A few members of the 2012 Olympic USA Basketball team were asked to come up with a starting five including themselves and four other members from the 1992 Dream Team.

Chris Paul, James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love were asked this question and all answered about the same. All of them picked Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley. Harden, Westbrook and Love chose Larry Bird as well while Paul took David Robinson.

Almost none of these starting fives make sense if you had to play this game, mainly because Bird really shouldn’t have been picked by any of these players. It seems everyone loves forgetting how past his prime Bird was in 1992.

These current players are also very affected by the fact that Barkley and Magic are on T.V. these days and don’t remember some of the other options that would have made sense like Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing or Scottie Pippen.

The question really is: If you could combine the 1992 Dream Team and 2012 Olympic Team, what starting five would you ultimately put out on the floor?

PG – Magic Johnson
SG – Michael Jordan
SF – Kevin Durant
PF – LeBron James
C – Patrick Ewing

It’s really tough to go wrong with any combination. Jordan and Durant are probably the most obvious ones because Jordan was the best player ever and Durant’s game is so perfect for international play with the short 3-point line.

I like LeBron at the four because he can handle that spot and it gives the team more versatility. It may actually make more sense though to move LeBron to point instead of Magic and start Barkley or Malone at the four.

Magic is just so perfect on team with multiple scoring options so it’s hard to consider not starting him.

And here is who I’d have coming off the bench as the second 5-man lineup:

PG – John Stockton
SG – Clyde Drexler
SF – Scottie Pippen
PF – Charles Barkley
C – David Robinson

That’s right. The ultimate team would have a 10-man rotation with only two players coming from the 2012 team.

The toughest decision was Drexler over Kobe Bryant. Kobe is just too old right now and these teams are all about getting out in the open floor. Drexler has the advantage in ’92 over Kobe now in that department so that’s why I went with him. Plus, Kobe would hate coming off the bench in general so he’d probably refuse to even play on the team.

Now there’s only one thing to do: fire up NBA 2K12 and play with this team.

Kobe Bryant was asked if he thought the 2012 Olympic Team could beat the ’92 Dream Team and said, “I think we’d pull it out.” In describing the potential matchup, Kobe said the ’92 team would have an advantage inside but that their wings were a lot older.

Charles Barkley responded to Kobe’s comments a little more confidently.

“I just started laughing,” Barkley told The Mike Missanelli Show. “How old is Kobe Bryant? He’s 34? And he’s calling us old? At the time, we were only like 28, 29. Michael Jordan and me were the same age. We were both 29. Other than Kobe, LeBron (James) and Kevin Durant, I don’t think anybody else on that team makes our team.”

So what would happen if these two teams did played? How would each player do and which team would win?

The game would obviously be played with FIBA rules. These rules have affected the more recent U.S. Olympic teams and the rules would affect this game somewhat but it wouldn’t be as drastic since both teams are comprised of NBA players.

Both the ’92 team and this year’s team take advantage of their ability to pressure other countries’ guards in the backcourt. That wouldn’t happen in this matchup and the pace would resemble more closely an NBA game.

Let’s go through the matchups.

David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone vs. Tyson Chandler, Kevin Love, Blake Griffin

This is the most obvious advantage for the ’92 team. Their size advantage would be tremendous and it probably would prove impossible for this year’s team to overcome.

Looking at the rosters it feels like Chandler would have to try and play the entire game for the 2012 team. Love and Griffin would have no chance against Robinson-Ewing-Malone.

The ’92 team definitely gets a huge edge here and would get a ton of second-chance looks and be able to run much more of their offense in the post.

Clyde Drexler, Chris Mullin vs. Carmelo Anthony, Russell Westbrook

These are the backup wings that would get the most run. Let’s assume that Bird, Laettner, Iguodala and Harden don’t play much in this matchup.

This one is a little closer and maybe a tossup between the two teams. All four of these players should be effective in this game but not enough to swing the game either way.

Westbrook may have the most trouble because he will be playing the two-guard for the 2012 team and matching up with Drexler or Jordan will be very tough for him.

Carmelo could be effective on offense playing the four but would have trouble on defense and rebounding.

