They had to pick one College player. Zo and Shaq were unlucky to miss out.

he was good back then. Top prospect at the time.

He was picked as he was the consensus NCAA player of the year for season 1991-92 and the spot on the Dream Team was given to the player who won that award

Stockton, Mullin?

He was by far the best College player that year... his game was never suited to the NBA though. I think Hansborough is in the same boat.

Yake it easy, he was very good in a horrible Minnesota team. And continued to carve out a decent career at numerous teams whilst also changing his role. Helped Atlanta get to the playoffs during mid 90's and was handy in Detroit too.

Token white boy!!

Always wondered about this too.

Philnado - how come? Was it just a decision by the US team to make a token nod to their country's college game? Or was there some official/legal obligation? A transition from previous amateur teams?

Why would the practice have been discontinued?

I think it was just a nod to the pre-dream (college-based) team amateur USA Teams... So he was a token pick on that basis... Also had an awesome (some might say one of the best) college career playing in a a big time program that he was a major part of making successful (although he did have some great teammates - Hurley, Hill). Agreed though in the NBA he was something of a bust.

Imagine a young Shaq in the 92 team
Although he wasn't as nearly dominant as what he would become he would be an imposing figure and would have put to rest the debate of whether the 92 team was the GOAT

someone had ta carry the bags and get the coffee ....

Kriss there is no debate, it was the greatest team ever assembled.

if you were to take Lettner, Mullins and sTockton out - and replace them with Kobe, LeBron an Superman - it would be the greatest team ever !!

Was nothing wrong with Stockton or Mullin.

Harold Miner rolled his ankle and Laettner took his place.

What ever happened to Harold Miner?

Shaq and Zo would not have played behind Ewing and Robinson.
Laettner got a little bit of time, as Bird was carrying a back injury. He had also just started in 4 (count them) consecutive Final Fours, and was College player of the year.

He did lead the Dream Team in a stat category as well.

I think this discussion has some very interesting arguements. Someone said take out Stockton and Mullin? I think this has been the problem with the US teams of the past, they didn't have a lot of role players in their groups. It was all just pure offense and it showed that they didn't have a decent outside shooter 2 olympics ago. Chris Mullin was one of the best 3 pt shooters there was to play the game. Then you have one of the best point guards in history in Stockton. Was the only player until Chris Paul joined him that lead the league in both assists and steals in the same season. Is the all time NBA leader in steals and assists and in my opinion ran a team better than Chris Paul. Paul is more athletic and can score more, but Stockton in my view was the definitive point guard.
The original Dream Team is still THE best team ever assembled!

He would have led the assists column

Can you imagine 6-9 120kg Karl Malone looking down on CL

"Now white boy YOU GONNA pass me the ball every time you touch it won't you..."

Actually it was free throw percentage...lol

18 of 20 for the toournament. 90%


Also to add to an earlier post:
April 7, 1989, FIBA votes to allow NBA players to participate in international events, including the Olympic Games and the World Championship of Basketball. The final tally was 56 countries in favor of opening the competition, 13 opposed and one abstaining.

I could name an equally good team now:

Lebron, Carmelo, Kobe, Wade, Howard, Paul, Williams, Duncan, Billups, Pierce, Garnett

This group has 10 rings, while the 92 team had 12 at the time.

that's what I'm talkin about !!! I could see LeBron taking out Magic & Bird - neither as athletic as LeBron - and the duel of all time Kobe vs MJ - and you know who wins!! I cannot mention good things about certain players anymore as the censor police are on the case ... be careful wat you say about beating the Dream Team also ...that's frowned upon here and might get you blocked

The question is I guess would the best now beat the best then, if they grew up in the same time.

There is way better Facilities now, be medical, gyms, etc. They train smarter, work harder, diet is monitored more, etc.

The 92 Dream Team was probably suited better to the International game that the current guys, but no question about the athleticism of the guys now being hard to beat.

so true - I've always said gus like LeBron, Kobe and D-wade are going to be the bests of all times - I'm scared I'm gonna get banned for saying that !!!
It's stating to be like when the scientists said the world was round and he get burnt for it ..

As time goes on people improve and get better n stronger. Dream Team may have been a dream then but would likely have a tough one vs today's Spain or Argentina etc

Im still saying that the 92 team would win, smarter and play more as a team. Suit the International game much better.

As for them being best of all time, will never happen either, they have each other to compare against, MJ has no one. And really the more you write the more I can tell you are only young. If you grew up in the times of some of these players (basketballs hay-day), and watched them, you would realise where most people on here are coming from.

Taking nothing away from the players now

I'm with you skin and totally agree with your point which I think most on here are missing.If you look at that 92 team, there were some of the SMARTEST basketballers in history playing. I'm sorry, but I can't really say that yet about LeBron. Kobe sometimes, but not always and you can tell this by the number of rings he's won since Shaq departed. One player I do like out of that group is Wade. Very smart player and will go along way.
All the players you have named are all extremely athletic, but that doesn't always win you games. This is why the team has failed in the past and why the team changed in Beijing, where they had a couple more role players. I still think they would have been better off putting Chandler in that team for his inside presence. It was so obvious once Dwight got into foul trouble they were very small.

Larry Bird is white??

"Depth of the league is stronger now"

What makes you say that Anon?

Larry Bird is not TOKEN anything! ;)

thedoctor, you seen the NBA Jam players from back then? ;)

Comparing any team with the 92 team is simply laughable.

Stockton and Mullin join Steve Nash as the purest jump shooters in NBA history, you wont find too many Guards with a better collective FG% / 3P% / FT%.
Larry Bird also joins Nash as the only two players in NBA history to average over 50%FG, 40% from 3P and 90% from the FT line in two or more NBA seasons (Nash has done it 3 times... nearly 4). The 92 team could shoot the lights out! Who did they have in 08.... Redd?

