even begin to see it objectively.

And as Jbills said, there is no way the current team could even come close to hanging with the front court of the original crew. Malone, Barkley, Robinson, Ewing would eat their lunch. Jordan is better than Kobe. Pippen could give Lebron trouble. PG might be a wash. I just don't see it.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I didn't say it was more objective. It's more informed because he knows a shitload more about the players involved and the game of basketball than you or I could ever hope to.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Barkley and Malone couldn't guard their shadows in 1992. PG and SF heavily favor the 2012 squad. C and PF heavily favor 1992. SG slightly favors 1992. As I said, it would be close.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Come on. I now you love the modern NBA, but surely......


Jordan, Robinson, Pippen, Barkley, Magic.......pus the rest.

No way the modern guys stop them. Hell, if Magic was a "shell" at that point, what would you call the guy making these statements today (Kobe)?

Barkley maybe couldn't guard anybody, but who's guarding him? Especially if Chandler gets two fouls?

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ok fair enough.


PG -- even
SG--advantage 1992
SF--even
PF--HUGE advantage 1992
C--HUGE advantage 1992
Bench--advantage 1992

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Kobe is a much better player right now than Magic was in 1992. Kobe isn't even washed up yet and Magic was retired and out of shape. Considering small, quick guards were the Achilles heal of the 1992 team(this might've been possibly exploited in 2012, nobody was good enough internationally in 1992 to test it) what do you think Paul would do to them? He'd go wherever he wants inside the half court.

I love all generations of the NBA. I'm one of the few people here who thinks many players from the 60's would be All Stars today. There's no intentional bias here.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I'm not continuing this discussion unless you admit the SF position isnt close. Durant/Lebron vs Mullin/Pippen. Let's just move on. PG position isn't even. 2012 has a distinct advantage.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Fwiw, Barkley said 1992 would win but the 2012 PG's would have their way with the 1992 team.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Sure Paul could do some damage. But not even close to the damage that Malone, Barkley, Ewing and Robinson could do. No one on the current team could even come close to them.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I think you are wrong. Somebody has to get the bigs the ball. That would be an issue with a Paul-Kobe-LeBron lineup.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Also Barkley and Malone aren't guarding Bosh or Griffin even slightly. Both sets of PF's would score pretty much whenever they wanted.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

So you don't think MJ, Pippen, Drexler, Mullin, and Stockton could get their bigs the ball?

Come on man.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Kobe is a almost a shell of himself at this point, isn't he? He is not the dominant player he used to be, he misses a lot of games due to injuries, especially to his legs.

The 92 team didn't really have an achilles heal, did they? Their closest win was over 30 points, wasn't it?


Put it this way - what does Patrick Ewing of '92 do to Tyson Chandler of '12? That's in addition to Jordan, etc....

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