Mullin went 14-for-26 on threes in the ’92 Olympics so would be pretty automatic if left open. Drexler’s specialty would be an automatic two points on the fast break.

Magic Johnson, John Stockton vs. Chris Paul, Deron Williams

Magic was past his prime in ’92 but not by that much. Stockton was realizing his though so the ’92 team would have another advantage here.

Magic would be a huge mismatch problem of course and whenever Paul was on him he would probably take him into the post. This would be near impossible for the 2012 team to contend with.

If Magic has to try and guard Paul then that’s not a great thing for the ’92 team though.

Magic’s personality would win out though. When you envision this matchup you envision him dominating, talking trash throughout the game and picking up a ton of assists.

This one is close but an advantage again for the ’92 team.

Charles Barkley vs. Kevin Durant

Barkley and Durant won’t necessarily be guarding each other in this matchup but their effect in the game would be similar. Both would score a lot of points, possibly leading their team in that department.

Durant might be the best international style player ever and would be a really tough matchup for the ’92 team especially with the shortened 3-point line.

With the 2012 team’s lack of size, Barkley would feast on them down low. Barkley will struggle with whoever he has to guard though on the 2012 team.

This one is a tossup too. The point being that these two would both underrated-ly dominate in this game and score a ton.

Scottie Pippen vs. LeBron James

LeBron is obviously the better player but Pippen is probably the best shot at guarding him. In this setting, LeBron is not his usual dominant self and defers more than ever to teammates so Pippen should be able to do a decent job on him.

LeBron might be asked to do other things like guard Barkley or Malone or even Magic at times.

This one is closer than you think but the edge has to go to the 2012 team.

Michael Jordan vs. Kobe Bryant

This is really what this matchup would come down to. Not because they are the two best players but because you know if somehow these two were able to go at it like this, they wouldn’t hold anything back.

The matchup is really not close at all. Kobe is a shell of himself while MJ was at the peak of his powers in ’92. Even Kobe in his prime vs. this MJ would have no chance.

It would be the coolest part about this matchup though watching MJ and Kobe isolate on each other. Jordan would torch Kobe though and shut him down on the other end.

The 2012 team should probably put LeBron on Jordan but there’s no way Kobe would allow that by backing down from the challenge so get ready for Jordan doing pretty much whatever he wants while Kobe has a nice 6-for-19 shooting night or something.

This is where we stand. At the end of the day no one is beating the Dream Team. They are the best basketball team ever assembled and having the best player ever playing in his absolute prime is a big reason why.

We’ll never truly know what would happen though but it’s always fun to think about.

The 2012 team will kick off their exhibition games tonight at 9 p.m. EST on ESPN vs. the Dominican Republic. The London Olympics begin July 27.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

The Oklahoma City Thunder have the second-best record in the NBA this season at 39-12. They are the favorite to come out of the Western Conference and play in the NBA Finals. They are doing this despite their four best players being 23 or 22 years old.

The Thunder have been one of the more impressive teams to watch in the NBA this season. Every game they play in is filled with athletic highlights and incredible shot making. It is hard not to love this team and how they are put together.

But are the Thunder built for winning a title? Do the pieces really fit?

The criticism when it comes to the Thunder is usually directed at point guard Russell Westbrook and how he is not a point guard and how he shoots too much. I’ve made the argument that he is of course not a true point guard and is called on to do much more for the Thunder as a scorer as well, resulting in his high shot totals.

The real thing to note about the Thunder is how top heavy they are when it comes to usage rate. Usage percentage rates how much a player uses his team’s possessions counting field goal, free throw attempts and turnovers. This is a good way to help see how efficient a player really is.

I went back to 1980 and took a look at every team that won the title and what each of their player’s usage rates were in the playoffs for that championship run.

In the 1980’s, the teams that won were much more balanced and didn’t really on one star to carry much of the load. In 1985 the Lakers actually had five players with a usage rate of 20.0 or higher. Larry Bird had usage rates of 23.2, 25.9 and 23.3 in his championship years.

