Kobe Bean Bryant has been one of my favorite players in the NBA over the last 16 years. He is tough, extremely talented, gutsy, venomous, and a winner. He has five titles to his credit and he has a ton of street cred when he plays or speaks. I think he may have stepped on a land mine when he said that this current team could beat the "DreamTeam" if they played. I heard last night that a team of current all stars of college players defeated the current team. I know that it happened 20 years ago but Chuck Daly stopped the game as the "Dream Team" was making a comeback. He wanted them to know that they could be beat. The very next scrimmage the college team got absolutely obliterated and no team got closer than 32 points against the "Dream Team".
Lets break down the rosters. First, Micheal Jordan has no equal. Kobe Bryant and Lebron James are players who try and emulate their games to Micheal Jordan. Jordan was 29 in 1992 and was at the apex of his dominance. Ask Toni Kukoc about how good his defense was and the utter humiliation that he was put under at the Olympics. Kobe and Lebron are great. Micheal Jordan would wear both of them out. Who is going to guard Magic? Magic was 33 and had an entire year off from the league because of the H.I.V. scare and just was named M.V.P of the all star game. Back in those days, they defended you 94 feet and he would have had a fast break field day against this team that has no defensive stand outs. Lets talk about the center position. Tyson Chandler is athletic and quick. David Robinson and Patrick Ewing could score on him at will and get him in foul trouble before he was able to get a grasp of what was happening to him. I love Blake Griffin and Kevin Love but Malone and Barkley would destroy then. Not only that, Griffin and Love are this teams current back up centers. Ewing and Robinson have at least 5 inches on both of them. It would be a disaster. I haven't even mentioned Drexler and Pippen and Stockton. The players today can't even spell screen and roll. The defense that Pippen and Clyde would put on Durant and Lebron would be humiliating. Even after all of that Chris Mullin would shoot the lights out if that is what the team needed that day. Do I need to say more?
I dont even have to mention Christian Laetner. He is one of the 10 greatest college basketball players ever to play the game. Even he would get at least 15 points against this team. They won every game except the final game by 40 plus points. In fact only maybe three players on the current dream team would make this roster. I haven't even mentioned Larry Bird. Yeah he had a bad back but he could still post and shoot on anyone in the league at that time, this time, or anytime. I love ya Kobe.. But this current team would lose by at least 20 points. This current team is missing several key players and even they wouldn't impact the butt whipping they would get. The current is younger and maybe more athletic, but they are still just learning how to play the game. Plus Kobe himself is 34. he doesn't have the same "magic" in his legs as he did as a younger player. I saw that Vegas has the line at 8 points. It wouldnt be close unless Coach K. went Princeton offense.
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