LeBron thinks London Olympic team compares to Dream Team, too

Team USA is not backing away from filling the big shoes.

Last week USA Basketball president Jerry Colangelo said he thought the upcoming USA Olympic team was a “fair comparison” with the 1992 Dream team that featured Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and others.

LeBron James thinks Colangelo is right, he told Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida.

“I agree,” James said. “They set the standard for USA Basketball in ’92 with all the great players they had. But we have some great ones as well. We have some Hall of Famers, some champions. So it’s going to be a great (team).”

Dwyane Wade was a little more cautious.

“The Dream Team is a team, you don’t really want to touch that team,” said Wade, not wanting to say that 2012 will be see similar dominance. “An amazing team. But (2012 is) going to be a pretty good team. But I don’t want to touch the Dream Team… It’s always kind of the bar (from which all other Olympic teams are compared). From that standpoint, I kind of want them to stay the bar.”

If the upcoming Olympic squad played the Dream Team straight up… that would be interesting. Michael Jordan on LeBron James, Magic Johnson’s size against the quicker point guards like Derrick Rose and Chris Paul, plus Patrick Ewing vs. Dwight Howard.

But the impact will never be the same. Back in 1992 the Dream Team won every game by 40 points because they never had to play squads anywhere near their talent level. They helped change the trajectory of international basketball, and the current Team USA has to deal with that legacy in the form of some very good squads. Like Spain, who is a legitimate threat for the gold medal.

The current Team USA will not waltz though the competition nor will it have the legacy of that original squad. But on the court head-to-head, that would be interesting.