The 1992 US Olympic men's basketball team , dubbed the "Dream Team , is the first American Olympic team to feature an active professional from the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team has been described by American journalists as the largest sports team ever assembled. Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame called the team "the largest collection of basketball talents on the planet". At the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona, ​​the team defeated its opponents by averaging 44 points on the way to a gold medal against Croatia. Chuck Daly served as coach, assisted by Lenny Wilkens, P. J. Carlesimo, and Mike Krzyzewski.
Video 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team
Forming a team
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Traditionally made up of amateur players, the US dominated the first decade of international basketball, winning seven consecutive Olympic gold medals. However, in the late 1980s, American amateurs were no longer competitive against experienced professionals from the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. In 1989, FIBA, the international basketball governing body, modified its rules and allowed USA Basketball to field teams with National Basketball Association players, over Soviet votes against the proposal. FIBA Secretary-General Borislav Stankovi? advocated this for years.
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USA Basketball asked the NBA to supply players for the 1992 roster; the league was initially unenthusiastic, not predicting the cultural phenomenon that the team would become. Sports Illustrated was the first to dub an upcoming American roster as "Dream Team," on the cover of the February 18, 1991 edition.
The first ten players for the team were formally selected on 21 September 1991: Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls, John Stockton and Karl Malone of Utah Jazz, Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers, Larry Bird of Boston Celtics, Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks , Chris Mullin of the Golden State Warriors, David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs, and Charles Barkley of the Philadelphia 76ers. Most of the players are at or near the top of their NBA careers. Birds have back problems, but were chosen because of the team's historical nature. Robinson has played with the 1988 Olympic team, and is keen to get a gold medal in Barcelona. Johnson was retained despite his retirement from the Lakers in November 1991 for testing positive for HIV. His teammates expect Johnson to die of the disease, and he then describes his choices for the Olympics as "almost like a life savior", proof that he can still cope with illness and live a productive life. Ewing, Jordan and Mullin had won gold in the 1984 game but Malone, for example, had not made a team and had seen his choice in 1984 as a challenge.
Clyde Drexler from Portland Trail Blazers and Isiah Thomas from Detroit Pistons are candidates for the latest professional roster list. Drexler was added to the team on May 12, 1992, with Christian Laettner from Duke University. In recognition of the previous amateur system, the US basketball committee decided to include one college player on the team, filling in the final list place. Laettner is the only player without professional experience, and selected over Louisiana State University's Shaquille O'Neal for last place on the list.
Jordan rejected Daly's suggestion that he serve as a public face of the team, and Bird and Johnson was chosen as a captain's companion. At the time of the 1992 Olympics, these three superstars during the previous 13 seasons were combined for 10 NBA championships, 7 NBA Finals MVP, and 8 MVP regular seasons.
Isiah Thomas leave the team
There is speculation that Thomas is not part of the team because Michael Jordan will participate only if Thomas is not on the list. In the book Dream Team, author Jack Jackallum quoted Jordan, "Rod, I do not want to play if Isiah Thomas is on the team," to US Team selection committee member Rod Thorn. There was widely held belief at the time that Jordan did not like Thomas because he was seen as the "ring leader" of the Detroit Pistons team in the late 1980s and early 1990s, known as the "Bad Boys", who were physically employed openly. tactics against Jordan in the NBA Playoff that was meant to throw Jordan out of his game. Thomas is also believed to have led a group of NBA veterans who refused to pass on Jordan in the 1985 NBA All-Star Game, in Jordan's rookie season.
After the selection of the first ten members of the team, Magic Johnson released an official statement to support Thomas, but years later it was found that his support was less than enthusiastic. In the book When Game Was Ours , Johnson says "Isiah kills his own chances when coming to the Olympics." No one on the team wants to play with him. " Stockton broke his bones at his feet, and it healed very quickly. But initially they will replace him, and that would be Joe Dumars. Thomas would not even be the first replacement.
Laettner teamed over O'Neal
Laettner's election to the Olympic team over Shaquille O'Neal is increasingly a source of controversy because of O'Neal's achievements in the NBA. The selection committee considered several college players including Harold Miner, Jimmy Jackson, Alonzo Mourning in addition to O'Neal and Laettner. O'Neal was number one in the 1992 NBA draft, but Laettner has so far been a more capable college player. Laettner won consecutive National Championships at Duke Blue Devils in 1991 and 1992, was the Best Footballer of Naismith College of the Year, and slapped a winning game at NCAA Eastern Regional 1992. Although O'Neal is twice the NCAA Consensus First Team All-American (1991, 1992) his team lost in the second round of the 1992 Male NCAA Tournament. Laettner's success in his college career was ultimately the one who secured his position on the team.
