'92 Dream Team vs. '72 Dream Team

[Xiao Yao You]

If youre going to use the best of the best, Nique and Isiah should be with the 92 team, and sneaky of you to use guys who were still in college as alternates. We might as well give the 92 team Shaq Webber Hill Penny whoever as alternates.

Isiah yes. Dominique no. Shaq was only collegiate good enough for the Dream Team.

[Horatio33]

Jlauber, your microsoft word saved folder must be full. Of shit.

[Linspired]

No, Kareem will score his points for sure - you can check easily in basketball-reference what an old over 38 years Kareem was able to do against Hakeem and Ewing. And Wilt is superior rebounder than all.

Not quite sure that Pippen or Drexler will stop young Dr.J ..., I mean that Drexler is a guard and Dr. J is a 0.506 career shooter and in his ABA rookey season he average 27.3 ppg, 15.7 rpg (career high by btw) and 4.0 apg.

In my opinion the main advantage of 1992 will be M. Jordan at SG and Barkley at PF

Here are the stats for Dream team in Barcelona:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...teams/USA/1992

we are talking about 20 years of basketball evolution between them. veteran pippen & drexler would tool rookie/sophomore dr. J for sure.

it's not always about the stat. blake griffin avg 21/11 as a rookie, but he would get tooled by 39 year old malone.


92 dream team has advantage in every position except the center position. but drob/ewing will hold their own against young kareem, great but old wilt.

[jlauber]

we are talking about 20 years of basketball evolution between them. veteran pippen & drexler would tool rookie/sophomore dr. J for sure.

it's not always about the stat. blake griffin avg 21/11 as a rookie, but he would get tooled by 39 year old malone.


92 dream team has advantage in every position except the center position. but drob/ewing will hold their own against young kareem, great but old wilt.

You may be right, but I have long maintained that Kareem peaked in his second and third seasons. From that point on he was still obviously a great player for many years. IMHO, the real debate is/was which was his greater overall season, '71, in which he had a very good post-season, or '72, in which he hit a statistical peak, but was outplayed by both Thurmond and Wilt in the post-season (and only shot .437 overall.) His '71 season was also accomplished in only 40 mpg, instead of the 44 mpg that he had in '72. And he shot .577 from the field, too, in a league which shot .449...or a career high differential of .128.

And, of course, thanks to CavsFan, there is footage of an older Laker Wilt, in which he is blocking just about everything. Not only would Chamberlain hold both Ewing and Robinson way down, he would pretty much shut the lane down, too.

And Barry was near his prime in '72. You would have to watch footage of him to appreciate how good he was, but he was not only one of the greatest pure scorers of all-time, he was also an excellent passer and ball-handler.

And while West was slowing down, he was still a 25.8 ppg scorer who LED the NBA in apg in '72, and was First Team All-Defense, too. MJ would have the advantage, of course, but West would not have been cannon-fodder, either.

BTW, watch the footage of game seven of the '74 Finals on YouTube if you have time. You will be very impressed with the play of relative unknown Dave Cowens. And while he played center in his career, I think he was skilled and athletic enough to have been able to play the PF position, too. And combine that, with McAdoo's incredible scoring and shooting range, and the '92 edge at PF would not be sizeable at all.

[julizaver]

Yep.

I know it is an off-topic, but to add some info to your notes.

19. Game six of the first round of the 68-69 playoffs, against San Francisco, in a 118-78 win. Wilt with 11 points on 5/9 FG, 25 rebounds and 1 assist. Thurmond had 8 points in the loss.

20. Game four of the 68-69 WCF's, against Atlanta, in a 133-114 sweeping win. Chamberlain with 16 points on 5/11 FG, 29 rebounds and 10 blocks. His opposing center, Zelmo Beaty had 30 points in the loss.

22. Game five of a best-of-seven series (the Lakers were down 3-1 going into the game) in the first round of the 69-70 playoffs, and against Phoenix, a 138-121 win. Wilt with 36 points on 12/20 FG 14 rebounds and 3 assists. His opposing center, Neal Walk, had 18 points in the loss.

23. Game six of the first round of the 69-70 playoffs, against Phoenix, in a 104-93 win. Wilt with 12 points on 4/11 FG, 26 rebounds, 11 assists and 12 blocks (unofficial quad). Jim Fox started that game for Phoenix, and had 13 points in the loss.

24. Game seven of the first round of the 69-70 playoffs, against Phoenix, and in a 129-94 win, which capped a 4-3 series win after falling behind 3-1 in the series. Wilt with 30 points on 11/18 FG, 27 rebounds, 6 assists and 11 blocks. Fox had 7 points in the loss.

25. Game four of the 69-70 WCF's, against Atlanta, in a 133-114 sweeping win. Wilt with 11 points on 5/10 FG, 21 rebounds and 10 blocks. Bellamy had 19 points in the loss.


