duncan228
07-28-2008, 09:03 PM
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/basketball/2466701/Basketball-Team-USA-dream-of-old-glory.html
Basketball: Team USA dream of old glory
America’s 'Dream Team’ were in Las Vegas last week – high rollers in party town, a dangerous combination you would think – but sport’s highest earners were not splashing the cash and hitting the casinos. The Brat Pack they were not.
By Brendan Gallagher
Despite a season consisting of more than 100 competitive games for many of them, they were hard at work behind closed doors in a modest high school gym putting the finishing touches to their Olympic preparations. They – well, their predecessors who flew the NBA flag, to be precise – were humbled four years ago in Athens when they lost three matches and scraped a lowly bronze medal.
The United States expects much better, and if television ratings are to stack up next month, the Dream Team must deliver, along with swimming superstar Michael Phelps and others. And a Dream Team on business will render basketball among the hottest tickets in town.
Although slightly restricted by an agreement to not pick more than one player from any NBA franchise, they are wheeling out most of their big guns – Kobe Bryant, the Most Valuable Player last season, the League’s top scorer LeBron James plus quality acts such as Dwyane Wade, Michael Redd, Carmelo Anthony and Jason Kidd. They warmed up on Friday night with a 120-65 win over Canada in front of a capacity 18,498 crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas before heading west for two warm-up game in Macau and two more in Shanghai ahead of their opening game in the Olympics, against hosts China on Aug 10. Now that should be a game to relish.
This American side have the potential to excite and enviable strength in depth. Remarkably, none of the Boston Celtics squad, winners of the NBA title last month, made the cut, though Paul Pierce was ruled out through injury and Kevin Garnett was not put forward having contributed mightily to the Dream Team’s gold medal in Sydney eight years ago.
Four years ago, perhaps not quite realising how quickly the rest of the world had caught up, they were under-prepared and possibly lacking motivation. The dream became a nightmare and they do not intend to let that happen again. As long ago as 2005, coach Mike Krzyzewski asked those intending to make themselves available to clear the summer and commit to training camps and a proper warm-up programme.
“The 2004 team simply didn’t have enough practice time,” Krzyzewski says. “For too long we’ve been saying it’s our game. It’s really the world’s game. You can’t be arrogant and win. We need to be full on from day one to the end of the tournament.”
Indeed they do. They have an incredible legacy to live up to and the sporting world expects to be entertained in the process. Mere victory does not suffice for the Dream Team. The other factor this time around is that the NBA have advanced plans for a 12-team NBA China in the very near future – they will be building all 12 stadiums, each seating 20,000, as well as the Olympic venue in Beijing – and are keen to put on a show to reinforce their brand.
Two factors conspired to bring the Dream Team to fruition. Seismic changes in Olympic regulations in 1989 saw the amateurism legislation abolished and paved the way for full-time professionals from the NBA to compete in the tournament – hitherto the US had been represented by the outstanding college players of the era.
But the determination to throw the kitchen sink at the 1992 Olympics was born out of the unexpected failure in Seoul of the 1988 team who, despite including future NBA All-Stars David Robinson and Mitch Richmond, managed to lose 82-76 to the old Soviet Union and had to settle for a lowly bronze medal. At least the 1972 side, the first Team USA to lose the Olympic basketball title, had been a college team and were more than a little unlucky with officialdom during a frantic finale that saw the Soviets scrape home.
Post Seoul, the Americans decided to restore badly-dented national pride in Barcelona in 1992 and that meant bringing the full might of the NBA to bear. Never before or since has such an array of basketball talent been assembled on one court. Yes, they 'larged’ it off court with their five-star hotels and VIP treatment but they kept their part of the bargain come game time. In short succession they demolished every side in their path, starting with Angola (116-48) and finishing with a commanding 117-85 victory in the final against an exceptionally talented Croatia side. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Uncle Tom Cobbley and all. They were all there and pumping.
As Team USA coach Chuck Daly said: “You’ll see a team of professionals in the Olympics again, but I don’t think you’ll see another team quite like this. This was a majestic team.”
The class of ’96 were not far behind in talent and featured five members of the original Dream Team – Barkley, Malone, Pippen, Robinson, and Stockton – plus two legends of the modern game, Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal. Needless to say they romped to another gold medal with an average margin of victory of 32.3 points per game defeating Yugoslavia 95-69 in the final – though their swaggering attitude on home turf saw them labelled the 'Dirty Dozen’.
