NBA

Shots Fired! The Dream Team Is Laughing At You, Kobe Bryant

Earlier this week, Kobe Bryant made some eyebrow-raising comments about this year’s U.S.A. Basketball team, and how they stacked up against the 1992 Dream Team (a.k.a. the greatest basketball team ever assembled.)

Here’s what Kobe said:

“From a basketball standpoint, they obviously had more size than we do with Robinson, Ewing, Malone and those guys, but they were also, their wing players were a lot older. Kinda at the end of their career where we have some young race horses. Guys that are eager to compete. I don’t know. It would be a tough one, but I think we would pull it out.”

Naturally, the Dream Teamers have not taken Mr. Bryant’s comments lightly. In fact, two of the players from that team (Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, not sure if you’ve heard of them) have publicly rebuked Kobe’s assertion… by laughing at him.

Jordan, from an interview with the AP today.

Jordan told The Associated Press Thursday that he laughed — “I absolutely laughed” — when hearing Bryant’s comments that the squad training in Las Vegas could take Jordan and company.

Jordan said there’s “no comparison” which team is better.

“For him to compare those two teams is not one of the smarter things he ever could have done,” Jordan said prior playing in a celebrity golf tournament in Charlotte.

Then he finished his cigar, and promptly ordered the murder of someone he didn’t like.

Here’s Barkley, from an interview with 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia today.

“I’ve got to tell you, I just started laughing, because how old is Kobe Bryant? … And he’s calling us old? At the time, we were only 28 or 29. That just made me laugh. … Michael Jordan and me are the same age because he’s two days older than me, so we were both 29. Other than Kobe, LeBron and Kevin Durant, I don’t think anybody else on that team makes our team.”

Then he finished his Weight Watchers snack bar, and promptly did shots with some co-eds.

So, there you have it, Kobe. The old-timers are laughing at you.

According to Jordan, your team’s youth wouldn’t factor in, since “Most of [them] were in the prime of [their] careers, at a point where athleticism doesn’t really matter.” According to Barkley, you’d have no one to guard David Robinson or Patrick Ewing (you only have one true center in Tyson Chandler, after all.)

But, take solace in this fact, Kobe: according to our matchup-by-matchup breakdown, the game would be pretty damn close.

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