Thursday, July 12th, 2012 at 1:10 pm  |  116 responses

Michael Jordan Laughed at Kobe Bryant’s Claim that 2012 Team USA Better Than ’92 Dream Team


Much like his good friend Charles Barkley, all Michael Jordan could do was laugh and completely pooh-pooh Kobe Bryant’s claim that his current Olympic squad could beat the fabled Dream Team. Reports the AP: “Jordan said that he laughed – ‘I absolutely laughed’ – when hearing Bryant’s comments that the squad training in Las Vegas could take Jordan and company. Jordan said there’s ‘no comparison’ which team is better. ‘For him to compare those two teams is not one of the smarter things he ever could have done,’ Jordan said prior playing in a celebrity golf tournament in Charlotte. Jordan said the 1992 team, which included 11 future Hall of Famers and won its six Olympic games by an average of more than 43 points en route to capturing the gold medal, was a better overall team largely because of the experience it put on the floor. ‘I heard Kobe say we were not athletic,’ said a smiling Jordan as he sat in a golf cart puffing on his cigar while waiting to tee off. ‘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,’ Jordan said. ‘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.’”

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: , , , , , , ,

← Older Comments
  • http://www.yahoo.com The Fury

    Larry Bird alone will trash talk this team to death, playing mind games before and during the game against these new Dream Teamers. These guys won’t be able to handle it, how much for the rest (Jordan, Pip, Admiral..etc.)?? And John Stockton will break every forward’s ribs on that team with his dirty screens. The Round Mound would bully KLove to the ground. Cp3′s floaters won’t get past the Admiral. and Lebron will have a nervous breakdown once again and will choke. Kobe?? Well, let’s say he will lose his damn mind for whatever happens during the game and will take those idiotic contested jumpers.

  • 3ong

    “Remember now, they learned from us. We didn’t learn from them.”… wow, hahaha… burn!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/LordLionO Lord Lion O

    Fellas, the truth to this, we’d never know. ditto.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Redd

    Yeah finally at the end, they were playing a team that didn’t even qualify & were winning by barely 20.

  • L Dribble

    They could play Christian Laettner for 40 minutes and still beat them by 30.

  • http://www.nba.com/knicks danfields

    lol @ kobe bryant. thats a no brainer, the latest version of team usa is nowhere near the original version of 92, never ever. plus, the dream team had something more important than athleticism (even today careers like duncan or nash are living proof): brains and balls

  • http://www.nba.com/spurs/features/robinson_71_points.html L Dribble

    @The Seed: “David Robinson is nothing but Tim Duncans little brother in my book.” LOL – http://www.nba.com/spurs/features/robinson_71_points.html. I won’t mention his 12, 11 and 10 block games in his rookie season; the fourth quadruple double in NBA history (no one since); and that he is the only player in NBA history to lead the league in scoring, rebounds and blocks in his career as well as getting the MVP, Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year award.

  • http://slam FLIGHT 9

    Look mamba you are really stupid. First Bird and Magic retire and came back for the Olympics. Meaning they are not in their prime. Since its impossible to compare teams this is the only formula. PLAYERS IN THEIR PRIME IN 1992 VS. PLAYERS IN THEIR PRIME IN 2012. THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION WILL BE KNOWN WHEN MAMBA RETIRES AND 10 OF HIS TEAMMATES ARE IN THEIR PRIME. REMEMBER MAMBA THE 1992 REAL DREAM TEAM. BOTH WILL HAVE A COLLEGE BOY SINCE ANTHONY DAVIS HAS PLAYED AN NBA GAME YET. I PERSONALLY THINK 92 WILL WIN PERIOD….. CMON EWING, ROBINSON, JORDAN, BIRD MAGIC BARKLEY PIPPEN !!!!!????

  • Yep

    everyone needs to understand the dynamics of training in 2012 vs 1992. lebron’s post game wouldn’t be lebron’s post game without the dream team. kobe’s fadeaway j may not have existed without jordan. it’s a dumb argument to have. like jordan said, today’s players learned from the dream team. EVERYONE learned from the dream team. they were the ones who innovated modern basketball. are lebron and kd more refined physical specimens than their counterparts on the dream team? heck yes they are. 2 generations from now when lebron is playing golf there will be another group of youngens with even MORE unbridled physical ability. doesn’t mean they are better ballers though. it’s scary to think how much better mj would have been if he were being raised right now with all of the additional information available on diet/nutrition/kinetics/training/medicine/technique

  • David

    there would be no game jordan and crew would make kobe and lebron look like little kids at the candy store

  • ron

    Kobe is overated, he wears 24 to be one better than 23, Kobes olympic number is 10 to be one better than jordan’s olympic number 9. I am old enough to say that if Jordan hadnt retired in 1993, the bulls would probably have won 5 or 6 in a row, kobe is nowhere close to the athlete or ballplayer jordan was. The 92 team was great and the 96 team with Penny hardaway and preinjury grant hill, shaq, miller, scottie pippen and that fake american hakeem olajuwon (kidding), shouldve included mutombo if possible, that team could compete with the 12 team but any team with lebron, durant, kobe, melo, westbrook, wade, is pretty hard to deal with.

  • Big Mike

    If I was Kobe, I would’ve kept my mouth shut from the beginning, I’m getting sick and tired or reading about this

  • pnoyvibe

    I’m sure Michael didn’t laugh when Scottie said that LeBron was better than him.

  • WEASAL

    @ seed WHAT U SMOKIN SON. IT MUST BE SOME SERIOUS ISH.
    DREAM TEAM VERSUS 2012: DREAM TEAM BY 20 MOSTLY CAUSE THEY WOULD WANT IT MORE AND PLAY HARDER AND ALSO WOULDN’T B!TCH TO THE REFS 24/7

  • bakers-dozen

    The current dream team would hang for the first half, but the originals would walk on them in the second. Playmaking as a team is 200% better than what players do today. Go to any gym in the land and you’ll see old guys running young guns who are more athletic due to the fact that they play team ball. The original Dream Team will never be topped by any team in history. They were just TOO deep. Malone comes out, Barkley comes in. I mean, really? How do you stop that? With Anthony Davis?

  • casey

    every championship kobe has was bought by buying him top level team mates.something the bulls didn’t have to do cuz they did it thru the draft and used the cards they were delt.kobe never had to earn a championship like jordan did.jordan whos team was all hall of famers.and lets not forget that jordan unlike kobe and the wimps they have today never didn’t play cuz they were scared of getting hurt or weren’t making enough money.these wimps nowdays are lucky if they win by 10 much less average beating opponents by 43 points.comparing the original dream team to kobe and his wimpy premadona’s is like comparing the special olympics to the real olympics.

← Older Comments
Advertisement