Poll: Who is the second best Team USA during the past two decades?
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The Dream Team II (1994 Canada World Championship)
0%
0 0%
The Dream Team III (1996 Atlanta Olympics)
100.00%
5 100.00%
Team USA Y2K (2000 Sydney Olympics)
0%
0 0%
The Redeem Team (2008 Beijing Olympics)
0%
0 0%
The B Team (2010 Istanbul World Championship)
0%
0 0%
Coach K's Encore (2012 London Olympics)
0%
0 0%
Total 5 vote(s) 100%
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The second best version of Team USA
#1
With all of the conversation about whether the 2012 team could beat the Dream Team over the past several weeks, it begs further analysis. First, anybody who thinks any iteration of Team USA is better than the Dream Team is an idiot. However, the second best team is debatable.

Dream Team II - 1994

Result: 8-0 Gold Medal

Narrowest Margin of Victory: 15 points over Spain


Roster:

NAME POS AGE AFFILIATION (SCHOOL)

Derrick Coleman F 27 New Jersey Nets (Syracuse)
Joe Dumars G 31 Detroit Pistons (McNeese State)
Kevin Johnson G 28 Phoenix Suns (California)
Larry Johnson F 25 Charlotte Hornets (UNLV)
Shawn Kemp F 24 Seattle SuperSonics
Dan Majerle G 28 Phoenix Suns (Central Michigan)
Reggie Miller G 28 Indiana Pacers (UCLA)
Alonzo Mourning C 24 Charlotte Hornets (Georgetown)
Shaquille O'Neal C 22 Orlando Magic (LSU)
Mark Price G 30 Cleveland Cavaliers (Ga. Tech)
Steve Smith G 25 Miami Heat (Michigan State)
Dominique Wilkins F 34 Boston Celtics (Georgia)

Dream Team III - 1996

Result: 8-0 Gold Medal

Narrowest Margin of Victory: 22 points over Lithuania


Roster:

NAME POS AGE AFFILIATION (SCHOOL)

Charles Barkley F 33 Phoenix Suns (Auburn)
Anfernee Hardaway G 24 Orlando Magic (Memphis State)
Grant Hill F 23 Detroit Pistons (Duke)
Karl Malone F 33 Utah Jazz (Louisiana Tech)
Reggie Miller G 30 Indiana Pacers (UCLA)
Hakeem Olajuwon C 33 Houston Rockets (Houston)
Shaquille O'Neal C 24 Orlando Magic (Louisiana State)
Gary Payton G 28 Seattle SuperSonics (Oregon State)
Scottie Pippen F 30 Chicago Bulls (Central Arkansas)
Mitch Richmond G 31 Sacramento Kings (Kansas State)
David Robinson C 30 San Antonio Spurs (U.S. Naval Acd.)
John Stockton G 34 Utah Jazz (Gonzaga)

Team USA Y2K - 2000

Result: 8-0 Gold Medal

Narrowest Margin of Victory: 2 points over Lithuania


Roster:

NAME POS DOB PRO TEAM/COLLEGE

Shareef Abdur-Rahim F 12/11/76 Vancouver Grizzlies / California '96
Ray Allen G 07/20/75 Milwaukee Bucks / Connecticut '96
Vin Baker F 11/23/71 Seattle SuperSonics / Hartford '93
Vince Carter G/F 01/26/77 Toronto Raptors / North Carolina '98
Kevin Garnett F 05/19/75 Minnesota Timberwolves / Farragut Academy H.S. (IL)
Tim Hardaway G 09/01/66 Miami Heat / Texas El-Paso '89
Allan Houston G 04/20/71 New York Knicks / Tennessee '93
Jason Kidd G 03/23/73 Phoenix Suns / California '94
Antonio McDyess F 09/07/74 Denver Nuggets / Alabama '95
Alonzo Mourning C 02/08/70 Miami Heat / Georgetown '92
Gary Payton G 07/23/68 Seattle SuperSonics / Oregon State '90
Steve Smith G 03/31/69 Portland Trail Blazers / Michigan State '91


