USSR vs Yugoslavia in Eurobasket 2011.

[Southpaw]

are you kiding man? in that old ex yu team there was at least 4 superstars, like having gasol, kirilenko, parker and dirk in the same team, in todays european team, no country, even spain, has more than one superstar. only spain player that could be in first five in that yu team would be gasol

There is no superstar in that Yugo team, only in Europe they called as such. Maybe Petrovic was on his way but who knows just like Reggie Lewis. Out of todays Euro players, only Dirk is considered a superstar, the rest are stars who plays second fiddles.

[pimpekaustas]

There is no superstar in that Yugo team, only in Europe they called as such. Maybe Petrovic was on his way but who knows just like Reggie Lewis. Out of todays Euro players, only Dirk is considered a superstar, the rest are stars who plays second fiddles.

you're right, kukoč was mediocre player

[Southpaw]

you're right, kukoč was mediocre player

No he was not but he played a key part on Bulls second 3 peat run. The superstars were Jordan and Pippen. Kukoc was a role player. You notice the difference.

[pimpekaustas]

okej, so only european superstar ever is nowitzki?

[Southpaw]

okej, so only european superstar ever is nowitzki?

Ok Toni Kukoc was a European superstar, if it makes you happy. He led Chicago Bull to 3 straight championship.

[wardjdim]

If we had a 1992 Yugoslavian team, it would at least challenge the 1st Dream team. Not in one game by accident but any day of the week, they would have serious chances to win. More or less than 50%, I can't say this, but this is probably the best team of its era and didn't just play one tournament. This team was unbeaten in Europe. They didn't need to really try to beat their opponents

A hypothetical 1992 Yugoslavian team would ideally be:
G- Djordjevic, Zdovc, Perasovic
G- Petrovic, Danilovic
F- Kukoc, Paspalj, Komazec
F- Radja, Savic
C- Divac, Vrankovic

Any comparison to any further European teams doesn't stand up to now. Take any European team since then, including the two arguably best ones since the mid-90s, Serbia and Spain and see what they had at their best

Serbia 1995-2002 (best possible roster)
G- Djordjevic (1995), Jaric (2002), S. Obradovic (1999)
G- Bodiroga (1998), Danilovic (1995)
F- Paspalj (1996), Stojakovic (2001), Gurovic (2002)
F- Savic (1996), Tomasevic (2000)
C- Divac (1995), Rebraca (1998)

Spain 2001-2011 (best possible roster)
G- Calderon (2007), Rubio (2009), S. Rodriguez (2006)
G- Navarro (2005), Fernandez (2010)
F- Jimenez (2002), Mumbru (2006)
F- Garbajosa (2005), Reyes (2005)
C- P. Gasol (2003), M. Gasol (2011), Vasquez (2005)


While these are very good and coherent rosters, both built on a standard basis that has been carefully getting developed over time, they would both, in their ideal timing get beaten most times by the old Yugoslavia

The Serbian team could ideally get Vujanic as a 3rd PG instead of Obradovic and would still lose the PG to the Yugoslavian team, while, even having Bodiroga at his best and Danilovic at 1995 (more mature and better polished from 1992) would still not be enough to beat the lineup with Petrovic in. If we consider Gurovic of 2002 slightly worse than Komazec of the early 1990s and Paspalj of 1992 better than 4 years later, then it doesn't really matter whether the 1992 Kukoc is a lot or a little better than Peja at his best. In the frontcourt, with Divac always remaining stable and Savic a bit better in 1995, as well as Rebrace better offensively yet worse defensively than Vrankovic, Radja of 1992 (best Euro PF/C back then) would again give a slight edge to Yugoslavia

Regarding Spain and its (thinner, yet a bit more concrete) roster. Calderon is pretty much alone at PG. The 2nd best PG performance for Spain since 2002 is a 6ppg-4apg of Ricky in 2009. This means that Spain would stand no chance here. At SG, the 2005 Navarro has outscored any season of any Yugo SG not named Petrovic in 1989 and Rudy is a great side player, especially in the Turkey WC, but the Yugoslavian depth would get a thin win there, again due to their depth, while at SF, they would dominate the well-set, yet defence oriented Spanish lineup of Mumbru and Jimenez with the Kukoc and Paspalj probably at their best offensive years. At PF, Spain would again have a very good and hustling duo, but Radja along with Savic are providing for offense in a 40' pace for a slight edge, while, it will be Spain that would win (and easily) the center position, with Pau and Marc Gasol, along with either Fran or Ibaka as a 3rd option against Divac and Vrankovic

[Southpaw]

^ no they don't stand a chance againt Dream Team. 50 percent, are you kidding me? That team did not even call a single timeout and beat everybody playing around. Jordan was not on attack mode , You know how strong is that team Drexler, Stockton, Malone Pippen and Robinson came off the bench. Petrovic was Drexler backup at Portland. Magic taught Divac at LA so many things. Kukoc was a bench player at Chicago. Dream Team can play their worst and still massacre those Yugos. Divac can't flop his way, Magic would look him into the eye and Divac will be nervous to even try.

