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The Dream Will Never Die:
An Oral History of the Dream Team
Magic. Bird. Jordan. Legends at every position on the floor. Hall of Famers filling the bench. They were the greatest team ever assembled—in any sport—and twenty years ago in Barcelona, they put on a show the world will never forget
By Lang Whitaker
7 2012
It was always a silly rule. According to international basketball guidelines in place for decades, professionals from leagues all over the world could compete for their countries at the Olympics—but NBA players could not. The effect was to balance out America's towering advantage in the sport. You know, give the poor bastards a chance. The rule was dropped in April 1989, though, after the United States finished a humiliating third at the previous summer's Olympics in Seoul. Parity, everyone learned, wasn't nearly as captivating as dominance. And make no mistake: Dominating was as important as winning. The idea was to dazzle, to put on a display of American might so awe-inspiring that the best our rivals could hope for was a silver medal. Or even better, Michael Jordan's autograph.
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PART I: Origins
"The cast on this team—it was the best of the best."
David Stern (NBA commissioner): The notion that the NBA wanted to redeem the 1988 loss? Patently wrong. From our view, we were stuck with playing in the Olympics. We didn't see it becoming the phenomenon that it became.
David Falk (agent for Michael Jordan): There was a growing recognition that we were putting college players out at a time when every other country was putting out pros. And were we being naive to continue that, just because there's a history?
Stern: We said to FIBA [the international basketball federation] that we weren't gung ho to play in the Olympics, but we would try to be good soldiers to support basketball. So they had a vote. The U.S. was against it, and the Russians were against it, too. But the overwhelming vote was in favor.
Russ Granik (NBA liaison to Team USA): The first tough decision was that it had to be an NBA coach, in order for our owners and players to feel comfortable. But Chuck Daly was a pretty easy choice: He was coming off back-to-back championships with the Detroit Pistons; he had a reputation for being able to deal with smart players; he was great with the media.
Quinn Buckner (Team USA selection committee): The biggest thing was, you did not want to offend any of these guys. Chuck had to be extra sensitive, a lot like at an all-star game. Because with players of that quality, if you offend them, every time the Pistons saw that player, they were going to take it out on Chuck, on his team.
Granik: There was a lot of discussion about Larry Bird, because Larry had started having back problems. He clearly wasn't anywhere near what his peak had been, but if you were putting together such a historic team, you couldn't leave him off.
Magic Johnson (Team USA point guard): This was our final moment—the curtain was going to come down. Larry's back was messed up. And I was already out, dealing with HIV, so we had to make sure that we went out the right way. For me, it was also about showing the world that I could still play, even living with HIV.
Patrick Ewing (Team USA center): That was my second Olympics—mine, Michael [Jordan], and Chris [Mullin]. We played in the '84 Olympics together, and we had a great team then. But the cast on this team—it was the best of the best. I knew it was going to be something special.
Karl Malone (Team USA power forward): I had an opportunity my freshman year at Louisiana Tech to try out for the Olympic team, and I didn't make it. Got cut. It was one of the first times playing basketball that a coach told me I wasn't good enough. That always stuck in the back of my mind.
Granik: The last player, as I recall, was between Clyde Drexler and Isiah Thomas, and you had two pretty great résumés there. I don't know what the final vote was—I never asked—but when they counted, it came out for Clyde.
David DuPree (reporter for USA Today): If they were selecting solely on ability and accomplishments, Isiah Thomas may have deserved it. But who are you going to leave off? Nobody was tougher than John Stockton; nobody was a better passer. John Stockton was a tough son of a bitch.
Jan Hubbard (NBA columnist for Newsday): Stockton broke a bone in his leg, and it healed very quickly. But initially they were going to replace him, and it was going to be Joe Dumars. So Isiah wasn't even going to be the first substitute.
Rod Thorn (Team USA selection committee): Charles Barkley was one of the last guys put on the team. You wanted to make sure that everything went smoothly, that everybody represented the way you wanted them to represent. And there were some who, frankly, were worried about Barkley. But then he ended up being the leading scorer.
P.J. Carlesimo (Team USA assistant coach): People look back and go, "Look at these other guys—why would they have a college guy?" People forget, Christian Laettner is arguably the best college player ever. Show me somebody else who accomplished what he did in four years.
Christian Laettner (Team USA power forward): I tell people all the time, my favorite year at Duke—even though I won championships my junior year and senior year—was my freshman year. Because that's when you're at the bottom of the ladder and you're working your way up, and you gotta go one hundred miles an hour all the time. So I never minded being in that position. I was lucky. I was in awe every moment I was around them.
