Pau Gasol: 2012 Team USA Not a Fair Comparison to 1992 Dream Team

In the buildup of excitement prior to the 2012 Olympics, there’s been some chatter about the current USA Basketball squad being comparable to the legendary Dream Team. Pau Gasol, who will represent Spain at the London Games, says not so fast. From Fox Sports: “USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo and likely starting forward LeBron James both have predicted it will be fair to compare the 2012 Olympic team to the 1992 Dream Team. Gasol begs to differ. ‘I wouldn’t say that,’ Gasol said. Gasol grew up in Barcelona, where Team USA won its gold medal when he was 12. He has talked before about how that team inspired him as well as others overseas to play basketball. […] ‘The Dream Team was pretty unique,’ Gasol said. ‘It was one of a kind. For a different reason, not just from a basketball standpoint. … But obviously, (the 2012 Americans) have a great team with amazing players, and they won the gold medal in the last Olympics. They probably will go for it again this year. We’ll try to prevent that from happening if we can. But we’ll let them do what they do, and we’re going to try to play how we play and see what happens.'”