28. Game seven of the first round of the 70-71 playoffs, against Chicago, in a 109-98 win. Wilt with 25 points on 7/12 FG,18 rebounds and 9 assists. 7-0 Tom Boerwinkle had 4 points for the Bulls in the loss.

30. Game four of the 71-72 first round of the playoffs, against Chicago, in a 108-97 sweeping win. Wilt had 8 points on 4/6, 31 rebounds and 8 assists. Clifford Ray had 20 points in the loss.

33. Game seven of the first round of the 72-73 playoffs, against Chicago, in a 95-92 win. Wilt with 21 points on 10/17 FG, 28 rebounds, 4 asissts and 8 blocks. His opposing center, Clifford Ray, had 4 points.

The article about this series sad that Wilt blocked Chicago from playoffs after blocking 49 shots in 7 games.


34. Game five of the 72-73 WCF's, and against Golden St., in a 128-118 win. Wilt with 5 points on 2/2 FG, 22 rebounds, 7 assists. Thurmond had 9 points on 2/9 FG, 18 or 15 rebounds and 5 assists in 32 minutes in the loss.

[Psileas]

Here's another interesting (and more realistic) question: How would the rest of the '72 world fare against the 1972 Dream Team? There would definitely be some epic massacres over there. Let's not forget, the world hadn't been catching up to the US once the NBAers lost or came close to losing (2000 USA squad). They had been catching up for decades. The USA-Rest of the world distance was definitely greater in 1972 than in 1992 and I wouldn't be surprised if a fully prepared USA team blasted the Soviets by 40+ points and anyone else by 50+.

More relevant to the OQ, the 1992 Dream Team was the greatest team ever assembled, but probably not the greatest team that could have ever be assembled (after all, as already mentioned, someone like Wilkins or young Shaq instead of Laettner would make them even stronger). The Dream Teams formed in the late 60's-early 70's or mid-late 80's could give the '92 squad a run for its money.

[jlauber]

Here's another interesting (and more realistic) question: How would the rest of the '72 world fare against the 1972 Dream Team? There would definitely be some epic massacres over there. Let's not forget, the world hadn't been catching up to the US once the NBAers lost or came close to losing (2000 USA squad). They had been catching up for decades. The USA-Rest of the world distance was definitely greater in 1972 than in 1992 and I wouldn't be surprised if a fully prepared USA team blasted the Soviets by 40+ points and anyone else by 50+.

More relevant to the OQ, the 1992 Dream Team was the greatest team ever assembled, but probably not the greatest team that could have ever be assembled (after all, as already mentioned, someone like Wilkins or young Shaq instead of Laettner would make them even stronger). The Dream Teams formed in the late 60's-early 70's or mid-late 80's could give the '92 squad a run for its money.

Our '68 team, which of course at the time could only have college players, didn't have Alcindor, Unseld, Hayes, or Maravich. Instead, it went with Spencer Haywood and a bunch of no names...and not only went 9-0...they won their games by an average margin of 26 ppg.

Had Kareem, Hayes, et. al played, it probably would have been 40-50. And had we sent our best pros, and only god would know how bad those routs would have been.

[Asukal]

LOL! There's only one guy who could match up from the 72 team and that is Kareem. Everyone else would get schooled, this is not much of a contest.

It's the Dream Team vs the 72 Dreaming team.

[Duncan21formvp]

Good matchup, would love to see MJ and Kareem go at it.

[julizaver]

we are talking about 20 years of basketball evolution between them. veteran pippen & drexler would tool rookie/sophomore dr. J for sure.

it's not always about the stat. blake griffin avg 21/11 as a rookie, but he would get tooled by 39 year old malone.


92 dream team has advantage in every position except the center position. but drob/ewing will hold their own against young kareem, great but old wilt.

Ewing against Kareem in 8 meetings (from 1985 to 1989) or in Kareem last four seasons:

Kareem - 20.6 ppg in 31.5 minutes per game on 0.581 shooting
Ewing - 18.8 ppg in 35.1 minutes per game on 0.446 shooting

And against Hakeem (just for compassion) considered one of the best defensive centers Kareem scored 22.5 ppg in 23 regular season meetings shooting 0.607.

In 1972 we have not only young, but statistically prime 25 years old Kareem in his third season.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...1&p2=abdulka01

[bmd]

'92 dream team would DESTROY the '72 dream team. It wouldn't even be close.

I think the 2012 "dream team" would beat the '92 dream team, but not as bad as the '92 team would beat the '72 team.

I think basketball evolved more from '72 to '92 than from '92 to '12.


People who say the '92 team would destroy the '12 team are out of their minds.

Players today all looked up to Jordan when he was playing and modeled their game after him. Look at players like Dwayne Wade making acrobatic shots and layups, LeBron doing the same, Kobe doing the same, etc.

Most players on the '92 dream team didn't have the pure talent and skill that many of the 2012 players have. Amazing plays that Jordan used to make are made all the time now in the NBA.

I mean, dunk contests are boring now because it's all been done before. Under the leg dunks don't even excite us anymore.

A lot of you won't admit it... but players now are just better than they were 20 years ago if you are comparing them head-to-head.

[BigBalla44]

'92 dream team would DESTROY the '72 dream team. It wouldn't even be close.

I think the 2012 "dream team" would beat the '92 dream team, but not as bad as the '92 team would beat the '72 team.

I think basketball evolved more from '72 to '92 than from '92 to '12.


People who say the '92 team would destroy the '12 team are out of their minds.

Players today all looked up to Jordan when he was playing and modeled their game after him. Look at players like Dwayne Wade making acrobatic shots and layups, LeBron doing the same, Kobe doing the same, etc.

Most players on the '92 dream team didn't have the pure talent and skill that many of the 2012 players have. Amazing plays that Jordan used to make are made all the time now in the NBA.

I mean, dunk contests are boring now because it's all been done before. Under the leg dunks don't even excite us anymore.

A lot of you won't admit it... but players now are just better than they were 20 years ago if you are comparing them head-to-head.

[Linspired]

Ewing against Kareem in 8 meetings (from 1985 to 1989) or in Kareem last four seasons:

Kareem - 20.6 ppg in 31.5 minutes per game on 0.581 shooting
Ewing - 18.8 ppg in 35.1 minutes per game on 0.446 shooting

And against Hakeem (just for compassion) considered one of the best defensive centers Kareem scored 22.5 ppg in 23 regular season meetings shooting 0.607.

In 1972 we have not only young, but statistically prime 25 years old Kareem in his third season.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...1&p2=abdulka01

that's a flawed logic. 92 ewing was a seasoned vet. no doubt ewing who became much better defensively would do a good job on neutralizing kareem especially when 4 other guys will provide a tremendous help D. i'm only giving the old timers a slight advantage.

lakers kareem wasn't the same player athletically. but he is one of those 'been there done that' vet with a great basketball IQ. he was a perfect fit for that team. he didn't have to do too much, didn't even have to waste so much energy on the D, and he was just so effective because even without athleticism, he can still shoot over anybody.

and don't count out drob, who was in his athletic prime with 4.5 block shots in 91-92. he would also stand toe to toe with great kareem & wilt. drob would be the most athletic of the 4 centers at this stage. kareem would be the most fluid player, but drob would have significant strength advantage.

[Linspired]

'92 dream team would DESTROY the '72 dream team. It wouldn't even be close.

I think the 2012 "dream team" would beat the '92 dream team, but not as bad as the '92 team would beat the '72 team.

I think basketball evolved more from '72 to '92 than from '92 to '12.


People who say the '92 team would destroy the '12 team are out of their minds.

Players today all looked up to Jordan when he was playing and modeled their game after him. Look at players like Dwayne Wade making acrobatic shots and layups, LeBron doing the same, Kobe doing the same, etc.

Most players on the '92 dream team didn't have the pure talent and skill that many of the 2012 players have. Amazing plays that Jordan used to make are made all the time now in the NBA.

I mean, dunk contests are boring now because it's all been done before. Under the leg dunks don't even excite us anymore.

A lot of you won't admit it... but players now are just better than they were 20 years ago if you are comparing them head-to-head.

explain how 40 year old jordan with 1 good knee managed to avg 20pt shooting .445% while playing with bunch of scrubs in this era.

[DatAsh]

You may be right, but I have long maintained that Kareem peaked in his second and third seasons. From that point on he was still obviously a great player for many years. IMHO, the real debate is/was which was his greater overall season, '71, in which he had a very good post-season, or '72, in which he hit a statistical peak, but was outplayed by both Thurmond and Wilt in the post-season (and only shot .437 overall.) His '71 season was also accomplished in only 40 mpg, instead of the 44 mpg that he had in '72. And he shot .577 from the field, too, in a league which shot .449...or a career high differential of .128.

And, of course, thanks to CavsFan, there is footage of an older Laker Wilt, in which he is blocking just about everything. Not only would Chamberlain hold both Ewing and Robinson way down, he would pretty much shut the lane down, too.

And Barry was near his prime in '72. You would have to watch footage of him to appreciate how good he was, but he was not only one of the greatest pure scorers of all-time, he was also an excellent passer and ball-handler.

And while West was slowing down, he was still a 25.8 ppg scorer who LED the NBA in apg in '72, and was First Team All-Defense, too. MJ would have the advantage, of course, but West would not have been cannon-fodder, either.

BTW, watch the footage of game seven of the '74 Finals on YouTube if you have time. You will be very impressed with the play of relative unknown Dave Cowens. And while he played center in his career, I think he was skilled and athletic enough to have been able to play the PF position, too. And combine that, with McAdoo's incredible scoring and shooting range, and the '92 edge at PF would not be sizeable at all.

Kareem did not peak by his second or third season