Granik: One of the most difficult things was dealing with some of Michael Jordan's endorsement issues. He was in a class by himself, breaking a lot of ground, and a lot of that conflicted with what the U.S. Olympic Committee assumed they were entitled to do with all their athletes. We really had long and difficult negotiations with Michael and with Nike.
Falk: It wasn't anything adversarial. We just had to sit down and work it out.
Craig Miller (USA Basketball director of public relations): You'd see the list of names growing, and then it became apparent that this was going to be a special team. I think probably the real turning point was the cover of Sports Illustrated. When you saw who was on that cover, you were like, "Wow."
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PART II: Gods vs. Babies
"Make sure you get your sleep, because tomorrow I'm gonna bust your ass."
In late June, the players gathered for the first time at a luxury hotel in La Jolla, California, outside San Diego, for a few days of scrimmages against some of the nation's top college stars.
Mike Krzyzewski (Team USA assistant coach): The first meeting as a coaching staff, Chuck says to P.J. and I, "Both of you guys have got to learn one thing." So we've got our notebooks, and we're ready to write this down. And he says, "Both of you have to learn to ignore." We said, "What do you mean?" "You college guys—you're looking for every little thing, and you make big things out of it. We're not going to be sticklers. These guys are men. If there's something that's big, we'll take care of it."
Chris Webber (college squad player): I rode from the airport in a limo with Larry Bird, and that was such an honor. We talked about playing against the Pistons, different moves, all this stuff. He was just a great dude. Then, as we got out of the car and I was getting my bags, he goes, "Make sure you get your sleep, because tomorrow I'm gonna bust your ass, and you're going to remember it the rest of the week."
Allan Houston (college squad player): When we got to the gym, there was this balcony [overlooking] the gym, so we didn't walk right in. It was almost, like, suspenseful. We look down and we see Barkley dunking. We see Michael stealing from somebody and doing one of his things where he takes off from outside the lane and double-pumps under the rim. We're like, "Wow, they do this in practice, too?"
Laettner: I remember looking up and seeing my college teammates standing up there, and then the next play, Barkley thunder-dunks on Malone. Every one of them, their jaw was on the floor.
The first scrimmage between the Dream Team and the college all-stars, on June 24, has become legendary, for unlikely reasons.
Miller: Coach Daly told the college team coaches he wanted them to play like international players, so when they got near the three-point line, just jack it.
Houston: We were asked to play a style that they hadn't really seen a lot of yet. We figured we had nothing to lose. So we go in there, and Penny gets a couple dunks. I remember hitting a couple of shots. Everybody's kind of flowing.
Penny Hardaway (college squad player): They just thought, "Okay, they got these young guys to give us a little warm-up. We're going to beat them up a little bit, sign a couple autographs, and then everybody go on about their merry way." They didn't know how talented we really were.
Brian McIntyre (NBA vice president of public relations): Penny had a couple of steals at midcourt, and everyone was going, "Whoa." There was—I can still feel it—there was tension. First day!
Charles Barkley (Team USA power forward): The first time we saw them, they looked like babies. We were like, "Hey, man, let's don't kill these little kids." And they were playing like it was Game 7. Before we knew it, they upset us.
Houston: The clock ran out—we had a twenty-minute clock—and we were up. And everybody looked around sheepishly, like, This is not supposed to happen. Nobody said anything for a few minutes.
Malone: We took them for granted, and they kicked our butt. And Coach Daly just had that look on his face like, "Well, this is what we told you guys. You gotta be ready." After that, we was chomping at the bit to play them again that same day, but he didn't let us. He let us stew on it a little bit.
Webber: When we busted their ass, they didn't say any prima donna stuff—"We let you win." That night was special. I remember me and Bobby Hurley decimating the golf course on some golf carts because we were so excited.
Houston: Back at the hotel, I was on the same elevator as Bird and C-Webb, and C-Webb was chirping. Bird got off the elevator and said, "Don't worry, tomorrow's a new day." He kind of left us with that thought. And yeah, we got back in there, and it was a new day. [laughs]
Barkley: We sent them a little message.
Webber: We didn't score a point. Not one point. Not a point on a free throw, not a point in the game. We were the perfect wake-up call for them, and they were the perfect reality check for us.
McIntyre: When the buzzer sounded, Barkley walks over to the other bench and says, "You guys are just lucky we didn't come out with an attitude today." Just cracked me up.
Hardaway: We went to MJ's room afterward and you know how college kids are: "Hey, man! Lemme get some shoes? Everything in your room—just let us have it, bro! I know you can get some more!"
