The Dream Team Era

The Dream Team Era

During the summer of 1992, the NBA took center stage as the world watched the greatest team in sports ever assembled joke, pose, and finally play its way to the gold medal at the summer Olympic games. The team was named the "Dream Team" and it featured eleven of the NBA's best players. Names like Michael Jordan, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, and Larry Bird headlined the games and the play of Scottie Pippen and "Sir" Charles Barkley stole the show. After only eight games, the world of USA basketball would never be the same. Since 1992 two more teams called themselves the "Dream Team" and two were simply labeled as "Team USA" but one thing is for certain, International basketball has taken a step in the right direction thanks in part to the NBA and its Dream Team era. Over time the faces of those players may have changed, but the goal has always stayed the same and that's the goal of bringing home the gold medal.

After dominating men's Olympic basketball for years, the men's USA basketball team lost to the USSR in the 1988 Seoul games which cost them a shot at winning the gold medal, but they did come home with the bronze. The United States Olympic committee decided that since the rest of the world were sending their best players into the Olympic games that when it came to basketball it was time for them to do the same. The decision was made in 1989 to allow players from the NBA to represent their country in the 1992 Barcelona games. That one decision was the most important decision in the history of international basketball with one goal in mind; to put together the best possible team that they could.

The goal of putting a great basketball team of NBA players together seemed impossible especially when it came to dealing with the egos of today's athletes, but what seemed impossible became a reality. Established veterans like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and future Hall of Famers/MVP's like Michael Jordan and best friend Charles Barkley were added to the team. Big men David Robinson and Patrick Ewing were added to control the paint and guards Clyde "The Glide" Drexler and John Stockton were added to run the show. The man picked to coach the team was Chuck Daly who had won two of the last three NBA Championships with the Detroit Pistons. Knowing that no other team would ever be as potentially great as this one, sportswriters around the world dubbed the 1992 men's Olympic team as the "Dream Team". After only three weeks of practicing together, the Dream Team was ready for the world. "We were in a definite no win situation," said Chuck Daly; "we had to come back with the gold medal" (The Dream Team).

Despite being lead in overall scoring by Charles Barkley, different players would step up on different nights to take control and led the Dream Team to victory with not just scoring, but great passing and leadership ability as well. Michael Jordan who at the time was the most popular basketball player in the world showed that he is a great defensive player as well as an offensive player by averaging five steals per game during the tournament. Other players like David Robinson and Patrick Ewing provided tough interior defense and the flow of the games offensively were controlled by Magic Johnson and Scottie Pippen.

The Dream Team's first game was on July 26th against the African nation of Angola and the United States defeated them 116-48 with Charles Barkley leading the way with 24 points. Against Brazil, Barkley set a USA Olympic record by scoring 30 points on 12-14 shooting. The rest of the tournament the Dream Team faced Croatia, Germany, Brazil, Spain, Puerto Rico, Lithuania. During the game against Lithuania, one of the Lithuanian players actually sat on the side line and took pictures of the Dream Team with his camera. Many celebrities like Jack Nicholson, Spike Lee, and Arnold Schwarzenegger made the trip to Barcelona to witness the gold medal game between the United States and Croatia. The Dream Team defeated Croatia 117-85 and they were led by Michael Jordan who scored 22 points with Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing scoring 17 and 15 points (The Dream Team).

During the eight games, the Dream Team went undefeated and averaged 117.3 points per game the most by a team in Olympic history while defeating teams by an average of 43.8 ppg. "You will see a team of professionals in the Olympics again," said Coach Chuck Daly, "But I don't think you'll see another team quite like this. This was a majestic team." Chuck Daly also went on to say that he had an exceptional group of players who really understood the goal and wanted to share (The Dream Team).

With the rest of the world having four years to prepare themselves, the third group of NBA players to call themselves the Dream Team knew that their road to the gold medal in the 1996 Summer Games were going to be more difficult. The same excitement that overcame the fans at the Barcelona games overcame the fans in Atlanta because the Dream Team had the home court advantage.

Dream Team III was composed of many young up and coming stars in the NBA at the time like Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway but the team also included some battle tested veterans. Players from the first Dream Team like Scottie Pippen, David Robinson, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, and John Stockton were added to the team. The rest of the roster included 1988 Olympian Mitch Richmond, Grant Hill, Gary Payton, Reggie Miller, and Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon.

Before the Olympics began, Dream Team III had three weeks of practices that were so competitive that some say that they were actually more competitive than the actual Olympic games. During the three weeks of practice, the Dream Team faced Brazil, China, and Greece in three different exhibition games in various NBA arenas. David Robinson was so impressed by the progress of the team he stated that this team was the most talented team that had ever been put together and Charles Barkley stated that no matter what team the NBA puts out there, it will be the best.

After three weeks of practice, the preliminary round of the tournament began with the Dream Team taking on Argentina. After a very slow start, the Dream Team defeated Argentina 96-68. After a couple more slow starts, the Dream Team faced China and it was the outcome of this game that showed the entire world that this team could be compared to the team that took the court in the 1992 Summer Games. The Dream Team defeated China 133-70 with the help of some great defense and five three point shots by Reggie Miller who finished the game with 17 points. The Dream Team faced Brazil in front of a crowd