How do the players on the 2012 US Olympic Team match up with the 1992 Dream Team?

When I’m bored at work I often turn to ESPN polls and Sports Nation Rank Em to see how in-tuned the rest of the world is with me when it comes to sports.

It’s not the other way around. One of my favorite personal tag lines is I’m not the man, but I’m definitely one of them.

The last few weeks every media outlet and barber shop in America has debated if the 2012 Olympic Team could beat the Dream Team after Kobe Bryant’s brash statement saying his team could. I think it’s safe to say the 1992 team has won hands down. I’ve only heard one man, my brother in-law, say LeBron James and company would beat Michael Jordan and company. Honestly, I think he is crazy and his lifetime stay in Milwaukee has ruined him as a sports fan.

When I was on ESPN earlier this week, I noticed a ranking game which consisted of ranking 24 players from both this year’s Olympic team and the 1992 Dream Team. This sparked my interest and kept my attention for quite some time.

After I completed my rankings — about an hour after I started — I analyzed the averages of votes done by the rest of the country, or in this case Sports Nation. I’m not surprised to find out how crazy the basketball/sports world is.

Here are my findings:

These are the players ESPN offered to rank: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, David Robinson, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Love, Chris Mullin, Scottie Pippen, Patrick Ewing, Clyde Drexler, Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin, Tyson Chandler, Andre Iguodala, James Harden and Christian Laettner.

Michael Jordan doing what he did best, attack and score.

I was not surprised Jordan was voted as the No. 1 player out of this group because he is the greatest player of all-time, hands down. I was surprised on how many first place votes he received though, 55,365. LeBron, at No. 2 on the list and in first place votes, only had 3,320. This is quite the landslide.

James will probably be the second player on this list when his career is officially over and he is in the Hall of Fame; he will be. However, I had a rough time picking him over some of the game’s best players to ever play. With this said, James didn’t make my list until the five spot.

Yes, I realize this is a Heat blog and James is the man right now. This is one of the things I tried to stay away from, the “Now” factor. A lot of times we get stuck in what is happening now or what we saw last instead of what happened 20 years ago that we’ll never see again.

Magic cracked my list at two, Kobe at three and for everyone’s surprise Barkley at four.

Barkley was a beast in his prime during the 92 Olympics as he lead the team in scoring with 18 points per game. He was a great defensive low post player and one of the greatest rebounders the league had ever seen until Dennis Rodman began to put up legendary numbers. Also, he took a Phoenix Suns team with hardly any real players — excusing Kevin Johnson and Dan Majerle — to the NBA Finals.

SN followed James with Kobe, Magic and Bird to round out the top five. I had Bird at seven underneath Malone, who was a mountain of a man and the second leading scorer of all-time in the NBA.

Here is where I got confused until I remembered the “Now” factor. SN put Durant at six, which have him above Barkley, Malone, Pippen, and Stockton. Again, he could very well crack the top five when it’s all said and done. But, he is only 23-years-old and hasn’t really done anything except score a lot of points. Each one of the four guys listed above him where three to five tool players, not just scorers.

Is Kevin Durant already better than Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen and John Stockton?

How do you put the man who is the all-time leader in steals and assists –Stockton — outside of the top 10. I had him at No. 9 behind Malone at six, Bird at seven and Pippen at eight.

The middle of the list is all up to the individual. I didn’t have a single player after Durant more than two spots different than the SN list. I put D-Will at 14, SN had him at 16. Any of the mid-level Olympians are interchanged.

The only issue I had at all was Melo receiving 213 first place votes. If he wasn’t a Knick, he wouldn’t have received one. Who in their right mind would take Anthony over anyone in the top 10, whether my list or the SN list.

The top 19 players of this list I mixed up from the real rankings to make you guess until you actually get that point of the post. On the other hand, I left the last five guys on the SN’s list the same. Let’s face it, Laettner will never rate above Westbrook, let alone one of his individually nominated Hall of Fame inducted Dream Team teammates.

I also had Griffin, Chandler, Iggy, Harden and Laettner in the bottom five, just not in the same order.

Andre Iguodala is a better player than Blake Griffin, but ESPN voters don't think so.

You Tube and highlight reels have confused the entire world of what makes a great basketball player. Griffin is a dunker; probably one of the best, besides Vince Carter. However, he is not a great basketball player. He does not have a jump shot, plays little defense and is not a good rebounder for his size. His pure athletic ability does have him above Laettner, Chandler and Harden but Iggy is by far a better player.

Iguodala can throw down a monster jam. He can hit a three-ball. The Philadelphia 76ers’ is an elite perimeter defender, who can take the ball coast to coast after a steal and can either create his own basket or make a pretty pass to an open shooter. Griffin can’t do all of that.

I’d take Chandler over the other four if I needed size or defense, but Laettner could score better than him, let alone the rest of this group.