Webber: Penny didn't tell you we were on a covert mission. I got socks. I got T-shirts. I asked Jordan for an earring. Some of the stuff I have, my grandkids will have to take it to the Hall of Fame, because I'm gonna keep it until I die. It was awesome. It was the best time. It was the best time.
Technically, Team USA still had to qualify for the Olympics, so it flew up to Portland, Oregon, for its official debut at the Tournament of the Americas on June 28.
Marv Albert (NBC announcer): I remember the first time I saw the team walk out, I got the chills. It was, to me, the greatest collection of players comprising a team sport I had ever seen. The first game, they beat Cuba by seventy-nine points.
DuPree: It was like guys in tank tops and cutoffs playing against them. Well, it wasn't that bad, but that was the image you got in your mind. They tried.
Malone: I'm not going to say it was a cakewalk, but it was easy.
Laettner: The speed of the games was off the charts. Everyone was so athletic and so strong—just the alpha males at every position.
Stern: The opposing teams were more interested in taking photos with our players than playing against them.
Nathaniel Butler (official NBA photographer): We were sitting on the baseline. Magic is backing a guy down, and the guy on defense is yelling at his bench, "Now! Now!" And on the bench, one guy's pulling a camera out of his sock and taking a photo of his teammate.
Hubbard: One time they were playing against Venezuela, and the guy who was guarding Magic kept on saying, "I need your shoes! I need your shoes!" During the game. And Magic goes, "Look, I need my shoes!"
Lenny Wilkens (Team USA assistant coach): We thought it was funny. But it changed over the years. We always said, "Next time, they won't bring cameras. They'll just bring their basketball."
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PART III: The Princes of Monte Carlo
"The guys were teasing Michael because he was playing golf every morning. Well, that did it."
After romping through the Tournament of the Americas, the Dream Team flew to Monte Carlo for a few days of practice, casino gambling, and golf before the opening ceremonies in Barcelona.
Miller: I remember the general manager at our hotel telling us before we got there, "This is Monte Carlo. This is a place that kings and queens come to, that rock bands come to. And to be honest, basketball? People aren't that excited." And we said, "Okay." The night we flew in, literally, people are wall-to-wall in the parking lot, cheering and waving. There is no security control at all. I saw the manager, and he kind of threw his hands up. I always talk about his line: "This is Monte Carlo! We have kings and queens and rock bands come all the time!"
Kim Bohuny (NBA manager of international events): We had a dinner with Prince Rainier and Prince Albert. There's very strict protocol. You know, you can't eat until Prince Rainier eats—things like that. We were reviewing it with the team beforehand, and I think it shocked some of our guys.
Miller: They said if the prince puts his fork down and stops eating, you all better stop eating. And Charles said, "Well, I hope he stops when I'm done eating my meal, because I'm eating my meal."
Malone: I'm from the country. Our etiquette is pretty much, "Pass me the beans," and we pass it down. No disrespect to the prince—it took me a while to understand the rules. This glass was on this side, and this fork was for this... You know what? Let me eat. You're talking about a fish out of water—that's how I felt. I had a nice suit on, I guess.
Carlesimo: Those practices in Monte Carlo were legendary. There was no college team, so that was actually the first time we went against each other.
Malone: The coaches always kept Magic and Michael on different teams.
Hubbard: There was one moment where Krzyzewski claps his hands and says, "Okay, plenty of time." And Michael is at the other end of the court, and he shouts out: "Fuck that! We're going to win this game. Fuck that." You gotta figure Coach K never heard that at a Duke practice.
Krzyzewski: That's why he's the greatest player ever. That afternoon, the intensity of it was just beautiful to witness.
Johnson: Oh man, the best basketball I ever played was during those practices. Because everybody said, "Let's strap up."
Wilkens: Our last scrimmage, Magic's team was dominating Michael's team. And the guys were teasing Michael, because he was playing golf every morning. Well, that did it. The whole thing turned around.
Thorn: He got upset, so he started to score every time down the floor. One time he drove, and the refs called, like, a real tick-tack foul. So Magic booted the ball up to the ceiling: "This is ridiculous! Just like the NBA! He gets every call!"
Hubbard: Magic was saying, "This must be what it's like playing in Chicago Stadium," because Michael was getting the calls. And Michael said, "Well, this is the '90s, not the '80s."
Johnson: Michael was going at Clyde; Clyde was going at Michael. David Robinson was going at Patrick Ewing; Patrick was going after him. Karl Malone was going after Barkley, Barkley after Malone. We were just going at it, man.
