Dream Team : How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever

by MCCALLUM, JACK

• ISBN13: 9780345520487
• ISBN10: 0345520483
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-07-10
• Publisher: Ballantine Books

Summary

They were the Beatles of basketball, the MercurySeven in sneakers. In Dream Team,acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum delivers the untold story of the greatest team ever assembled: the 1992 U.S. Olympic Men's Basketball Team that captivated the world, kindled the hoop dreams of countless children around the planet, and remade the NBA into a global juggernaut. As a senior staff writer for Sports Illustrated,McCallum enjoyed a courtside seat for the most exciting basketball spectacle on earth, covering the Dream Team from its inception to the gold medal ceremony in Barcelona. For the duration of the Olympics, he lived with, golfed with, and-most important-drank with some of the greatest players of the NBA's Golden Age: Magic Johnson, the ebullient showman who shrugged off his recent diagnosis of HIV to become the team's unquestioned captain and leader; Michael Jordan, the transcendent talent at the height of his powers as a player-and a marketing juggernaut; and Charles Barkley, the outspoken iconoclast whose every utterance on and off the court threatened to ignite an international incident. Presiding over the entire traveling circus was the Dream Team's beloved coach, Chuck Daly, whose laissez-faire approach proved instrumental in getting the most out of such disparate personalities and superstars such as Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, and Scottie Pippen. Drawing on fresh interviews with the players, McCallum provides the definitive account of the Dream Team phenomenon. He offers a behind-the-scenes look at the controversial selection process. He takes us inside the team's Olympic suites for late-night card games and bull sessions where the players debate both the finer points of basketball and their respective places in the NBA pantheon. And he narrates a riveting possession-by-possession account of the legendary July 1992 intrasquad scrimmage that pitted the Dream Teamers against one another in what may have been the greatest pick-up game-and the greatest exhibition of trash talk-in history. In the twenty years since the Dream Team first captivated the world's attention, its mystique has only grown-and so has its influence. The NBA is now flush with international stars, many of them inspired by the exuberant spirit of '92. Dream Teamvividly re-creates the moment when a once-in-a-millennium group of athletes came together, outperformed the hype, and changed the future of sports-one perfectly executed fast break at a time. The Dream Team was . . . Michael Jordan, Guard, Chicago Bulls Magic Johnson, Guard, Los Angeles Lakers Larry Bird, Forward, Boston Celtics Charles Barkley, Forward, Phoenix Suns Chris Mullin, Forward, Golden State Warriors Scottie Pippen, Forward, Chicago Bulls John Stockton, Guard, Utah Jazz Karl Malone, Forward, Utah Jazz David Robinson, Center, San Antonio Spurs Patrick Ewing, Center, New York Knicks Christian Laettner, Forward, Duke University Clyde Drexler, Guard, Portland Trailblazers

Table of Contents

Thumbnail Sketches	p. xi
Introduction	p. xix
Prologue: The Dream Team Gets a Name	p. xxiii
Before The Dream
The Inspector of Meat-Pros in the Olympics? It Was His Idea, and Don't Let Anyone Tell You Different	p. 5
The Chosen One-Sneaker Porn Is Born	p. 10
The Commissioner and the Inspector of Meat-The NBA Sticks a Tentative Toe into International Waters	p. 15
The Legend-"I'm the Three-Point King"	p. 19
The Outcast-Isiah Throws It Away … Then Throws It AM Away	p. 25
The Magic Man-With a Junior Skyhook, He Claims' His Place on Top	p. 28
The Shooter-Mullin Puts Down the Bottle and Puts Up the Numbers	p. 34
The Christian Soldier-The Admiral Takes an Olympic Fall	p. 38
The Chosen One-And So Does a Fork Become a Holy Relic	p. 44
The Old Guard-Here Today … Gone Real Soon	p. 48
The Shadow Man-For the Kid from Nowheresville, Arkansas, Playing Alongside Michael Could Be a Real Headache	p. 55
Interlude, 2011: The Shadow Man-"Michael Got Away with a Lot of Things"	p. 61
The Coach-A Man of Both Style and Substance	p. 66
The Jester-Sir Charles Wants to Be an Olympian … He Just Doesn't Always Act Like One	p. 74
The Committee and the Dream Team-Okay, Superstars, Prepare for Deification. … Uh, Isiah? Not So Fast	p. 81
The Chosen One-Michael Seems to Have It All… But 'All" Comes with a Burden	p. 90
The Spokane Kid and the Outcast-Isiah Sends an Olympic Message … and the Mailman Follows with a Special Delivery	p. 95
The Dukie-Wanted: College All-American … Must Perform Scut Duty on Summer Vacation	p. 103
The Glide-Clyde's on the Team, and Jordan Shrags	p. 109
Interlude, 2011: The Glide-"Jordan Was Damn Good … But Was He Better Than Me?"	p. 114
The Dream Unfolds
The Writer-And So It Begins … at a Cattle Call in San Diego	p. 121
The Magic Man-For a Man Who's Dying, He Sure Looks Pretty Alive	p. 128
Interlude, 2011: The Magic Man-"It's My Mind-Set That's Kept Me Alive"	p. 138
The Coach-Chuck Has a Message for His Assistants: Make Sure to Ignore	p. 143
The One-Day Wonders-These Were the Best Days of His Life. … Surely Grant Hill's Wife Understands	p. 150
The Writer-The Action Begins in Portland and Everyone Wants a Piece	p. 256
The Legend-Larry Shoots and Scores … and at Night Lies Awake in Pain	p. 164
The Kid from Spokane-Daly Had a Pistons Phone Number in His Hand … and It Wasn't Isiah's	p. 176
Interlude, 2011: The Kid from Spokane-"You're Not Writing That Down, Are You?"	p. 181
The Chosen One-So Many Balls to Sign … and Jordan Almost Reaches His Breaking Point	p. 184
The Writer, the Jester, and the Christian Soldier-Monsieur Barkley Will Indeed Take a Hit on 19	p. 192
Interlude, 2011: The Christian Soldier-And What Shall a Man Do with All His Gifts?	p. 204
The Greatest Game That Nobody Ever Saw-"They Just Moved Chicago Stadium to Monte Carlo. That's All They Did"	p. 210
The Writer-"There's Helicopters Up There-This Shit Is Serious!"	p. 231
The Jester and the Angolan-"I Did Not Know That He Would Make Violence with Me"	p. 241
The Kukoc Game-"They Were like Mad Dogs on Toni"	p. 250
The Coolest Room in the World-"Charles, We're Sorry, but This Is a Ring Table. …"	p. 258
Interlude, 2011: The Chosen One-"I Know My Father Was Up There Watching Me"	p. 272
The Tie-Dyed Darlings-Sabonis Wins Bronze, Then Sleeps It Off	p. 278
The Gold, the Flag, and the Chosen One-Some Wear Old Glory … Though Not in the Service of Patriotism	p. 286
The Aftermath-Michael/Magic/Larry … and Then There Were None	p. 297
The Impact-"We Were Like Actors in a Play"	p. 311
Epilogue: The Legend-"I Would've Like to Have Touched Gold When I Was a Kid"	p. 326
Acknowledgments	p. 331
Index	p. 335
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