Could The Redeem Beat the Dream?: The Little Giants Theory
Guest post from Drew Ludeke.
Hypothetical sports situations are some of the best conversations you can have, providing it’s with someone that actually knows what they’re talking about, but even when they aren’t (drunk chicks, stupid people), it’s still rather entertaining, occasionally frustrating, because there’s no actual way of proving either side wrong. Could Tyson beat Ali? Would Ashe go point for point with Federer? Could Shaq take on Wilt The Stilt? Stats, quality of play/competition, training methods from then to the present all come into account when making arguments either for or against but when it comes down to it, there’s no way to prove your opponent wrong unless they’re completely talking out of their ass. With that said, I present my case for why the ’08 Redeem Team could beat the ’92 Dream Team. It’s on the verge of being completely idiotic but maybe I can convince you otherwise.
First, we need to get a few particulars out of the way: Christian Laettner doesn’t exist in this game as far as I’m concerned, he doesn’t touch the court, he doesn’t even get to sit in the stands wearing an NBA-Store USA Jersey. Chuck Daly will learn to live without him and no amount of Coach K ass-kissing will keep him on the team (he was an asst. on the ’92 team). Maybe I hate Duke, maybe he’s a has-been but in a game featuring a veritable basketball pantheon of two stellar Olympic gold-medal-winning teams, Laettner’s a footnote. FIBA or NBA Standards? It gets too complicated when you bring in time periods and referee quality but at least for the fans of this imaginary game, it’s now a proper forty-eight minutes and for the best results, have a crew of non-American refs from a true basketball-loving countries. I suggest Lithuania (they stood out in even back in ’92) with the rule that they have to wear the same tie-dye style jerseys from Barcelona as their ref uniforms. This game’s not real, I might as well have fun with it. At worst, we’ll just cherry-pick a crew from several countries (you’re out Argentina, your country approves of flopping).
Moving on, when you consider match-ups, you have to realize that no one on their right mind is going to pick the ’08 squad over ’92 ever. Historical hindsight aside, most every player on this team had already made their impact in the NBA or if not, was already on their way to it. Jordan and Pippen had just won two of their next six championships; Magic and Bird were already hallowed legends, along with future Hall of Famers Stockton, Malone, Drexler, Barkley, Robinson, Ewing. That team is formidable on a bad day if you’ve doped them with Nyquil and they’re playing in flip-flops. Chris Mullin, a lesser player in the glare of his teams’ brilliance, was no slouch, either.
On paper and at the moment, the Redeem Team does not touch a candle to those guys… yet. Out of their entire squad, Kidd and Kobe are the only ones who have been in the league for ten years or more. Sure, some of the stars (minus Magic, Bird, Drexler) of the ’92 team were just starting to scratch those veteran years and were still unbelievable but with the ’08 squad, the experience and impact factors drop off severely. Stockon and Magic with 9 and 13 years of experience versus Paul and Williams with 6 combined. Most every member, or at least the true stand-outs, of the ’08 team has the ability to step up to the value and competition of their match-up, maybe not at this point in their careers or maybe not ever (I love you Tayshaun, I hate you Scottie, but Pippen would trounce Prince). Still, even in an imaginary game, you have to be practical. You can’t put hypothetical, potential Lebron of 2011 against already three-time MVP, two-time Finals MVP, two-time NBA champ, etc. etc. ’92 Jordan. Yet despite all that obvious logic, it’s possible that once, just once in my hardwood NBA fantasy land, I could watch the new, next generation of NBA elites take on and beat the most formidable teams ever assembled in history.
Why? Because of a sappy, inspirational, barely funny, just-for-kids-bearable-for-parents Disney sports movie called Little Giants. I’ll spare you the major plot points but it all breaks down to the predictable halftime speech given to the pee-wee football Giants, who are losing by three touchdowns to the bigger, stronger, better Cowboys. They’re done, smoked, ready to quit until coach Rick Moranis gives the speech of a lifetime. You don’t struggle to hold back tears like in Hoosiers or Friday Night Lights; Rick and the little rascals basically surmise that their opponents are clearly better but if they try hard and give it their best, they may just beat them once and if it’s just once, who cares about the other 9,999 times. It’s certainly my same train of thought when I know I’m probably going to lose in a game of one-on-one. It’s the type of speech you could hear Tom Coughlin making right before the Super Bowl and the one you might have envisioned Spain’s national coach giving to his players throughout their near-upset thriller with the ’08 squad except in another language and with lots of curses. So with the aforementioned games as the model, join me in imagining a game where Chris Paul and Deron Williams show the likes of Magic Johnson and John Stockton a thing or two about a no-look pass, where Chris Bosh muscles past David Robinson for an authoritative dunk, Michael Redd out-shoots the Basketball Jesus and D-Ho out-rebounds Patrick Ewing, where maybe, this is the real long shot, the combined might of Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade could slay the indefatigable, undefeatable Michael Jordan. And lets not forget the duel between Charles Barkley and Carlos Boozer for best sourpuss. That one’s a draw.
I know I’m dreaming but that’s exactly the point. If the game ever managed to take place in some alternate dimension, I’d probably be proven wrong time and time again. For now, I’m holding on to my futile theory for the simple fact that the players of the ’08 squad are still that: players. They aren’t the legends that took the world by storm sixteen years ago whose exploits we still recount today, but they certainly could be. Some already are (Kidd) whether you like it or not (Kobe) yet for a handful of the other Redeemers, the possibilities are endless. Right now, this new generation of players makes me feel like a kid again watching the ’92 team. I figure I’m biased for feeling nostalgic about something that’s going on in the present and that I can certainly appreciate more now than when I was young. When it comes down to it, I’ve always liked the idea of an underdog’s redemption more than the dream of perfection. They could do it, right? Just once…..