Wilkens: It got so heated we had to stop it.
Hubbard: Afterward, Charles was in a really grumpy mood. He said, "He's not the only great player on this team," stuff like that. I actually got Jordan alone, and he was kind of sheepish that he had rubbed it in so bad. He said, "How's your boy?" and he meant Barkley. And I said, "Well, you know, he's kind of upset." And Michael said, "He'll get over it." That was Michael. Even on something like that, he just had to kick your ass.
Barkley: Look, you had ten all-stars going at it nonstop, trying to prove a point. Everybody had ego invested.
Carlesimo: These guys were so competitive. You couldn't play for an hour and a half with them frothing at the mouth, because they'd kill each other. A regular NBA team, if you're lucky, has one or two of these guys. We had twelve. They don't want to lose a drill, don't want to lose a shooting game, don't want to lose anything.
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"You ever watch a lion or a leopard or a cheetah pouncing on their prey?"
On to Barcelona. Because of security concerns, the Dream Team passed on staying at the Olympic Village and instead set up shop at the Ambassador Hotel, just off the city's main drag, Las Ramblas.
Miller: We had a helicopter that followed us from the airport. One guy on a motorcycle had a briefcase which we learned had, like, Uzis inside.
Albert: It's been said many times—it was like the Beatles. They were rock stars.
Ewing: We were like the Beatles. We were rock stars.
Branford Marsalis (bandleader, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno): Going to the Olympics was one of the perks of working on The Tonight Show. I went to the players' hotel, and the security guard says, "Hello, sir!" and waves me in. I was like, "Shit, I guess they like The Tonight Show in Spain." I saw a friend who worked for the NBA, and she said, "How did you get in here?" I said, "I don't know. Dude let me in." So they went to the guard and said, "Why'd you let that guy in?" And he said, "He's related to Magic, isn't he?" He thought I was Magic's little brother.
DuPree: No matter what anybody says, Magic was in charge. I remember, near the end of the Olympics, [Sports Illustrated NBA writer] Jack McCallum and I wanted to get our picture taken with the Dream Team, just to have a keepsake. Jack was tight with Karl Malone, so one night he asked Karl if he thought it would be okay. And Karl says, "It shouldn't be a problem. Let me check with Magic." If Magic said go, it was go. If Magic said stop, it was stop.
McIntyre: I had about eighty basketballs in my room in Barcelona and had to get the players to sign them all. Bird was the last guy, and he says, "What's the quickest anyone's done it?" I said, "Anywhere from eight minutes to twenty." And Bird said, "I'm going to be the fastest. Time me." So he signs them, and he throws me the last one: "Okay, what is it?" "Whoa, four and a half minutes!" And he goes, "Yes!" Competitive right to the end.
Bohuny: Other than Charles, it was too hard to go out. You were mobbed. Charles loved it. He wasn't afraid of the crowds.
Barkley: I wasn't going to stay in my room the whole time.
Hubbard: Charles would walk down Las Ramblas, and people would say, "Charles, what are you doing for security?" And he'd show you his two fists and say, "This is my security." He was like the Pied Piper. He'd have this huge group of people following and yelling and smiling and taking pictures. And he loved it.
DuPree: Barkley did this first-person column where he would meet up with me after the games and tell me stuff, and I'd write it up. He'd say "Meet me at such and such club," so I'd go to the club, and of course, no Barkley, but there'd be a note saying meet him at some other club. So it would take about four or five clubs until about six in the morning before I could track him down. But he always left a note.
Marsalis: I saw a lot of the guys around the hotel. I saw Jordan sitting watching Angola on tape, just staring, looking for weaknesses. I said, "I don't even want to bother you, but why are you watching this game?" And he said, "I always take my opponent seriously. I never underestimate anyone." It wasn't lost on me that he was the only guy watching the game.
Wilkens: Angola was physical. They were aggressive. They played hard. One guy hit Charles in the back of the head with a forearm.
Herlander Coimbra (Team Angola): We felt like we were the luckiest guys in the world. We were going to play against the best, but also against African-Americans—our little cousins from America. During warm-ups we tried spectacular dunks to show them that we could play like in the NBA. They didn't dunk even once. They were really serious, all business. To keep our hopes up, our coach told us that only Larry Bird and Michael Jordan were really, really good—that the other Dream Teamers were just okay. But those guys were on another level—a galaxy far, far away. We tried to do our best, but our emotion got the better of us.
