Preamble:
Since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the American Dream Team has been born, playing a dimensionality reduction performance in the game, and winning the gold medal without any suspense. Every World Series, the most anticipated part of the game is to see which NBA superstars this year's Dream Team has and how they can play in the game.
With the Paris Olympics approaching, Dream 16 has also released an 11-man squad. According to Woj and Shams, the list is: James, Durant, Curry, Embiid, Tatum, Booker, Holiday Brown, Bushy Eyebrows, Edwards, Adebayo and Haliburton. In addition, the 12th man has already been answered, Leonard will be the first choice, George, Banchero, Mikal Bridges, Brunson are also among the options.
This is undoubtedly the strongest squad of the U.S. men's basketball team right now, and their goal is to defend their title at the Olympics and get revenge to help Dream 15, who returned home at the World Cup last year, get back on the court. Jankudu is once again in one team and this will be the trio's last dance for the national team.
So looking at the previous dream teams, what is the quality of this dream 16, and how many places can it rank in terms of the strength of the entire lineup? Let's take a look at the combat performance of the previous dream teams to make a comparison!
Dream Team
Key members: Jordan, Johnson, Bird, Barkley
Team Coach: Chuck Daley
Team achievements: Olympic gold medal (8-0), Hall of Fame
Everything about the Dream Team starts with the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Starting with the Olympic Games this year, gradual commercialization has become an important strategic goal. Therefore, the U.S. men's basketball team directly gathered a group of the best stars in the NBA, and when they appeared on the court, the suspense of the game was already over. And for enjoying the "star show" that is even more exciting than the All-Star Game, it is naturally enjoyable.
In the group stage, the United States also scored 103 points in the lowest scoring game. Entering the knockout stage, they did not give their opponents any chance. In the end, the American Dream Team won all 8 games and won the Olympic gold medal without any suspense. In this tournament, the U.S. team averaged 117.3 points per game, while the opponent scored only 73.5 points under the suffocating defense. The lineup and strength of this team, looking at all the dream teams, are all zenith stars.
Dream Team II
Key members: Dumas, Miller, O'Neill, Wilkins
Team manager: Nelson Sr
Team Achievement: World Championship Gold Medal (8-0)
After winning the Olympic gold medal without any suspense, many supergiant players who dream of one are very low in enthusiasm for participating in the World Championships. Almost all players have no desire to be called up to the national team again, but the good thing is that the NBA has a deep enough star reserve. Although he is slightly inferior in terms of lineup, Yumeji is still a dimensionality reduction blow in the World Championships.
After eight games, they are averaging 120.1 points per game and 37.7 points per game. It is worth mentioning that in the final against Russia, the American Dream II scored 137 points, which was the highest score in a single game of the World Championships of the United States team at that time.
In terms of player performance, O'Neal scored a team-high 144 points. The Chinese men's basketball team played the United States in the group stage, and suffered a heavy defeat 77-132.
Dream Three Team
Key members: O'Neal, Hardaway, Olajuwon, Stockton
Team manager: Wilkens
Team achievements: Olympic gold medal (8-0)
In 1996, facing the Olympic Games held on home soil, the Dream Team naturally hoped to defend their title. So this team became a mixed formation of Dream One and Dream Two. One of the biggest features is that he has the most invincible position in the interior position. O'Neal, Malone, Big Dream, Robinson, Barkley, each of them are god-level players who can call the wind and rain on the inside.
Dream Three's offensive firepower has weakened in this edition, and they have averaged 102 points per game. However, Dream Three's defensive performance is definitely the strongest shield in the previous Dream Team, and they only let the opponent average 70.3 points per game. In this game, Robinson averaged 12.8 points per game to win the team's scoring title, and Barkley averaged 6.6 rebounds per game to get the rebounding title, and his 85.3% shooting rate was also the highest on the team.
Dream Four Team
Key members: Kidd, Carter, Garnett, Payton
Coach of the team: Tomjanovic
Team achievements: Olympic gold medal (8-0)
When the time comes to the 21st century, the development of world basketball can be described as full of vitality, and everything is competing. Under such circumstances, the strength of the U.S. men's basketball team and other countries is getting closer. And in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Dream Four officially set off again with the task of defending the title. In this lineup, the stardom is a bit far from the previous three editions, and the whole process of the competition is also very difficult.
After comfortably beating China and Italy in their first two group games, they got into a hard-fought battle with Lithuania in the third game, winning 85-76. In the knockout rounds, the two teams met again in the semi-finals, and the difficulty of this match continued to increase, and in the end, the United States only won by two points. The most impressive picture of this Olympics is Carter's flying slam French domestic line-up Frédéric Weiss.