Maps 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team
Success in court
Beginning of the struggle
To help with the preparation of the Olympics, the best player team at the NCAA was formed to practice professionals. USA Basketball chooses a college player whose game, expected, will resemble that of the European Dream Team. Members include guards through Bobby Hurley, all Grant Hill and Penny Hardaway players, Allan Houston out shooters, and tough Chris Webber and Eric Montross. Hill and Hardaway will play for the 1996 national team, and Houston on the 2000 team. In late June, the Dream Team first met together in La Jolla, California, shocking and intimidating his colleagues who witnessed the practice of professionals. On June 24, the Dream Team lost to all-stars 62-54, however, after underestimating the opposition. Daly deliberately limits Jordan's playing time and makes non-optimal substitutions; Krzyzewski later said that the head coach "threw the game" to teach the NBA players that they could be beaten. The team played again the next day, with a convincing Olympian win in a rematch. Some college players visit Jordan's hotel room afterward and ask their hero for his personal items as a souvenir.
American Tournament
The Dream Team made its international debut on June 28, at the American Tournament, an Olympic qualifying event in Portland, Oregon. The team beat Cuba 136-57, prompting Cuban coach Miguel CalderÃÆ'³n GÃÆ'³mez to say, "You can not cover the sun with your finger." Marv Albert, who announced the match, remembered that "it looks like [Americans] are playing high school teams, or elementary school teams.They are so incredible... explosions after the explosion". The Cubans are the first of many opponents who are more interested in taking photos with Americans than playing them. The next five games are also easy victories for the USA Team, who ended the tournament on 5 July with a 127-80 win over Venezuela in the championship game to win the tournament and become one of four teams to qualify for the Olympics.
Olympics
Teams trained for the Olympics in Monaco for six days, practicing two hours a day and playing exhibition matches against other national teams. During their time away from the field, the team spent time enjoying the nude beach, Monte Carlo casino, and dinner with royalty. No curfew; as Coach Daly said, "I do not wear a curfew because I have to obey it, and Jimmy'z [famous Monte Carlo nightclub] does not open until midnight."
In one training session the group was divided into two teams, Blue (led by Johnson, with Barkley, Robinson, Mullin, and Laettner) and White (led by Jordan, with Malone, Ewing, Pippen, and Bird). Drexler and Stockton did not play because of injury. Daly told the team to play "Everything you get now, everything you get." White won, 40 to 36, â € <â €
At the Olympics, Dream Team lives in a luxury hotel in Barcelona, ​​not in the Olympic Village due to security issues. Fans enthusiastically welcome Americans; they gather outside the hotel, hoping to see their favorite player. "It feels like Elvis and The Beatles are put together," Daly said. Opposing basketball players and athletes from other sports is often asked to take pictures with the players. Barkley recalls, however, that the team received death threats:
In our hotel you must have a picture ID to get in there, and we go to the pool on the roof of the hotel, there are about 10 people standing with Uzi. So kinda funny, it's like: Bikini girl; Bung with Uzi; bikini girl; man with Uzi. People thought we did not want to live in the Olympic Village because we wanted to be big whiz, but that was because we were getting death threats. They have told us that this would be considered great by one of these terrorist groups if they could take the Dream Team.
Barkley walked around town alone despite threats. When asked where his bodyguard was, he raised his fist and replied, "This is my security." McCallum later described Barkley as "the number one US Olympic ambassador" for his visit to La Rambla, where he met the adoring crowd.
Jordan was the only player who studied the opposition, watching the recording games thoroughly. He and the other Americans enjoyed the opportunity to get to know each other in a relaxed atmosphere, play cards all night and, for Jordan, play a few rounds of golf every day with a little break.
The opposing team is still overwhelmed by the talent of the American roster, losing an average of 43.8 points per game. The Dream Team is the first to score more than 100 points in every game. The average 117.3 is more than 15 points more than the US team of 1960. Johnson then recalls, "I look to my right, there's Michael Jordan... I look to my left, there's Charles Barkley or Larry Bird... I do not know where to throw the ball to! " Herlander Coimbra from Angola, the first opponent of the Dream Team, recalls that "those people are on another level - a distant, distant galaxy".