In the middle..... Ewing and Robinson would rank in the top 6 centers in NBA history. Chamberlain, Kareem and Hakeem would make up 3 of the other 4 spots..... Shaq would be in there too I admit.
But the 92 team easily wins the battle of the bigs over the 08 team.

Give me MJ and Magic over Kobe and Lebron.... Panther was right, these guys were smart.... real smart.... also someone mentioned championships, if you want to talk ships... MJ and Magic have 11, Kobe and Lebron will need to get real busy!

I don't even need to mention how the 08 team would compare with Pippen, Barkley, Malone, Drexler etc etc.... the 08 team would struggle against the guys coming off the bench in 92.

The 92 team won the 8 games they played by an average of 43ppg and as Magic said "Chuck said... if he has to call a time out during the olympics, we weren't doing our job, and he didn't call one time out the whole olympics!"

The silence is deafening ESP! Lol..

I love this modern love for "athleticism". It cracks me up. Just because they're more athletic (somewhat questionable, but i'll play along), doesn't mean they'll win.
The original could all shoot, out of the modern team up there ^^, i'd take Kobe, Billups and Pierce as the "shooters". Bird, Stockton and Mullin, not to mention Malone, Jordan, Drexler, Ewing, Barkley could all shoot as well as them, mostly better.
As for Center, Howard Vs Dream Team.....puhlease!! Robinson would school Howard SO BAD!! As would Ewing too.
And as for the "who would guard LeBron?" talk, I'll think you'll find that a certain awesome defensive player on the original Dream Team (should read, only Dream Team), while not as strong as LeBron, was smart, quick, long and had great hands, and was one of the best defensive players at his (and LBJ's) position ever, would do a very good job on him, with some help from his running mate MJ, would be none other than.....Scottie Pippen!! But you young ones wouldn't know about that, because he can't grab a penny off the top of the backboard.
Athleicism - making sport more boring for more than a decade! Just ask the AFL.

Yes Panther, I think Playtime and friends have gone back to their Barbies and Pokemon cards or something they actually know about.

Playtime would = 16yrs old at most

Why do people waste so much time talking about the different eras.

The Dream Team was the greatest team assembled - the 08 version was very good, but just get on with life.

The game continues to evolve and so do the players so you can never compare the 92 squad to those playing today.

But FYI there are some major hurdles the 08 squad has to get over to ever be close to comparison.

MJ - the best SG and arguably best player of all time. Kobe close is some areas, miles away in others.
Jordan would take him in the post.

Magic - how many PG today can play all five positions on the floor and actually dominate? Even Lebron can't do that!

Bird - How many PF/SF can do the things he did? He couldn't jump, but was excellent rebounder, quick hands defensively, could shoot from anywhere and was one of the best passers of all time.
Way too smart for todays players.

Robinson - One of the all time great centres who was amazingly quick. Would out run Howard today. Although he was criticized for thinking too much on the court - he would have too many offensive moves for Howard.

Barkley - how many of todays players would want to get in the face of him?

Malone - one elbow and todays players would be out for 2 weeks. He would score 20 from pick and roll.

Stockton - might not be as quick, but would get the ball to the right people and school todays PGs.

Mullin - Just give him the ball in the corner and see him score. He moved without the ball much better than todays players. He didn't need to touch the ball 50 times a quarter to have an impact.

Why do people waste so much time talking about the different eras.

The Dream Team was the greatest team assembled - the 08 version was very good, but just get on with life.

The game continues to evolve and so do the players so you can never compare the 92 squad to those playing today.

But FYI there are some major hurdles the 08 squad has to get over to ever be close to comparison.

MJ - the best SG and arguably best player of all time. Kobe close is some areas, miles away in others.
Jordan would take him in the post.

Magic - how many PG today can play all five positions on the floor and actually dominate? Even Lebron can't do that!

Bird - How many PF/SF can do the things he did? He couldn't jump, but was excellent rebounder, quick hands defensively, could shoot from anywhere and was one of the best passers of all time.
Way too smart for todays players.

Robinson - One of the all time great centres who was amazingly quick. Would out run Howard today. Although he was criticized for thinking too much on the court - he would have too many offensive moves for Howard.

Barkley - how many of todays players would want to get in the face of him?

Malone - one elbow and todays players would be out for 2 weeks. He would score 20 from pick and roll.

Stockton - might not be as quick, but would get the ball to the right people and school todays PGs.

Mullin - Just give him the ball in the corner and see him score. He moved without the ball much better than todays players. He didn't need to touch the ball 50 times a quarter to have an impact.

New development on this -
The 1992 Dream Team has cut Laettner from the team -

http://comedyhub.blogspot.com/2009/08/1992-dream-team-wants-christian-laetner.html

www.comedyhub.blogspot.com

(CHN) The Comedy Hub Network

Wow...worthwhile post 3 years later....

Ha ha. I just saw this post for the first time.

Anyone who thinks the 1992 original Dream Team is not the greatest team in the history of basketball is either delirious or drunk.

All 1992 players were NBA All-Stars (a combined 117 All-Star appearances), the lowest player drafted was Stockton at #16, nine of the guys were top-10 picks.

And they combined for 15 MVP's awards and 23 championships.

The end.

Let's see what credentials the 2008 (and prob 2012) team ends up with by the end of their careers.

Yeah, we will see. They've got a lot of catching up to do.

So far they've got 8 championships (of which Kobe has 5) and 4 MVP awards (of which LeBron has 3), along with 69 All-Star appearances.

Token White Boy? Hey idiots, The Dream Team already had 3 white players.

Croatia (Divac, Petrovic etc) Vs Spain (Current squad)???

that would be a great game to watch