The Redeem Team - 2008

Result: 8-0 Gold Medal

Narrowest Margin of Victory: 11 points over Spain


Roster:

NAME POS AGE AFFILIATION (SCHOOL)

Carmelo Anthony F 24 Denver Nuggets (Syracuse)
Carlos Boozer F 26 Utah Jazz (Duke)
Chris Bosh F 24 Toronto Raptors (Georgia Tech)
Kobe Bryant G 30 Los Angeles Lakers
(Lower Merion High School)
Dwight Howard C 22 Orlando Magic
(Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy)
LeBron James F 23 Cleveland Cavaliers
(St. Vincent-St. Mary High School)
Jason Kidd G 35 Dallas Mavericks (California)
Chris Paul G 23 New Orleans Hornets (Wake Forest)
Tayshaun Prince F 28 Detroit Pistons (Kentucky)
Michael Redd G 29 Milwaukee Bucks (Ohio State)
Dwyane Wade G 26 Miami Heat (Marquette)
Deron Williams G 24 Utah Jazz (Illinois)

The B Team - 2010

Result: 9-0 Gold Medal

Narrowest Margin of Victory: 2 points over Brazil


Roster:

NAME POS AGE AFFILIATION (SCHOOL)

Chauncey Billups G 33 Denver Nuggets (Colorado)
Tyson Chandler C 27 Dallas Mavericks (Dominguez H.S.)
Stephen Curry G 22 Golden State Warriors (Davidson)
Kevin Durant G 21 Oklahoma City Thunder (Texas)
Rudy Gay F 24 Memphis Grizzlies (Connecticut)
Eric Gordon G 21 Los Angeles Clippers (Indiana)
Danny Granger F 27 Indiana Pacers (New Mexico)
Andre Iguodala G/F 26 Philadelphia 76ers (Arizona)
Kevin Love F 22 Minnesota Timberwolves (UCLA)
Lamar Odom C 30 Los Angeles Lakers (Rhode Island)
Derrick Rose G 21 Chicago Bulls (Memphis)
Russell Westbrook G 21 Oklahoma City Thunder (UCLA)

Coach K's Encore - 2012

Result: 8-0 Gold Medal

Narrowest Margin of Victory: 5 points over Lithuania


Roster:

NO NAME POS DOB CURRENT TEAM / COLLEGE or HIGH SCHOOL

15 Carmelo Anthony
F 5/29/84 New York Knicks / Syracuse
10 Kobe Bryant
G 8/23/78 Los Angeles Lakers / Lower Merion H.S. (PA)
4 Tyson Chandler
C 10/02/82 New York Knicks / Dominguez H.S. (CA)
14 Anthony Davis
F 03/11/93 New Orleans Hornets / Kentucky
5 Kevin Durant
G 9/29/88 Oklahoma City Thunder / Texas
12 James Harden
G 8/26/89 Oklahoma City Thunder / Arizona State
9 Andre Iguodala
G/F 1/28/84 Denver Nuggets / Arizona
6 LeBron James
F 12/30/84 Miami Heat / St. Vincent-St. Mary H.S. (OH)
11 Kevin Love
F 9/07/88 Minnesota Timberwolves / UCLA
13 Chris Paul
G 5/06/85 Los Angeles Clippers / Wake Forest
7 Russell Westbrook
G 11/12/88 Oklahoma City Thunder / UCLA
8 Deron Williams
G 6/26/84 Brooklyn Nets / Illinois
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#2
I think that the Dream Team III from the 96 Olympics would wipe the floor with these other Team USA's like they did to every team in 1996. They are the second best in my opinion and it isn't even close.

I think that the 2012 team could maybe beat them if they play a perfect game as could the 2008 and 2000 teams. With that said, if there was an all Team USA tournament, the Dream Team gets gold, the Dream Team III gets silver and the 2012 team gets bronze.
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#3
Wow, good job/research bro! Props!

As difficult as it is to compare teams and players from different eras, if I had to choose, I'd say the 1996 team. The Dream Team III.

I chose them over this years team because of their amazingly dominant frontcourt!

You have two of the 5 best centers in NBA history at Shaq and Hakeem plus another top 10 center at Robinson and you have two top 5 -ever- PF's at Barkley and Karl.

