Oscar Robertson claims that a 1960 'Dream Team' would beat the 1992 Dream Team in a hypothetical showdown: "They never would have beat us, how could they?"
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Many consider the 1992 Dream Team the best basketball team ever assembled. But don't tell that to the legendary Oscar Robertson.
The Big O was never a fan of the Michael Jordan-led Barcelona-bound U.S. men's basketball team. In the book Basketball: A Love Story, Robertson questioned the 1992 Dream Team being the best team ever, arguing that all they did was play selfish ball.
"I don't understand how they say the Dream Team was the greatest ever. All they did was play one-on-one basketball. There wasn't even a lot of resistance in a lot of the games that they played," said the Big O.
The original Dream Team?
Long before the 1992 Dream Team, there was the 1960 U.S. men's basketball team for which Robertson played. That team defeated their opponents by an average margin of 42.4 points. Like Jordan's squad, the 1960 team had five players averaging double-digit scoring.
As Robertson told ESPN, both teams had Hall of Famers, both squads scored a lot of points, and both assemblies accomplished their missions. If you look at the stats, the Big O says, 'They're all even.' But the thing about that 1960 team was that it was composed of collegiate players. During another interview, Robertson insinuated that if pros could have played during that time, the 60s squad would easily beat the 1992 Dream Team.
"If we had put Jerry and me in the backcourt, with Wilt and Bill inside with Elgin Baylor, they would never have beat us. How could they?" Robertson said in an interview with SLAM.
Pros were allowed to play in the Olympics starting in 1989
FIBA decided in April 1989 to allow professional basketball players to represent their countries in international basketball competitions. Thus, in 1960, the United States was unable to field Wilt, Russell, and Baylor.
Wilt and Baylor were two of the greatest players never to play in the Olympics. They were still too young to join Russell in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and had turned pro by the time the 1960 games came along. Russell led the U.S. to gold in 1956, but he turned pro after that, so he couldn't play again in 1960. But if they were allowed in 1960, the U.S. could have fielded a team that could arguably beat the 1992 Dream Team.
Many of its predecessors, like Dream Team 2, the Redeem Team of 2008, and Kobe's 2012 London squad, have challenged the 1992 Dream Team's status as the GOAT team. All of those teams have an argument about beating MJ's one. But if you look at it, the 1960 Dream Team, as envisioned by the Big O, would probably have been its toughest matchup and perhaps surpass it as the greatest Olympic roster ever.