I think Spain and Yugo is good matchup. I favor Spain in a 7 game series but in one game anything can happen.

[pohani komarac]

If we had a 1992 Yugoslavian team, it would at least challenge the 1st Dream team. Not in one game by accident but any day of the week, they would have serious chances to win. More or less than 50%, I can't say this, but this is probably the best team of its era and didn't just play one tournament. This team was unbeaten in Europe. They didn't need to really try to beat their opponents

A hypothetical 1992 Yugoslavian team would ideally be:
G- Djordjevic, Zdovc, Perasovic
G- Petrovic, Danilovic
F- Kukoc, Paspalj, Komazec
F- Radja, Savic
C- Divac, Vrankovic
Any comparison to any further European teams doesn't stand up to now. Take any European team since then, including the two arguably best ones since the mid-90s, Serbia and Spain and see what they had at their best

Serbia 1995-2002 (best possible roster)
G- Djordjevic (1995), Jaric (2002), S. Obradovic (1999)
G- Bodiroga (1998), Danilovic (1995)
F- Paspalj (1996), Stojakovic (2001), Gurovic (2002)
F- Savic (1996), Tomasevic (2000)
C- Divac (1995), Rebraca (1998)

Spain 2001-2011 (best possible roster)
G- Calderon (2007), Rubio (2009), S. Rodriguez (2006)
G- Navarro (2005), Fernandez (2010)
F- Jimenez (2002), Mumbru (2006)
F- Garbajosa (2005), Reyes (2005)
C- P. Gasol (2003), M. Gasol (2011), Vasquez (2005)


While these are very good and coherent rosters, both built on a standard basis that has been carefully getting developed over time, they would both, in their ideal timing get beaten most times by the old Yugoslavia

The Serbian team could ideally get Vujanic as a 3rd PG instead of Obradovic and would still lose the PG to the Yugoslavian team, while, even having Bodiroga at his best and Danilovic at 1995 (more mature and better polished from 1992) would still not be enough to beat the lineup with Petrovic in. If we consider Gurovic of 2002 slightly worse than Komazec of the early 1990s and Paspalj of 1992 better than 4 years later, then it doesn't really matter whether the 1992 Kukoc is a lot or a little better than Peja at his best. In the frontcourt, with Divac always remaining stable and Savic a bit better in 1995, as well as Rebrace better offensively yet worse defensively than Vrankovic, Radja of 1992 (best Euro PF/C back then) would again give a slight edge to Yugoslavia

Regarding Spain and its (thinner, yet a bit more concrete) roster. Calderon is pretty much alone at PG. The 2nd best PG performance for Spain since 2002 is a 6ppg-4apg of Ricky in 2009. This means that Spain would stand no chance here. At SG, the 2005 Navarro has outscored any season of any Yugo SG not named Petrovic in 1989 and Rudy is a great side player, especially in the Turkey WC, but the Yugoslavian depth would get a thin win there, again due to their depth, while at SF, they would dominate the well-set, yet defence oriented Spanish lineup of Mumbru and Jimenez with the Kukoc and Paspalj probably at their best offensive years. At PF, Spain would again have a very good and hustling duo, but Radja along with Savic are providing for offense in a 40' pace for a slight edge, while, it will be Spain that would win (and easily) the center position, with Pau and Marc Gasol, along with either Fran or Ibaka as a 3rd option against Divac and Vrankovic

considering thaz ex yugo coaches loved to give playing time to youngsters you can add bodiroga for sure insted of peras.

[NorCal]

If we had a 1992 Yugoslavian team, it would at least challenge the 1st Dream team. Not in one game by accident but any day of the week, they would have serious chances to win. More or less than 50%, I can't say this, but this is probably the best team of its era and didn't just play one tournament. This team was unbeaten in Europe. They didn't need to really try to beat their opponents

A hypothetical 1992 Yugoslavian team would ideally be:
G- Djordjevic, Zdovc, Perasovic
G- Petrovic, Danilovic
F- Kukoc, Paspalj, Komazec
F- Radja, Savic
C- Divac, Vrankovic

Any comparison to any further European teams doesn't stand up to now. Take any European team since then, including the two arguably best ones since the mid-90s, Serbia and Spain and see what they had at their best

Serbia 1995-2002 (best possible roster)
G- Djordjevic (1995), Jaric (2002), S. Obradovic (1999)
G- Bodiroga (1998), Danilovic (1995)
F- Paspalj (1996), Stojakovic (2001), Gurovic (2002)
F- Savic (1996), Tomasevic (2000)
C- Divac (1995), Rebraca (1998)

