Dream Team or Team USA 2012?

Ruffle My Feathers, a weekly sports blog by Justin Lewis

DREAM TEAM OR NIGHTMARE

Kobe Bryant must be out of his mind! Perhaps it’s the medical treatments he is receiving from Germany; or maybe its “old age”; or maybe he is just that darn crazy. He actually thinks this “Dream Team (2012)” can defeat the REAL Dream Team. At first I thought perhaps someone misquoted him, but I was mistaken. Then I read two quotes that confirmed the insanity. The first quote stated, “Well, just from a basketball standpoint, they obviously have a lot more size than we do — you know with (David) Robinson and (Patrick) Ewing and (Karl) Malone and those guys . But they were also — some of those wing players — were also a lot older, at kind of the end of their careers. We have just a bunch of young racehorses, guys that are eager to compete. So I don’t know. It’d be a tough one, but I think we’d pull it out.” Before I speak on this I will also show how he further explained his obvious ignorance. He also said, “I’m not really tripping. The fact is they’ve got (Patrick) Ewing and (David) Robinson, those big guys. I mean it’s tough. But if you’re asking me if we can beat them one game, hell yeah we can beat them one game. You didn’t ask me if we could beat them in a seven-game series. One game, we could get them, no question about it.”

First I would like to forgive Kobe because he obviously is going through a tough time in his athletic career (pondering retirement and finally understanding that he really is getting old) and the mental fatigue must have made him part his lips and say something this outlandish.

Last time I checked (Kobe) you’re 33 years old going on 34 (next birthday is just a month from now) and at the END of your career (“Mr. I will only play until I am 35 years old”); and Michael Jordan (29) and Scottie Pippen (27) were just getting into their prime AND had come off of their second straight championship and would complete the three-peat after defeating Charles Barkley (29) and the Phoenix Suns in the 1993 NBA finals; then you had Ewing (29) and Chris Mullin (29). Not to mention the fact that unlike you they didn’t have to undergo Super-Soldier treatments (a la Captain America) in Germany just to get their bodies ready to play. That is no slight to you Mr. Bryant (do what you have to do) but you wouldn’t have a chance to beat the REAL and ONLY Dream Team; the greatest team EVER assembled!

Yeah you said they were too old and weren’t as athletic as your 2012 team, but guess what? They weren’t too far from it AND they knew how to play basketball, which is a thing of the past. Back then they worked from the inside out in order to keep the opposition on their heels. Against the Brazilian team on Monday your “team” looked out of sorts and needed to get punched in the mouth (so to speak) in order to get going. If you think you’re going to beat Spain or Argentina like that, you have another thing coming. This USA team is similar to almost every team in the league (the NBA) right now, they are all TOO perimeter oriented. They shoot jump shot after jump shot and WAIT for them to start falling. The rule is if you miss more than (2) jump shots in a row get your tail in the post and either make sure you get fouled, or make a lay-up or short jump/bank shot and only then do you venture out further. That’s exactly why I think (I hope I am wrong) that Spain is going to wipe the floor with this team. God forbid if Ricky Rubio was playing with Spain, they would beat your team by double digits. Even without him they have capable ball handlers and great big men who play defense, rebound, and can shoot/score. What’s your “team” gonna do with that?

The sad thing is your teams’ best players’ (aggression wise) are LeBron James and Russell Westbrook. I know people may look at me sideways because I mentioned Westbrook, but I would take that young man on my team any day because he doesn’t fear any challenge or man and he will keep coming after your neck until he wins. That’s how ferocious the Dream Team was, they wouldn’t stop until they had you on the ground and their foot was dug into your neck. Then they may let up when the buzzer sounds, just maybe. There aren’t enough angry people on this team, ya’ll need attitude! Players like Eric Gordon (a silent-assassin who can score and takes pride in shutting the opposition down; sadly he was replaced with James Harden who’s heart was pumping Kool-Aid in the NBA Finals just a month ago), Kevin Garnett, Charles Barkley, and Larry Bird. There are too many nice guys on this team. Case and point Kevin Durant is trying to be “friends” with LeBron. Are you kidding me? You think Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan were friends; you think the Bad Boys were friends with anyone; or how about Larry Bird, you think he was friends with Dr. J or the Lakers? I’ll answer that for you, NO!! That’s enough air time for your team Kobe. In regards to the match-up I will leave you with this, if your leader (in attitude) is LeBron James, something is very wrong and you have no shot! I’m not saying he isn’t an awesome player, but… you know the truth.

Lastly I wanted to ask a very important question. Has anyone noticed that the older Kobe gets the more trash he talks? It’s getting out of hand. It seems like he is trying to MAKE people pay attention to him. Cursing during media interviews, calling teammates out in public (granted they kind of deserved it, but come on), and saying Commissioner David Stern’s ideas are “stupid” (I second that notion). You are a winner and a very hard worker you should let your game do the talking, not your mouth. Stick to what you do best and put that ball through the hoop and don’t come out your mouth saying nonsense like this again because you’re playing yourself.