1992. Good thread.

'92 has the best player of all time (Jordan), the best PG of all time (Magic), the best perimeter defender of all time (Pippen), two elite centers, and the best shooting forward of all time (Bird).

As star-packed as it was, it was also a perfectly constructed team.

Lebron and Kobe are both great players, and would make the 92 era team... As well as Durant... Outside of that, the rest of the '12 team isn't even in the same discussion. In fact, it's pretty friggen bad in comparison.

92, I don't know how anyone could pick against MJ.

To be honest, I'm just so glad I was alive and old enough to witness the golden age of the NBA. The amount of great players during that time is staggering.

what era rules are they playing under?

One thing about that 92 team was how they wanted to win so badly.

Barkley had a white hot intensity through that whole Olympics and it spread through the whole team - not that many of those competitors needed any outside help. That's why they are who they are - Bird, Jordan, Johnson, Ewing, Malone...Good God, what a lineup.

Who would win, 1992 or 2012? This borders on being a rhetorical question.

Question is FAIL.
1992 is the only Dream Team. The others were just...not.

Pretty much illustrates why I don't watch the nba anymore.

This is a great point. Other than Kobe, I'm not sure how many of the guys on the 2012 have that BURNING NEED to win that many of the guys on the 1992 team had.

Magic, Bird, Jordan -- those guys would basically KILL to win.

'92.. hands down.

probably the best collection of players to ever be on the same team.

ROFL

But you need to remember that this was the first ever basketball team assembled from the NBA. They wanted the legacy to last.

I don't think that matters. The big key is everyone on the 92 team tried to play defense. The 2012 team is loaded with guys who flat out do not care about playing defense. Throw in a Rodman, and you might just have a lebron stopper.

Rodman was not quick enough to stop LeBron. Pippen was long enough and fast enough to give him problems, though.

Honestly, a better question is this:

If the former Yugoslavia had not broken up, how much of a game could they have given the 2012 team?