Barkley: They were playing a little chippy, and I warned him a couple of times. I thought he was getting away with a couple of little cheap shots.
Wilkens: We thought it was amusing, but Charles was not going to let him get away with it. He chased him the whole way down the court.
Coimbra: I was listening to my coach on the sideline when suddenly Barkley elbowed me in the chest.
Barkley: Well, he should have been paying attention.
Coimbra: After the game, all the journalists wanted to talk to me about the incident. They wanted to know why. Did I say anything to provoke Barkley? I told them I didn't do anything. For the next days, that's all the press wanted to talk about. It became so crazy that I had to say in a statement that we only came here to show how good we were. We didn't want to feed the rumors. But between us, we talked about it. We were not really surprised that Barkley did that, because he was known to be a dirty player.
Stern: Now it's the Dream Team of blessed memory, but at the time it was "the U.S. bullies!"
Hubbard: Chuck started Michael and Magic every game and then rotated the other three. Pippen would start one game, Mullin would start the next. Robinson and Ewing would alternate; Malone and Barkley would alternate. He was a master at managing. But in the second game against Croatia, there was never any doubt: He was putting Pippen on Toni Kukoc [who had just been drafted by the Bulls and had been offered a contract for more money than his future teammate]. Pippen and Jordan were tired of hearing about how great Kukoc was, because they were winning NBA championships.
Malone: You ever watch a lion or a leopard or a cheetah pouncing on their prey? We had to get Michael and Scottie out of the locker room, because they was damn near pulling straws to see who guarded him. Kukoc had no idea.
Toni Kukoc (Team Croatia), in a 2011 interview with ESPN: You always want to check people that you're bringing in. Are they tough enough physically and mentally? Can they respond when you need them to respond? I don't think they [had] anything against me personally. They're just testing me. And I later realized that Michael does that [to everyone] on a daily basis.
Albert: Croatia had a pretty good team. But it didn't matter, under those circumstances.
Carlesimo: It was beautiful, the way they played basketball. There were segments of the game where you watch, and you can't defend better than this. You can't rebound and run the floor and share the ball better than this. It was breathtaking. You watched because you wanted to see what was next from them—what would you see in this game that you might never see again?
Granik: The only time we were sure we were going to win gold was in the second half of the final game. We were playing Croatia again, and they had a pretty good team with Kukoc and Drazen Petrovic. I remember seeing [America's FIBA representative] Dave Gavitt right after that final game, and everybody was celebrating, but what I could see on his face was relief.
"It's been said many times," says announcer Marv Albert.
"It was like the Beatles. They were rock stars."
The Dream Team won all of its games at the Barcelona Olympics by an average of forty-four points. Croatia came the closest of any opponent, losing by thirty-three points in the first game and then, in the gold-medal game, by a razor-thin thirty-two.
Krzyzewski: During the medal ceremony, they were like kids. Here they had NBA championships and all that, but they were like kids. It was a beautiful moment.
Ewing: It was like, the guys lost in '88, and so then they sent in the Navy Seals. We were the Navy Seals. We were the elite forces, the elite of the elite forces. We came in, and we kicked butt and took names and got everybody back home safely.
Malone: It wasn't a gloating thing, it wasn't bragging, it was just, "This is what we came to do." We didn't come there to try and make world peace. We came there to win the gold medal and bring it back home and say to the other countries, "Now you've had our best."
Granik: The one thing that got thrown in there at the last minute, which I don't think people had focused on, was the USOC coming in and saying, "Well, of course, you all have to wear the Reebok jacket on the medal stand." I think we could have avoided that problem if we had known.
Tinker Hatfield (Nike creative director): MJ just put the flag right over it, and you couldn't see the Reebok logo. He was just super-loyal. We didn't even ask MJ to do it. He just did it.
McIntyre: I'm watching them up there and thinking, "You know, I don't have a single souvenir." So as Michael's walking off the court, I said, "You don't want that sweat suit, do you?" And he says "No, did you want it?" I said, "I'd love it." He takes it off, throws it at me. It's still got the pins from where he covered up the Reebok logo and folded the flag over. I haven't touched it.
Stern: I think the point was that the world of basketball invited the NBA to join it, and we said yes. And they have profited greatly from it, as have we—as has the overall sport of basketball. Now we see Dirk Nowitzki and Ricky Rubio and Tony Parker and Yao Ming and Manu Ginobili. And Luis Scola and Serge Ibaka and Luol Deng.
DuPree: In my mind, there's 1992, and then there's all the other teams. You can flip a coin about which was the best of all the other teams. But '92 ain't in the coin flip.
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