The Millennium team in Sydney were the first to experience the growing strength in the world game – their 85-76 win over Lithuania in a pool game was the first time the Dream Team had been held to a winning margin of less than 10 and they had to work flat out to beat France 85-75 in the final. Although lacking some of the charisma of their predecessors they did possess the remarkable emerging talent of Garnett and the raw athletic power of Vince Carter. The latter pulled off probably the greatest single moment of virtuosity of any Dream Team member in the final when he stole a ball, drove for the net and completed an astonishing slam dunk, despite the attentions of France’s massive 7ft 2in centre Frederic Weis. The so-called slam dunk of the century.
After struggling in several exhibition matches, the vulnerability of a less than vintage 2004 team was confirmed when Puerto Rico defeated them 92-73 in the first game of the Olympic tournament in Athens, the Dream Team’s heaviest reverse. It was only the third Olympic basketball defeat ever for Team USA but more was to follow as they also went down to Lithuania in their pool and then lost to Argentina 89-81 in the semi-finals. A bronze in the minor medal play-off against Lithuania simply wasn’t good enough.
The Dream Team are on a mission again.
Holding court
1992 Olympic squad (gold): Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Chris Mullin, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, John Stockton, David Robinson, Scottie Pippen, Clyde Drexler, Christian Laettner (coach: Chuck Daly).
1996 (gold): Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone, John Stockton, David Robinson, Gary Payton, Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway, Grant Hill, Reggie Miller, Mitch Richmond (coach: Lenny Wilkens).
2000 (gold): Kevin Garnett, Jason Kidd, Ray Allen, Vince Carter, Gary Payton, Tim Hardaway, Alonzo Mourning, Steve Smith, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Vin Baker, Allan Houston, Antonio McDyess (coach: Rudy Tomjanovich).
2004 (bronze): Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, Carlos Boozer, Carmelo Anthony, Stephon Marbury, Richard Jefferson, Lamar Odom, Emeka Okafor (coach: Larry Brown).
2008 Olympic squad: Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, Tayshaun Prince, Michael Redd, Deron Williams (coach: Mike Krzyzewski) (assistant coaches: Mike D’Antoni, Jim Boeheim, Nate McMillan).
Basketball: Team USA dream of old glory
America’s 'Dream Team’ were in Las Vegas last week – high rollers in party town, a dangerous combination you would think – but sport’s highest earners were not splashing the cash and hitting the casinos. The Brat Pack they were not.
By Brendan Gallagher
Despite a season consisting of more than 100 competitive games for many of them, they were hard at work behind closed doors in a modest high school gym putting the finishing touches to their Olympic preparations. They – well, their predecessors who flew the NBA flag, to be precise – were humbled four years ago in Athens when they lost three matches and scraped a lowly bronze medal.
The United States expects much better, and if television ratings are to stack up next month, the Dream Team must deliver, along with swimming superstar Michael Phelps and others. And a Dream Team on business will render basketball among the hottest tickets in town.
Although slightly restricted by an agreement to not pick more than one player from any NBA franchise, they are wheeling out most of their big guns – Kobe Bryant, the Most Valuable Player last season, the League’s top scorer LeBron James plus quality acts such as Dwyane Wade, Michael Redd, Carmelo Anthony and Jason Kidd. They warmed up on Friday night with a 120-65 win over Canada in front of a capacity 18,498 crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas before heading west for two warm-up game in Macau and two more in Shanghai ahead of their opening game in the Olympics, against hosts China on Aug 10. Now that should be a game to relish.
This American side have the potential to excite and enviable strength in depth. Remarkably, none of the Boston Celtics squad, winners of the NBA title last month, made the cut, though Paul Pierce was ruled out through injury and Kevin Garnett was not put forward having contributed mightily to the Dream Team’s gold medal in Sydney eight years ago.
Four years ago, perhaps not quite realising how quickly the rest of the world had caught up, they were under-prepared and possibly lacking motivation. The dream became a nightmare and they do not intend to let that happen again. As long ago as 2005, coach Mike Krzyzewski asked those intending to make themselves available to clear the summer and commit to training camps and a proper warm-up programme.
“The 2004 team simply didn’t have enough practice time,” Krzyzewski says. “For too long we’ve been saying it’s our game. It’s really the world’s game. You can’t be arrogant and win. We need to be full on from day one to the end of the tournament.”