So, if Gasol (not to take anything away from his talent) has a walk in the park against Love and Chandler, imagine what would Shaq, Hakeem and David would do to them.

This year's team has the slight edge in perimeter scoring because of James & Durant (and Melo) but having injured-free Hardaway and Hill, plus the second best playmaker in NBA history running the show, the sharp shooter Miller and the defensive specialists Payton and Pippen (the greatest perimeter defender in history if you ask me), you should't have many problems scoring and defending those guys.

But, like I said, the insame frontcourt gives it to the '96 team!
[Image: panathinaikos-basket-opadoi.jpg]
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#4
Quote:Wow, good job/research bro! Props!

As difficult as it is to compare teams and players from different eras, if I had to choose, I'd say the 1996 team. The Dream Team III.

I chose them over this years team because of their amazingly dominant frontcourt!

You have two of the 5 best centers in NBA history at Shaq and Hakeem plus another top 10 center at Robinson and you have two top 5 -ever- PF's at Barkley and Karl.

So, if Gasol (not to take anything away from his talent) has a walk in the park against Love and Chandler, imagine what would Shaq, Hakeem and David would do to them.

This year's team has the slight edge in perimeter scoring because of James & Durant (and Melo) but having injured-free Hardaway and Hill, plus the second best playmaker in NBA history running the show, the sharp shooter Miller and the defensive specialists Payton and Pippen (the greatest perimeter defender in history if you ask me), you should't have may problems scoring and defending those guys.

But, like I said, the insame frontcourt gives it to the '96 team!

This sums it up nicely.
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#5
I totally agree with both you guys. The Dream Team III was a great team and they could have easily beaten every team.

Teo has perfectly sumed it up. The frontcourt was insane, they had some of the best players in the history of the NBA. It was a team you wanted to watch because they played great basketball.

Skangles you're right, if there was an all Team USA tournament the Dream Team would win the Gold, the Dream Team III would win Silver and this years Dream Team would win Bronze.

The Dream Team of the Athens Olympics 2004 had some good players in Duncan,Iverson and sometimes Marbury but they were a young team. Lebron and Melo weren't the players that they now are. But that teams is a perfect example of why there shouldn't be a age rule of under 23 years.
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#6
I agree with you guys.Team from 1996 was unstoppable,they defeated Yugoslavia in final.For Yugoslavia played the best European players like Dejan Bodiroga,Vlade Divac,Aleksandar Djordjevic and many others. Thup

And I believe that if was not war in Yugoslavia,that on Olympics 1992 Yugoslavia would be awesome competitive team to Dream Team. Cool
[Image: 26637_navijanjeee409_blic_markodjurica_f.jpg]
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#7
Quote:I agree with you guys.Team from 1996 was unstoppable,they defeated Yugoslavia in final.For Yugoslavia played the best European players like Dejan Bodiroga,Vlade Divac,Aleksandar Djordjevic and many others. Thup

And I believe that if was not war in Yugoslavia,that on Olympics 1992 Yugoslavia would be awesome competitive team to Dream Team. Cool

Defintely agree with this. I think that the Dream Team beats Yugoslavia but it would have been a lot closer than anything they saw. The subsequent question is how good would a Kukoc/Petrovic Croatian team have been in the mid to late 90s once both players were in their prime? Smile Not as good as a Yugoslavian team obviously but Drazen definitely left us way too early!

Actually, one of the arguments that pisses me off in the US media is that the 2012 Team USA somehow loses credibility for being in close games with Lithuania and Spain. Team USA wrapped up both games with minutes left on the clock. They were pretty close games but hardly nailbiting finishes. The world is a hell of a lot better now than it used to be, even the Dream Team would have momentary struggles against today's teams.
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#8
I agree with you guys, if there was no Yugoslavia war and the Yugoslavia team had stayed together they really would have challenged the Dream Team even more but still the Dream Team would have won.

It's too sad what happend with Drazen. If that accident wouldn't have happend , he would have even become a bigger start then he already was. We'll never now how good that Drazen would have been in his prime. He was special
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