Things changed in the 1990’s and mainly because of Michael Jordan. Jordan has the highest usage rate of all-time in the NBA and his playoff usage rates were no exception. He recorded the highest playoff usage rate in 1993 at 38.0. During the Bulls’ title run from 1996-98, Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Toni Kukoc averaged usage rates around 35-23-19, respectively.

When the Lakers started winning titles in the 2000’s, the Kobe Bryant-Shaquille O’Neal duo became probably the best duo ever and their usage rates represented this for how close they were and how high too. Kobe averaged a 28.9 usage rate from 2000-02 and Shaq a 31.6. In 2001 they were the only teammates ever to both have usage rates above 30.0.

In fact, not that many players have usage rates over 30 on championship teams. Take a look at the players that did: Dirk, Kobe, Wade, Duncan, Shaq, Jordan, Olajuwon, Vinnie Johnson and Andrew Toney. So if you are going to shoot a lot, you better be one of the best players ever.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

This is where the Thunder come in. Westbrook and Durant both have usage rates over 30.0 this season. Westbrook has a higher usage rate than any point guard to ever start on a championship team. Not only that, but the trio of Durant-Westbrook-Harden’s combined usage rate this season is 85.2, higher than any other trio ever.

Last season in the playoffs when Westbrook received all of the heat for shooting too much, he had a usage rate of 34.4 while Durant was at only 29.0 and Harden 17.1. Again, not all of the blame should go to Westbrook here but that formula definitely isn’t going to work.

This regular season has Westbrook leading the Thunder at 32.7 with Durant at 31.0, Harden 21.5 and Serge Ibaka just 15.3.

I’ve said before that the sort of model the Thunder will need to follow to win a championship is that of the San Antonio Spurs’. They had a high-volume point guard in Tony Parker along with Manu Ginobili who is so similar to James Harden and Tim Duncan who had similar usage rates to Durant’s.

Parker had the highest usage rate ever by a point guard in 2007 at 29.2 when the Spurs won the title. Westbrook would probably need to get around that number for the Thunder to improve their title chances. If he does that it will mean more balance for the Thunder and probably a rise in production from Harden and Ibaka.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

The more you look at this Thunder the more you think they probably are one year away still. For Westbrook to get his usage rate down, it’s really just going to take Harden upping his and he is only in his third season this year and if he continues improving next season, this may very well happen. We have already seen instances this season when Harden becomes the primary ball-handler even with Westbrook on the floor.

The other thing that will probably start to happen next year is a growing of Westbrook as a playmaker. His assists are way down this season and that may be because he has become such a dominant athlete and scorer this year. Next year he should learn to better balance that with playmaking helping get Ibaka better involved as well as more looks for Durant and Harden off his passes.

The one thing the Thunder have working for them in terms of winning this season is that their biggest competition in the Eastern Conference, Miami and Chicago, also have issues with their usage rates.

The Heat have a similar top heavy big three in LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh who are combining for 87.3 usage rate, even higher than Oklahoma City’s big three. James and Wade are both over 30.0 which is something that only happened once in a playoff run with Kobe and Shaq. The highest usage rates for Jordan-Pippen was in 1993 when Jordan was 38.0 and Pippen 26.2.

An interesting thing happened for the Heat last year in the playoffs with James’ usage rate decreasing from his 2011 regular season mark of 31.5 to 26.9 with Wade’s remaining about the same over 30.0. This is the whole alpha dog issue with the Heat and what LeBron should do in the playoffs. You wouldn’t expect his usage to drop below 30 this postseason and really it should be higher than Wade’s. But we’ve never seen a team win a title with two perimeter players having such high usage rates.

As for the Chicago Bulls, it is no secret that they may rely too heavily on Derrick Rose to make every play on offense. Rose had a usage rate of 35.2 in the playoffs last season, higher than any other player and will likely have to carry a similar load this season, although Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer have improved some.

The toughest test for the Thunder may be the Spurs though. They haven’t shown any signs that they will be able to beat them in a playoff series and the Spurs added some pieces in Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw that will improve their team even more come playoff time. This may not be the year the Thunder win it all but that really isn’t the end of the world. Next year should be their prime time but they still may be able to steal a title this season.