Spain 2001-2011 (best possible roster)
G- Calderon (2007), Rubio (2009), S. Rodriguez (2006)
G- Navarro (2005), Fernandez (2010)
F- Jimenez (2002), Mumbru (2006)
F- Garbajosa (2005), Reyes (2005)
C- P. Gasol (2003), M. Gasol (2011), Vasquez (2005)


While these are very good and coherent rosters, both built on a standard basis that has been carefully getting developed over time, they would both, in their ideal timing get beaten most times by the old Yugoslavia

The Serbian team could ideally get Vujanic as a 3rd PG instead of Obradovic and would still lose the PG to the Yugoslavian team, while, even having Bodiroga at his best and Danilovic at 1995 (more mature and better polished from 1992) would still not be enough to beat the lineup with Petrovic in. If we consider Gurovic of 2002 slightly worse than Komazec of the early 1990s and Paspalj of 1992 better than 4 years later, then it doesn't really matter whether the 1992 Kukoc is a lot or a little better than Peja at his best. In the frontcourt, with Divac always remaining stable and Savic a bit better in 1995, as well as Rebrace better offensively yet worse defensively than Vrankovic, Radja of 1992 (best Euro PF/C back then) would again give a slight edge to Yugoslavia

Regarding Spain and its (thinner, yet a bit more concrete) roster. Calderon is pretty much alone at PG. The 2nd best PG performance for Spain since 2002 is a 6ppg-4apg of Ricky in 2009. This means that Spain would stand no chance here. At SG, the 2005 Navarro has outscored any season of any Yugo SG not named Petrovic in 1989 and Rudy is a great side player, especially in the Turkey WC, but the Yugoslavian depth would get a thin win there, again due to their depth, while at SF, they would dominate the well-set, yet defence oriented Spanish lineup of Mumbru and Jimenez with the Kukoc and Paspalj probably at their best offensive years. At PF, Spain would again have a very good and hustling duo, but Radja along with Savic are providing for offense in a 40' pace for a slight edge, while, it will be Spain that would win (and easily) the center position, with Pau and Marc Gasol, along with either Fran or Ibaka as a 3rd option against Divac and Vrankovic

I don't think your hypothetical team would win more than 1 time out of 10 against the Dream Team. Of the ones I've seen play on the hypothetical '92 Yugoslavia team I like, but c'mon. The majority of those guys played at the '88 Olympics and they lost to the Soviets in the gold medal game and weren't winning games by anything close to Dream Team margins (40+ points) which has never been duplicated before or since in the Olympics.

Also, the NBA and thus the Dream Team was going through what most experts believe to be the strongest period in NBA history. I've mentioned this in another post but every guy on that team outside of Drexler, Mullin and Laettner are now considered one of the top 30 players in the history of the NBA.

I would pay good money to have seen the hypothetical matchup of Spain v Yugoslavia though.

[pohani komarac]

^ no they don't stand a chance againt Dream Team. 50 percent, are you kidding me? That team did not even call a single timeout and beat everybody playing around. Jordan was not on attack mode , You know how strong is that team Drexler, Stockton, Malone Pippen and Robinson came off the bench. Petrovic was Drexler backup at Portland. Magic taught Divac at LA so many things. Kukoc was a bench player at Chicago. Dream Team can play their worst and still massacre those Yugos. Divac can't flop his way, Magic would look him into the eye and Divac will be nervous to even try.

I think Spain and Yugo is good matchup. I favor Spain in a 7 game series but in one game anything can happen.

kukoc wasn't bench player in bulls. bench players were cafey and wenigton that didn't have big role in team. lot ofense was built trough toni hands. and before mj comback phill jackson pland to make toni bulls prime playmeker

petrovic was benched in portland, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't play more. drexler was tellin portland lost grat player when they traded him. and fact he was 3rd best sg in nba leatter behind mj and clyde prves that.

dino with 20-10 lead medicore celtics to playoffs befor his injury

of corse magic helped divac, but if you didn't know divasc before going to nba was sometimes used as prime pg and ballhandler in partizan

all this guys made it during period where europians were much less trusted and had to pruve much more than euros today

of corse dream team was better, but defenetly this guys would have chance cought them unguarded

[NorCal]

kukoc wasn't bench player in bulls. bench players were cafey and wenigton that didn't have big role in team. lot ofense was built trough toni hands. and before mj comback phill jackson pland to make toni bulls prime playmeker

petrovic was benched in portland, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't play more. drexler was tellin portland lost grat player when they traded him. and fact he was 3rd best sg in nba leatter behind mj and clyde prves that.

dino with 20-10 lead medicore celtics to playoffs befor his injury

of corse magic helped divac, but if you didn't know divasc before going to nba was sometimes used as prime pg and ballhandler in partizan

all this guys made it during period where europians were much less trusted and had to pruve much more than euros today

of corse dream team was better, but defenetly this guys would have chance cought them unguarded

I also think that Petrovic, Radja and Kukoc were underrated when they played in the NBA.

