Every generation has a team that marked their era and became unforgettable for the talent they had, how unstoppable they were and all the stories told about them. The 1992 Dream Team is the perfect example of this, as they were something never seen before and sent the general public into a frenzy when all these legends and superstars teamed up on a single squad.
After that moment, more special teams showed up, but none had the same impact that the original Dream Team until the 2008 Redeem Team burst into the scene. During the Olympic Games of that year, Team USA had a difficult task at hand, trying to show the world that they were still the dominators of international basketball.
They completed the job, leaving no doubts that nobody could beat them. After that, the 2012 Team USA did the same, having a terrific performance in London, boasting great players that made history that year. Ever since that moment, these three teams have been compared to each other, and depending on who you ask, the answer will be different.
Dwyane Wade Gets Real On Debate Between Team USA Legendary Squads
Dwyane Wade, who partook in the 2008 Redeem Team, recently had the chance to address this issue, saying that it’s hard to pick a team between these three since they are great squads, and depending on the game and the situation, you could pick one of them. During a recent interview with Complex, Wade had this to say:
I wanted to get your specific angle cuz you weren’t on 2012, you know, KD tweeted 2012 was the best team ever. Why are you picking 2008? I’ll ask it that way. Why are you picking 2008 over 2012?
D-Wade: Different mindset. You know what I mean? Like talent wise, when you, when you’re talking about the Olympic team, you’re talking about the dream team in ‘92, when you’re talking about the ‘08, you’re talking about… I’m sure I’m missing other teams. I mean, you got Vince Carter and KG and Ray, like you got many teams in the nineties that had some Bad Boys. And you’re talking about 2012, you’re talking about some of the greatest talents we’ve ever seen. So we can all get in the room and talk about why we’re the best. But our mentality that we had was different from anybody else’s. What we had to do, set up 2012 to go out and do what they were doing. Like we had to rebuild the Olympics and we had to go out there and we had to redeem the Olympics. So we had a little bit more on our shoulder, and our mentality would’ve pushed us over the edge KD on your 2012 team sir.
What about the Dream Team?
D-Wade: It depends on matchups, it depends on who gets hot. It depends on a lot of things. So when you’re talking about some of the greatest teams that’s ever assembled, anybody can beat anybody. It’s just the fact that if we talking about one game, everybody like, oh, well this is why we will win. They got Jordan, well they had Kevin Durant, but we had Kobe. I mean, and we had the 30-year old Kobe. We didn’t have the Kobe that they had in 2012.
This will always be an interesting topic of discussion, and regardless of who you ask about it, the answer will often be entertaining. Wade had an honest response, as he knows it’s hard to compare teams from different eras, and this isn’t the exception. Some will say that the original Dream Team will have the advantage for what they meant at the time and how great they were on the court, while others will say that the 2008 and 2012 teams had the biggest talent and were more dangerous.
It’ll be complicated to have an answer for everything, but this is an interesting conversation regardless of which team you think is the best.
