Collect the Team
After the defeat of the American team lost to the Soviet Union 82-76 in 1988 Olympics, the 1989, International Basketball Federation (FIBA) voted to change the rule and allow NBA players to participate. Now for the first time, the best individuals could be brought together. Even the one nonprofessional player, Duke Blue Devils Christian Laettner is widely regarded as one of the best in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) history. He was the star player in two National Championship teams of 1991 and 1992. Think about that. The most junior player on team end up with an Olympic gold medal and the National Championship in the same year.
So skillful was this team the even with limited practice leading up to the Olympic Games they were able to defeat its opponents by an average of 44 points. Their first game was a lopsided victory of 136 to 57. So how do you make a dream team? You start with people who have the knowledge and experience. Also, they are capable and willing to do the job. Junior players are just ones who are still collecting their knowledge and experience.
Leadership and Respect
The leadership of the 1992 team was comprised of outstanding leaders. Head Coach Chuck Daly was head coach of the 1989 and 1990 National Basketball Association (NBA) champions Detroit Pistons. Peter Carlesimo coached in both the NBA and college basketball for nearly 40 years, Michael Krzyzewski was head coach at Duke University from 1980 to 2022, which included five national titles, 13 Final Fours, 15 ACC tournament championships, and 13 ACC regular season titles. Lenny Wilkens was a 9-time NBA All-Star player, 4 time NBA All-Star head coach, and head coach of the1979 NBA champions, Seattle Super Sonics. One notable thing about this leadership team was the great respect between the players and coaches. When in Monaco they were sounded by nude beaches and casinos, Coach Daily never placed a curfew on the team.
First you must realize that there is more than just gathering a group of talented individuals. A team is bigger than any one member. You have to have a different strategy. A great strategy requires great leadership and great leaders are like great players. They have experience, knowledge, and capable and willing to do the job.
(Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE)
Training and Learning
Head Coach, Chuck Daly knew he had individual talent, but he needed a team. A team may have the basics. They may have the desire. They may be passionate, but do they know how to win. They needed to keep training. The coaches knew their training time together was short.
Training is not the only thing you need for a great team. Experience is critical. With experience you learn and grow, but this team only had very limited time together. The team met for the first time in late June of 1992. It was obvious they would be a force to be reckoned with. However, the coaches knew one more thing. Not only does it take great talent it does take team building. They understood over confidence would end their run for the gold. Coach Chuck Daly brought in the top college players to form a team and to scrimmage against the Dream Team. A young team consisting of future professional players, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, Penny Hardaway, Allan Houston, Chris Webber, and Eric Montross met the Dream Team on June 24th and defeated them in a score of 62-54. Years later assistant coach Kryzewski intentional made poor substitutions and limited certain players like Michael Jordan to teach the NBA player they could be beaten. The next day the two teams met again and this time the Dream Team was allowed to operate in full capacity resulting in a decisive win.
This experience helped the team to enter the Tournament of the Americas less than a week later and showed the world who they were by defeating 127–80 victory over Venezuela in the final and advance to the Olympics.
Although they only had 6 days in Monaco, the coaches agreed that on top of 2 hour a day practices they would play against national teams in exhibition games. The coaches knew the national teams would be no match so in one of the final practice games, they split the team in two and had them scrimmage each other. Jordan later claimed it was the best game he was ever in.
As the Olympics ended, the closest of the eight matches was the USA's win of 117–85 victory over Croatia in the gold medal game. The Dream Team was the first Olympic team to score more than 100 points in every game. The world had seen something amazing.
(Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE)