The decisive factors are in the quality of the bigs - huge advantage to '92 Ewing and Robinson there - and also, 29-year-old Jordan would dominate 33-year-old Kobe, in our opinion. On the popular topic of how the 2012 edition compares to the 1992 Dream Team, our two cents is that we think it would've been a good matchup if the 2012 squad had been closer to full health, but since they've lost the likes of Howard, Wade, Rose, and Bosh, we don't think it's a contest. loses in London, though last week we outlined how an upset might happen, by exploiting the Americans' lack of defensive depth on the interior beyond Tyson Chandler.Īctually, it's been fascinating to watch how Coach K's addressed his team's lack of traditional bigs in the early warmups, often going with lineups featuring only points and wings - it's been almost like watching basketball from the future, and we're very much looking forward to seeing these units in action in London. Now, with overwhelming perimeter talent - headlined by the two best players in the world, LeBron James and Kevin Durant - Team USA is deservedly a heavy favorite to win gold. More than anything, it was a testament to the quality of the national-team program created by Colangelo and Coach K, which has fostered a strong sense of continuity despite significant roster turnover, through regular summer training camps and the continual integration of new players via the U.S. brought to Worlds - inexperienced in the international game and in playing with each other - was similar to the American teams which had faced the most adversity in the NBA era, but the 2010 group won gold impressively, powered by the unconscious scoring of Kevin Durant. Winning the 2010 world championship was the most impressive Team USA achievement of the Jerry Colangelo/Mike Krzyzewski era, in our opinion. (Group A: Qualified as FIBA World Champion) Here is how the 12 countries have been broken down into groups (with our power rankings in parens): Last year, we offered an early take at 2012 Olympic basketball power rankings here is our update with the Games less than two weeks away. With the completion of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament on July 8, the field of 12 nations was set for the men's basketball competition at the 2012 London Olympics, which tips off on Sunday, July 29.

2012 olympics basketball