Dream Five Team
Key members: O'Neill Jr., Finley, Miller, Marion
Coach of the team: George Carr
Team achievements: 6th in the World Championships (6 wins, 3 losses)
As the saying goes, after the continuous destruction of international competitions, the Dream Team seems to have less and less desire to win. In the 2002 World Championships held on home soil, when the U.S. men's basketball team began to call, the NBA's big-name stars had no intention of responding. In this way, under the patchwork of things, one of the most shabby dream teams was born.
In the group stage, they suffered their first ever defeat for the Dream Team. In the face of Argentina led by Ginobili, the U.S. men's basketball team lost 80-87. In the knockout stage, the United States directly lost to Yugoslavia by 3 points in the top 8 matchup. In the subsequent qualifying round, he lost to Spain and finally only finished sixth.
Dream Six Team
Key members: Iverson, James, Duncan, Wade, Anthony
Team manager: Larry Brown
Team achievements: Olympic bronze medal (5 wins, 3 losses)
After Dream Five suffered an unprecedented defeat, one of Dream Six's missions is to complete revenge. It is a pity that at the Athens Olympics, they did not receive the favor of the goddess of victory. In the first group game, they surprised the world. Facing the little-known Puerto Rico, the United States suffered a heavy defeat from 73 to 92. In the second game against the host Greek team, the United States tried its best to win by 6 points.
In the fourth game of the group stage, facing Lithuania, which is getting stronger and stronger overall, the United States lost the game 90-94. They suffered two defeats in the group stage, something that has never happened to the worst Dream Five. In the semifinals, facing Argentina led by Ginobili again, the United States still failed to complete the task of revenge, losing to the opponent 81-89, and the road to consecutive Olympic championships came to an end. In the end, this dream team only won a bronze medal.
Dream Seven Team
Key members: Bosh, James, Paul, Anthony
Team manager: Shashewski
Team achievements: Bronze medal at the World Championships (8-1)
After suffering the first blow to the Olympics, the U.S. team reviewed and analyzed the loss. In the end, they came to the conclusion that even the strongest stars gathered together would be difficult to achieve the strongest results without effective training and running-in. So starting from Dream Seven, the U.S. team started the mode of over-selection and long-term training. Through rounds of intensive training, the final decision is made on the 12-man roster.
The 2006 World Championships became the best stage for the dream team to prove themselves again. In the group stage, the United States team performed well, and completed the revenge against Puerto Rico in the first game, and won all the group stages. However, when facing Greece in the semifinals, the United States once again broke out a big upset, and the team lost 95-101 to the opponent, and once again failed to stand on the top podium. In the end, in that competition, the United States completed its revenge on Argentina and finished third.
Dream Eight Team
Key members: Kobe Bryant, James, Anthony, Paul
Team manager: Shashewski
Team achievements: Olympic gold medal (8-0)
After another painful loss, the U.S. men's basketball team decided to step up their efforts, and once again they gathered the best resources of the entire NBA to come up with a super lineup with a star second only to Dream One, and the Beijing Olympics is the best stage for the Dream Team to prove their dominance again.
This time the Dream Team did not give any chance to other national teams, they were devastated in every game, except for the final, which was a little stalemate against Gasol's Spain, the others were basically a big win. In the end, Dream Eight averaged 27.9 points per game and limited opponents to 78.3 points, and that familiar team returned.
Dream Nine Team
Key members: Durant, Curry, Rose, Westbrook
Team manager: Shashewski
Team achievements: World Championship gold medal (9 wins, 0 losses)
After successfully reclaiming the Olympic gold medal, the Dream Team's next target is the World Championships. The last time they won the gold medal at the World Championships was during the Dream II period. This team has shown a very strong performance, especially Durant, a FIBA killer, who is a bug in the arena.
In the end, the U.S. team won all nine games and successfully won the gold medal at the World Championships with a strong performance of 27.7 points per game. Durant, on the other hand, has no doubt to win the MVP with an efficient performance of 23.4 points per game.
Other Dream Teams at a glance:
Dream 10 - 2012 Olympic gold medal (led by Kobe, James, Durant)
Dream 11 Team - World Championship Gold Medal (led by thick eyebrows, Curry, and Rose)
Dream 12 - 2016 Olympic Gold Medal (led by Durant, Thick Eyebrows, George)
Dream 13 - 7th place in the World Cup (led by Tatum and Middleton)
Dream 14 - 2020 Olympic Gold Medal (led by Durant and Booker)
Dream 15 - 4th place in the 2023 World Cup (led by Edwards and Ingram)
Through the above inventory, it is not difficult to find that Dream Yi is the strongest dream team that deserves to be. followed by Dream 2 and Dream 8, both teams have achieved outstanding performances in terms of lineup and strength. The most disappointing thing is Dream Six and Dream Seven, who have a luxurious lineup but fail to stand on the top podium in the end.
So what do you think the latest edition of Dream 16 can rank among all the dream teams, and can defend the title and continue to defend the glory of the American men's basketball team?