Slam Dunk

Not everyone thinks the current system needs adjustment. Wilkens believes that as the rest of the world improves and the current older generation of NBA stars bows out of international competition, the gap will close quickly. "Look at the players on this team," he says. "Maybe three or four of them will be back [in the Olympics] in four years—Grant, Penny, maybe Shaq. Add to that the fact that players are coming into the NBA at younger ages, before they've really got all the fundamental skills, and you're going to have future Dream Teams that probably won't be as accomplished as the ones that have played in 1992 and '96." Adds Barkley in assessing the international talent level, "Ain't no way a college team could beat those guys.... I think they're going to close the gap more and more. Maybe not the next Olympics, but the one after that, we could be in trouble."

It is true that this Dream Team's opponents seemed less in awe of them than the opposition was of the 1992 squad, which included Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. All that really meant, though, is that this year foes asked the U.S. players to sign autographs and pose for pictures after the game instead of before. But is the rest of the world really that close to reaching the level of the Dream Team? No. The best indication of the gap was the way the other teams freely admitted that they were playing for the silver medal, with highly regarded Croatia all but waving a white flag when it played the Americans (final score: 102-71). Even in the gold medal game, Wilkens was never concerned enough to call a timeout.

"Maybe in 20, 30 years it won't be so easy for the Dream Team," Brazilian forward Oscar Schmidt said after his team's 98-75 loss to the U.S. in the quarterfinals. "One day the Americans will have to worry because some team will give the Dream Team a great game. Let's all hope we are alive to see it."

Given the sleep-inducing nature of most of this Dream Team's games, let's all hope we're awake to see it.

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