I disagree that they would have caught the Dream Team by surprise only because Jordan and a couple of the other guys wouldn't have let it happen.

There was more of a swagger back then of our players, they intended to show their dominance, kind of like Kobe brought to our Beijing team (when he knocked down Gasol to start the Spain/USA game). Its a little bit of an old school attitude.

Even if lots of the US guys didn't know much about other teams in those '92 games they knew that Croatia was the biggest threat and they knew Kukoc and they went into that game more than other games with the purpose to dominate Croatia and Kukoc in particular.

So, hypothetically speaking, I think our team would have been very prepared against a Yugoslavia team knowing that they would be the biggest threats.

[madmax]

The supposed overwhelming 92' Dream Team's advantage over other teams is way overblown today. The simple fact is that most of the teams didn't even try to stand up to them and the games resembled more of some All-Star exhibitions than true battles. Nobody had the balls to play hard defense on those NBA "gods", like it was thought of at those times. Some players were even asking autographs after the games like some children asking for a candy from their mother Everything started to change in 1996 Olympics and eventually that myth was destroyed in 2000 Sydney, when single Sharas shot could bring mighty "gods" to their knees (well, Tomjanovic was on his knees already, but some dubious late game calls from the refs and lithuanians choking at the free throw line saved their asses). And we all know about 2002, 2004 and 2006 already...

[SunOverHStreet]

^ no they don't stand a chance againt Dream Team. 50 percent, are you kidding me? That team did not even call a single timeout and beat everybody playing around. Jordan was not on attack mode , You know how strong is that team Drexler, Stockton, Malone Pippen and Robinson came off the bench. Petrovic was Drexler backup at Portland. Magic taught Divac at LA so many things. Kukoc was a bench player at Chicago. Dream Team can play their worst and still massacre those Yugos. Divac can't flop his way, Magic would look him into the eye and Divac will be nervous to even try.

I think Spain and Yugo is good matchup. I favor Spain in a 7 game series but in one game anything can happen.

Questions for you: Have you watched Yugoslavia play and how familiar are you with any of the players beside Kukoč, Divac, Petrović?
I'm not convinced that you know enough about this topic.

I agree with you that Dream team had incredible depth, surely the best basketball team this planet ever had and Yugoslavia would have hard time against them. But, I can't agree with you that Spain could beat Yugoslavia for the same reason Yugoslavia couldn't match Dream team and that's an incredible depth for European standards.

Without Pau and Navarro, Spain is considerably weaker. These two give so much strength and they are a class above everyone on that team. The loss of Fernandez, Garbajosa or Calderon (or someone else, take a pick) is something they can cope with, as it was proven several times already.

[NorCal]

The supposed overwhelming 92' Dream Team's advantage over other teams is way overblown today. The simple fact is that most of the teams didn't even try to stand up to them and the games resembled more of some All-Star exhibitions than true battles. Nobody had the balls to play hard defense on those NBA "gods", like it was thought of at those times. Some players were even asking autographs after the games like some children asking for a candy from their mother Everything started to change in 1996 Olympics and eventually that myth was destroyed in 2000 Sydney, when single Sharas shot could bring mighty "gods" to their knees (well, Tomjanovic was on his knees already, but some dubious late game calls from the refs and lithuanians choking at the free throw line saved their asses). And we all know about 2002, 2004 and 2006 already...

That's true that in '92 the other teams didn't seem to give a full effort but neither did the U.S. team.

You can say everything started to change in '96 but look at the average margin of victory of that U.S. team, it was something like 35-40 points a game. Even the most dominant European teams of all time never did that at the Olympics.

Anyways, please don't misrepresent what I am trying to say. No one is saying the U.S. teams are currently unbeatable and of course the U.S. lost 7 games between 2002-2006 but to say that the Dream Team had a 50% chance of being beat by a full Yugoslavia team I think is incorrect.

[madmax]

That's true that in '92 the other teams didn't seem to give a full effort but neither did the U.S. team.

You can say everything started to change in '96 but look at the average margin of victory of that U.S. team, it was something like 35-40 points a game. Even the most dominant European teams of all time never did that at the Olympics.

Anyways, please don't misrepresent what I am trying to say. No one is saying the U.S. teams are currently unbeatable and of course the U.S. lost 7 games between 2002-2006 but to say that the Dream Team had a 50% chance of being beat by a full Yugoslavia team I think is incorrect.

yup, but in those days FIBA basketball was still in it's infant stages as compared to NBA - players were simply not prepared physically to deal with NBA superstars and their speed and athleticism. So not only 92 Dream Team had the best players, they also had the best athletes bar none. It's easy to look dominant when you have huge athletic advantage in every position on the floor anyway