Sports Nation                                                                                                     LaChance

1. Michael Jordan                                                                                        1. Jordan
2. LeBron James                                                                                          2. Magic
3. Kobe Bryant                                                                                             3. Kobe
4. Magic Johnson                                                                                        4. Barkley
5. Larry Bird                                                                                                 5. James
6. Kevin Durant                                                                                           6. Malone
7. Charles Barkley                                                                                       7. Bird
8. Karl Malone                                                                                             8. Pippen
9. Scottie Pippen                                                                                         9. Stockton
10. David Robinson                                                                                     10. Durant
11. Patrick Ewing                                                                                         11. Ewing
12. John Stockton                                                                                        12. Robinson
13. Chris Parul                                                                                              13. Paul
14. Clyde Drexler                                                                                         14. Williams
15. Carmelo Anthony                                                                                  15. Anthony
16. Deron Williams                                                                                     16. Drexler
17. Russell Westbrook                                                                                17. Westbrook
18. Chris Mullin                                                                                           18. Love
19. Kevin Love                                                                                              19. Mullin
20. Blake Griffin                                                                                           20. Iguodala
21. Tyson Chandler                                                                                     21. Griffin
22. Andre Iguodala                                                                                      22. Harden
23. James Harden                                                                                        23. Chandler
24. Christian Laettner                                                                                 24. Laettner

In very non-surprising news, the Heat have three of the top twenty-five players. An argument could be made for Chris Bosh being ranked higher then number twenty-four, but I am not here to make that today. Instead today, I am going to take a look at ESPN’s top 10 rankings of the players, as well as give you analysis of what I think of the list.

Here’s a look at the top 10 with links to their ESPN page dedicated to the rankings:

10. Blake Griffin- 8.78

9. Deron Williams- 8.98

8. Derrick Rose- 9.27

7. Kobe Bryant- 9.40

6. Kevin Durant- 9.62

5. Dirk Nowitzki- 9.67

4. Chris Paul- 9.68

3. Dwyane Wade- 9.72

2. Dwight Howard- 9.82

1. LeBron James- 9.91

Let’s take a look at the list going from number 10 to number 1. First off, ESPN has way overrated Blake Griffin. I like the kid and think he has a very bright future in the NBA, but I don’t agree with him being a top-10 player after just one NBA season. Maybe after another season like last, I’d gladly put him up there. Instead, I’d give another big man some love at this spot, Pau Gasol. Sorry Knicks fans, love Melo, but he isn’t a top-10 player in my view.

Next two players are Deron Williams and Derrick Rose. Williams was ranked #9 and Rose #8. In my honest opinion, Williams is the better overall point guard. Rose is the better scorer of the two. I’d give Williams the edge over Rose.

Moving down to #7, this is a joke right? I know Kobe isn’t exactly the player he used to be, but I don’t see him as the seventh best player in the NBA. He’s still a top-5 talent in the NBA still if not just because he can still be very dominant on both ends of the court. Plus, I don’t think there’s anyone else in the NBA that I’d rather give a game-winning shot to. I’m moving Kobe up three spots to number 4.

I believe that ESPN got the order right for the next three on my list, but they were just misplaced, being put ahead of Kobe. I believe that Kevin Durant is the #7 player in the league. This may seem very low to many people, but I have a hard time placing him above Dirk, who I have as #6, after his incredible playoffs this past season. Durant is probably the best pure scorer in the NBA though. Dirk just seems more polished to me at this point.

At #5, I have Chris Paul. Apologizes to Deron Williams and Derrick Rose, but Paul remains to me the standard in point guard play right now. Last postseason, he had a pretty dominant run against the Lakers. It’s a shame he lost, otherwise he would have gotten more public love. I expect a big season from him in 2012, if there is a season.

I had already moved Kobe up three spots to #4, so next on to the top three. ESPN did a really good job here. This is exactly how I would rank the top three in the NBA right now.

Dwyane Wade is the third best player in the NBA and the second best player on the Heat. But it should not be forgotten, he is still the man on the Miami Heat. In the closing minutes, his teammates look at him as the closer. Wade had a dominant finals appearance last season in a losing effort, but I still expect him to be better in 2012.

Number two for me has to be the most dominant big man in the NBA right now. That’s Dwight Howard. The man was a monster on both ends of the court last season. Howard seems to be getting better and better on the offensive side of the ball every season. He’s already a dominant beast on the defensive side. If I were to start a franchise today, I’d take Superman over anyone.

That of course is no spite to Lebron James, who is the best player in the NBA, and I’m not even sure it’s close. Lebron James is so physically gifted, it’s not even funny. The man is so well built, yet can run as smooth as a point guard. He posterizes his opponents and leaves them scratching their heads. I don’t care that he hasn’t won an NBA championship yet, he still has lots of time to do that. And oh, did I mention that I am not a Lebron James fan at all. I don’t like him much but there’s no denying he’s the best player in the NBA.

So here’s a quick recap of what I believe the top-10 players in the NBA right now are:

10.Pau Gasol

9.Derrick Rose

8.Deron Williams

7.Kevin Durant

6.Dirk Nowitzk

5.Chris Paul

4.Kobe Bryant

3.Dwyane Wade

2.Dwight Howard

1.Lebron James

And for some humor, here’s a look at the top-5 lists that Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless actually believe in:

Skip Bayless:
1. Wade
2. KD
3. Kobe
4. Dirk
5. Melo

Stephen A Smith:
1. Wade
2. Kobe
3. Howard
4. Dirk
5. KD