Hypothetical sports situations are some of the best conversations you can have, providing it’s with someone that actually knows what they’re talking about, but even when they aren’t (drunk chicks, stupid people), it’s still rather entertaining, occasionally frustrating, because there’s no actual way of proving either side wrong. Could Tyson beat Ali? Would Ashe go point for point with Federer? Could Shaq take on Wilt The Stilt? Stats, quality of play/competition, training methods from then to the present all come into account when making arguments either for or against but when it comes down to it, there’s no way to prove your opponent wrong unless they’re completely talking out of their ass. With that said, I present my case for why the ’08 Redeem Team could beat the ’92 Dream Team. It’s on the verge of being completely idiotic but maybe I can convince you otherwise.
First, we need to get a few particulars out of the way: Christian Laettner doesn’t exist in this game as far as I’m concerned, he doesn’t touch the court, he doesn’t even get to sit in the stands wearing an NBA-Store USA Jersey. Chuck Daly will learn to live without him and no amount of Coach K ass-kissing will keep him on the team (he was an asst. on the ’92 team). Maybe I hate Duke, maybe he’s a has-been but in a game featuring a veritable basketball pantheon of two stellar Olympic gold-medal-winning teams, Laettner’s a footnote. FIBA or NBA Standards? It gets too complicated when you bring in time periods and referee quality but at least for the fans of this imaginary game, it’s now a proper forty-eight minutes and for the best results, have a crew of non-American refs from a true basketball-loving countries. I suggest Lithuania (they stood out in even back in ’92) with the rule that they have to wear the same tie-dye style jerseys from Barcelona as their ref uniforms. This game’s not real, I might as well have fun with it. At worst, we’ll just cherry-pick a crew from several countries (you’re out Argentina, your country approves of flopping).
Moving on, when you consider match-ups, you have to realize that no one on their right mind is going to pick the ’08 squad over ’92 ever. Historical hindsight aside, most every player on this team had already made their impact in the NBA or if not, was already on their way to it. Jordan and Pippen had just won two of their next six championships; Magic and Bird were already hallowed legends, along with future Hall of Famers Stockton, Malone, Drexler, Barkley, Robinson, Ewing. That team is formidable on a bad day if you’ve doped them with Nyquil and they’re playing in flip-flops. Chris Mullin, a lesser player in the glare of his teams’ brilliance, was no slouch, either.
On paper and at the moment, the Redeem Team does not touch a candle to those guys… yet. Out of their entire squad, Kidd and Kobe are the only ones who have been in the league for ten years or more. Sure, some of the stars (minus Magic, Bird, Drexler) of the ’92 team were just starting to scratch those veteran years and were still unbelievable but with the ’08 squad, the experience and impact factors drop off severely. Stockon and Magic with 9 and 13 years of experience versus Paul and Williams with 6 combined. Most every member, or at least the true stand-outs, of the ’08 team has the ability to step up to the value and competition of their match-up, maybe not at this point in their careers or maybe not ever (I love you Tayshaun, I hate you Scottie, but Pippen would trounce Prince). Still, even in an imaginary game, you have to be practical. You can’t put hypothetical, potential Lebron of 2011 against already three-time MVP, two-time Finals MVP, two-time NBA champ, etc. etc. ’92 Jordan. Yet despite all that obvious logic, it’s possible that once, just once in my hardwood NBA fantasy land, I could watch the new, next generation of NBA elites take on and beat the most formidable teams ever assembled in history.
Why? Because of a sappy, inspirational, barely funny, just-for-kids-bearable-for-parents Disney sports movie called Little Giants. I’ll spare you the major plot points but it all breaks down to the predictable halftime speech given to the pee-wee football Giants, who are losing by three touchdowns to the bigger, stronger, better Cowboys. They’re done, smoked, ready to quit until coach Rick Moranis gives the speech of a lifetime. You don’t struggle to hold back tears like in Hoosiers or Friday Night Lights; Rick and the little rascals basically surmise that their opponents are clearly better but if they try hard and give it their best, they may just beat them once and if it’s just once, who cares about the other 9,999 times. It’s certainly my same train of thought when I know I’m probably going to lose in a game of one-on-one. It’s the type of speech you could hear Tom Coughlin making right before the Super Bowl and the one you might have envisioned Spain’s national coach giving to his players throughout their near-upset thriller with the ’08 squad except in another language and with lots of curses. So with the aforementioned games as the model, join me in imagining a game where Chris Paul and Deron Williams show the likes of Magic Johnson and John Stockton a thing or two about a no-look pass, where Chris Bosh muscles past David Robinson for an authoritative dunk, Michael Redd out-shoots the Basketball Jesus and D-Ho out-rebounds Patrick Ewing, where maybe, this is the real long shot, the combined might of Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade could slay the indefatigable, undefeatable Michael Jordan. And lets not forget the duel between Charles Barkley and Carlos Boozer for best sourpuss. That one’s a draw.
I know I’m dreaming but that’s exactly the point. If the game ever managed to take place in some alternate dimension, I’d probably be proven wrong time and time again. For now, I’m holding on to my futile theory for the simple fact that the players of the ’08 squad are still that: players. They aren’t the legends that took the world by storm sixteen years ago whose exploits we still recount today, but they certainly could be. Some already are (Kidd) whether you like it or not (Kobe) yet for a handful of the other Redeemers, the possibilities are endless. Right now, this new generation of players makes me feel like a kid again watching the ’92 team. I figure I’m biased for feeling nostalgic about something that’s going on in the present and that I can certainly appreciate more now than when I was young. When it comes down to it, I’ve always liked the idea of an underdog’s redemption more than the dream of perfection. They could do it, right? Just once…..
posted by Gen at
7:50 AM
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