The 1992 Dream Team was inducted into the Hall of Fame last night, and Larry Bird chimed in on the debate about which team was better: 1992 or the 1960 team that featured Oscar Robertson and Jerry West.
“I don’t know who had the best team, but I know the team in 1960 was a hell of a lot tougher than we were,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine the ’92 team getting in a covered wagon for eight days, going across the country, jumping in the Atlantic Ocean, swimming for six days, then walking 3,000 miles to the Coliseum in Rome for a dollar a day.”
Meanwhile, Bob Boozer, a member of that 1960 Olympic team had this to say:
“We were amateurs and we played against many of the older Euopean teams,” Boozer said. “They beat everybody by 43 or something points and we beat everybody by 42 but we were shooting with a soccer ball (which is how Boozer described the then-smaller international basketball) and we didn’t have the three-point line. When you shot a long jumper, it would change directions.”
He later admitted it would have been tough for anyone to beat that 1992 team.