During the team's first Olympic match against Angola, Barkley nudged Coimbra in the chest and did not regret after the game, claiming he was beaten first. Barkley was called for a deliberate violation of the drama. Coimbra produced free throws is the only point scored by Angola for 46-1 run by the US. Although this incident has nothing to do with the final result (the US won 116-48), at that time there was concern about America's image to the rest of the world. After the game Jordan said, "There is no place for that.We dominate the game, it creates mixed feelings, it causes mixed reactions about the US There are already some negative feelings about us." Although this is the only event in the game, it alters the narration; Instead of Americans being seen as a team of highly skilled overwhelming unseeded people, some people consider them to be a nuisance. Marv Albert believes that Americans use the game of Angola to warn other teams in the tournament.
Daly started Jordan in every game, and Johnson started in five of the six games he played, missing two games due to knee problems. Pippen, Mullin, Robinson, Ewing, Malone, and Barkley played in other early places. Barkley is the Dream Team's top scorer during the Olympics, averaging 18.0 points per game, although the player's election committee is unsure about inclusion, worried that he will not represent the United States as well.
The closest of the eight games was a 117-85 Team USA victory over Croatia in a gold medal match. Croatia, which participated as an independent state in the Olympics for the first time since its separation from the former Yugoslavia, briefly led the Dream Team with a score of 25-23 in the first round. By the end of the game, the US had withdrawn and Stockton approved a Croatian player's request not to fire. Pippen and Jordan are aggressively looking for an opportunity to keep Toni Kuko? from Croatia. He has just signed a contract with the Bulls to earn more money than Pippen, who believes that team negotiations with Croatia have delayed his own contract. Tired of hearing about Kuko's talent, Pippen and Jordan agreed, as Jordan said, "do not... let this guy do anything to us." He told Johnson before the first Croat match "I'm serious tonight", causing Johnson to reply "Uh oh." McCallum described the Bulls as "mad dogs" against inexperienced Croats. Croatia lost to Dream Team 103-70 in their first game. The only other team in Croatia to hold a margin below 40 points is Puerto Rico, who lost 115-77 in the quarterfinals.
Legacy
Sports Illustrated later stated that the Dream Team "is arguably the most dominant squad ever assembled in any sport" and compares it with "Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, Allman Brothers at Fillmore East, Santana at Woodstock." was elected at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. Barkley later said, "I do not think there's anything better to represent your country, I do not think anything in my life could approach that." Bird calls the medal and plays The Star-Spangled Banner "last experience." Johnson said, "The Dream Team 92 is the biggest moment of my life in basketball, nothing." Jordan says that the biggest advantage to him from the Olympics is that he learned more about his team-mates' weaknesses. He then defeated Barkley, Malone, and Stockton in three NBA finals. In 2014, 11 of the 12 players on the list (all except Laettner) and three of the four coaches (all except Carlesimo) have been elected to the Hall of Fame as individuals.
Global interest in basketball soared because of Dream Team. In one match, the opposing player who guarded the Magic Johnson looked frantically waving to his colleague who was holding the camera on the bench, signaling to make sure he got their picture together. Chief Dalm Chuck Daly said of the opposing team "They're going home and for the rest of their lives can tell their kids, 'I play against Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.' And the more they play against our best players, the more confident they will get ". Chairman of the International Olympic Committee Juan Antonio Samaranch stated that "the most important aspect of [Barcelona] Games is the success of a basketball tournament, as we have seen as the world's best basketball." Furthermore, the number of international players in the NBA increased. On the opening day of the 1991-92 season, the NBA roster included 23 international players from 18 countries. At the start of the 2011-12 season, there are 74 players from 35 countries.
Kobe Bryant and LeBron James say they believe their 2012 Olympic team will win against the Dream Team. Bryant said, "[T] hey much older, at the end of their careers.We have lots of young racehorses, people who are eager to compete." Barkley said that he "just started laughing" after hearing Bryant's comment and that the Dream Team would win by double digits. Jordan added, "To [Bryant] to compare the two teams is not one of the brightest things he has ever done... Remember now, they learn from us, we do not learn from them." Bird joking, "They probably can.I have not played in 20 years and we're all old now."
The team was selected at FIBA ​​Hall of Fame in 2017.
List
American tournament results
Statistics
Olympics_results.5B51.5D "> Olympic results
Statistics
See also
- United States men's national basketball team
- Basketball at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- USA Basketball team (video game)
References
Further reading
- McCallum, Jack (2012). How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and The Biggest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed Basketball Forever Game . Random House Digital. ISBNÃ, 9780345520500 . Retrieved August 22 2012 .
External links
- Olympic statistics at FIBA.com
- 1992 Dream Team: Classic Photo
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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