Olympic icons: the Dream Team saw, came, and conquered
The basketball world was forever changed on April 7, 1989, when the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) decided that players from all professional leagues would henceforth be allowed to participate in World Championships and the Olympics.
FIBA’s decision was motivated by two main reasons: the Americans wanted NBA players on their national team, and FIBA saw allowing the most famous and best players to compete on the international stage as an opportunity to popularize the sport and reap economic and reputational benefits.
The story of FIBA’s historic decision began a couple of years earlier. The 1987 Pan American Games were held in Indianapolis, USA, and the basketball tournament was arguably the most important part of the event. The hosts sent the top pick from the NBA Draft that year, David Robinson, and 1988 1st pick Danny Manning, but lost the final to Brazil 115-120. They were led by the legendary Oscar Schmidt, who scored 46 points.
A year later, Manning and Robinson were again in the lineup at the Seoul Olympics. The former could participate in the games because he was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs, but he only entered the NBA in 1989 due to naval service.
They had ample help with several future good players like Mitch Richmond and Dan Majerle. This quartet had been drafted but had not played in the NBA, thus not breaking any rules.
The young USA team started the tournament with six wins before losing to the Soviet Union 76-82 in the semifinals. Defeating Australia in the bronze medal game was little consolation, as Seoul marked the first Olympics where Americans did not reach the final.
A change was needed, and FIBA’s 1989 decision opened the door to creating the world’s most famous basketball team, which schooled everyone in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Shaq just missed out
In February 1991, Sports Illustrated envisioned what the USA’s starting lineup might look like in Barcelona. The magazine’s cover featured Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, and Karl Malone. Although they had yet to confirm their participation in Spain then, they were seriously considering it.
For example, Michael Jordan was not initially swayed by FIBA’s decision. He had little interest in the Olympics but changed his mind after a promotional tour in Europe in 1990, where he saw how popular basketball was in the Old World.
The first ten team members were announced in September 1991, and they were all stars. In addition to the players mentioned by Sports Illustrated – which also coined the team’s nickname “Dream Team” on that cover – Larry Bird, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Chris Mullin, and Robinson were included.
A few months before the tournament, it was revealed that the final professional player spot went to Clyde Drexler, narrowly beating out Jordan’s archrival Isiah Thomas. However, it’s said that the unpleasant feelings between the two did not play a role in the decision – Thomas had reportedly annoyed all the other team members as well.
The 12th member of the USA team was chosen from college. Instead of Shaquille O’Neal, Christian Laettner, who had a brilliant career at Duke, made the team. Unlike the other 11 players, who were massive stars, Laettner did not become a megastar in the NBA.
Several of the twelve players saw the summer games as more than just an opportunity to earn money, gold, and fame. While Ewing, Jordan, and Mullin had been crowned Olympic champions in Los Angeles in 1984, Malone had narrowly missed making the team and wasn’t happy about it.
Robinson had previously won an Olympic medal, but the bronze in Seoul was of little value. Johnson had put his career on hold in November 1991 due to HIV infection and later said that making the team gave him a lot of vitality. By the way, The Australian Olympic Committee threatened not to compete in Spain, fearing Johnson might infect other athletes. People from down under may have grumbled, but the rest of the world was on the American side.
A rough start
The Dream Team first met in June. It played two exhibition games against a team of top college players, with the NBA stars losing the first game 54-62.
However, according to one of his assistants, Mike Krzyzewski, head coach Chuck Daly threw the game: he limited Jordan’s minutes and substituted players randomly. Krzyzewski said Daly deliberately lost the game to show the NBA stars they were not unbeatable. The next day, the college players had no chance of winning.
At the end of June, the team began the Olympic qualifying tournament in Portland, where they steamrolled the competition. From there, they traveled to Monaco, spending more time on nudist beaches and in nightclubs than on the basketball court, but it didn’t matter – the USA was simply that good.
What wasn’t as nice was that once arriving in Barcelona, the Americans had trouble finding peace. Initially, the basketball stars were supposed to stay in the Olympic Village, but they were so popular that everyone wanted a picture with them – security guards, their children, and other Olympians.
Thus, they moved to a hotel in Barcelona, where the Americans occupied 80 of the 98 rooms. Fans weren’t allowed in the lobby, but they gathered on the street just to catch a glimpse of the NBA stars. “It was like combining Elvis and the Beatles,” Daly remarked aptly.
Finally, a few words about the Olympic tournament itself, which only deserves a few characters. The USA won all their games, defeating opponents by an average of 44 points. Their smallest victory margin was 32 points in the final against Croatia, led by the late Dražen Petrović and Toni Kukoč, who had signed with the Bulls that summer.
Although the USA dominated the Olympics, the Dream Team played a vital role in making basketball a worldwide sport. For many non-American players who reached the NBA, it was the dominance of the Dream Team in Barcelona that inspired them to pick up the ball and start practicing.
To try to be like Jordan, Bird, or Johnson. To dominate and lead their country to Olympic victory.