Indeed they do. They have an incredible legacy to live up to and the sporting world expects to be entertained in the process. Mere victory does not suffice for the Dream Team. The other factor this time around is that the NBA have advanced plans for a 12-team NBA China in the very near future – they will be building all 12 stadiums, each seating 20,000, as well as the Olympic venue in Beijing – and are keen to put on a show to reinforce their brand.
Two factors conspired to bring the Dream Team to fruition. Seismic changes in Olympic regulations in 1989 saw the amateurism legislation abolished and paved the way for full-time professionals from the NBA to compete in the tournament – hitherto the US had been represented by the outstanding college players of the era.
But the determination to throw the kitchen sink at the 1992 Olympics was born out of the unexpected failure in Seoul of the 1988 team who, despite including future NBA All-Stars David Robinson and Mitch Richmond, managed to lose 82-76 to the old Soviet Union and had to settle for a lowly bronze medal. At least the 1972 side, the first Team USA to lose the Olympic basketball title, had been a college team and were more than a little unlucky with officialdom during a frantic finale that saw the Soviets scrape home.
Post Seoul, the Americans decided to restore badly-dented national pride in Barcelona in 1992 and that meant bringing the full might of the NBA to bear. Never before or since has such an array of basketball talent been assembled on one court. Yes, they 'larged’ it off court with their five-star hotels and VIP treatment but they kept their part of the bargain come game time. In short succession they demolished every side in their path, starting with Angola (116-48) and finishing with a commanding 117-85 victory in the final against an exceptionally talented Croatia side. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Uncle Tom Cobbley and all. They were all there and pumping.
As Team USA coach Chuck Daly said: “You’ll see a team of professionals in the Olympics again, but I don’t think you’ll see another team quite like this. This was a majestic team.”
The class of ’96 were not far behind in talent and featured five members of the original Dream Team – Barkley, Malone, Pippen, Robinson, and Stockton – plus two legends of the modern game, Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal. Needless to say they romped to another gold medal with an average margin of victory of 32.3 points per game defeating Yugoslavia 95-69 in the final – though their swaggering attitude on home turf saw them labelled the 'Dirty Dozen’.
The Millennium team in Sydney were the first to experience the growing strength in the world game – their 85-76 win over Lithuania in a pool game was the first time the Dream Team had been held to a winning margin of less than 10 and they had to work flat out to beat France 85-75 in the final. Although lacking some of the charisma of their predecessors they did possess the remarkable emerging talent of Garnett and the raw athletic power of Vince Carter. The latter pulled off probably the greatest single moment of virtuosity of any Dream Team member in the final when he stole a ball, drove for the net and completed an astonishing slam dunk, despite the attentions of France’s massive 7ft 2in centre Frederic Weis. The so-called slam dunk of the century.
After struggling in several exhibition matches, the vulnerability of a less than vintage 2004 team was confirmed when Puerto Rico defeated them 92-73 in the first game of the Olympic tournament in Athens, the Dream Team’s heaviest reverse. It was only the third Olympic basketball defeat ever for Team USA but more was to follow as they also went down to Lithuania in their pool and then lost to Argentina 89-81 in the semi-finals. A bronze in the minor medal play-off against Lithuania simply wasn’t good enough.
The Dream Team are on a mission again.
Holding court
1992 Olympic squad (gold): Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Chris Mullin, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, John Stockton, David Robinson, Scottie Pippen, Clyde Drexler, Christian Laettner (coach: Chuck Daly).
1996 (gold): Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone, John Stockton, David Robinson, Gary Payton, Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway, Grant Hill, Reggie Miller, Mitch Richmond (coach: Lenny Wilkens).
2000 (gold): Kevin Garnett, Jason Kidd, Ray Allen, Vince Carter, Gary Payton, Tim Hardaway, Alonzo Mourning, Steve Smith, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Vin Baker, Allan Houston, Antonio McDyess (coach: Rudy Tomjanovich).
2004 (bronze): Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, Carlos Boozer, Carmelo Anthony, Stephon Marbury, Richard Jefferson, Lamar Odom, Emeka Okafor (coach: Larry Brown).
2008 Olympic squad: Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, Tayshaun Prince, Michael Redd, Deron Williams (coach: Mike Krzyzewski) (assistant coaches: Mike D’Antoni, Jim Boeheim, Nate McMillan).