Kobe Says that The London Olympic Team Would beat the Dream Team, Jordan’s Response is Laughter [video]
We all know that Jordan is famous for being super competitive and 9 years since he’s retired, that competitive nature is still going strong. Kobe was the one who awoke the legend when comparing the original Dream Team of 1992 with the one that will be playing this year in London.
Kobe was asked directly if he felt that the 2012 team could beat the 1992 Olympic squad. After training with the squad in Vegas, he feels that they it would be tough, but they could win.
WHAT DID KOBE SAY EXACTLY ABOUT THE DREAM TEAM?
“Well, just from a basketball standpoint, they obviously have a lot more size than we do — you know, with [David] Robinson and [Patrick] Ewing and [Karl] Malone and those guys. But they were also — some of those wing players — were also a lot older, at kind of the end of their careers. We have just a bunch of young racehorses, guys that are eager to compete.
“So I don’t know, It’d be a tough one, but I think we’d pull it out.”
Jordan told the Press on Thursday, that when he heard that he laughed,
“I absolutely laughed”
MJ said that there is no comparison and continued to fire shots a Kobe,
“For him to compare those two teams is not one of the smarter things he ever could have done,”
“I heard Kobe say we were not athletic, But we were smart. He said we were too old, but I was 29 and in the prime of my career. Pip (Scottie Pippen) was 26 or 27, (Charles) Barkley was 29, Patrick (Ewing) was 29 and Chris Mullin was 29. Almost everybody was still in their twenties.”
“Most of us were in the prime of our careers, at a point where athleticism doesn’t really matter,” said Jordan, the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. “You have to know how to play the game.”
Jordan shook his head when asked why he thinks Bryant made the comments.
“I imagine he’s trying to say it to legitimize his own Dream Team,” Jordan said. “But to me it’s not even a question what team is better.”
“For him to make that comparison, it’s one of those things where it creates conversation. I guess we’ll never know. I’d like to think that we had 11 Hall of Famers on that team and whenever they get 11 Hall of Famers you call and ask me who had the better Dream Team. Remember now, they learned from us. We didn’t learn from them.”
I’m not sure what the media expected Kobe to say. I think Kobe gave a very thoughtful, respectable answer to a very difficult question.
When Team USA 2012 coach Mike Krzyzewski was asked the same question he had to give it some thought. His response was,
Right now I wouldn’t say that, But this team can be very good. The one thing about this team they are all kind of in their prime or getting ready to go into their prime, and Kobe hasn’t lost anything. Whereas in ’92 there were guys at the end of their careers. Larry (Bird) had a hard time physically, John Stockton was hurt, Magic had been out a year. In their prime, all those guys together, there was no team ever like that.”
You also have to think how well basketball programs have developed world wide. That will have a large impact on the London games. We can’t and shouldn’t expect to see the same level of blowouts, even if Dream Team 2012 is better than 1992. What do you think?
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