The Dream Team was assembled after the United States finished with a bronze medal in the 1988 Summer Olympics held in Seoul, South Korea.
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This was unacceptable for a country that had dominated basketball in the Olympics since the sport’s introduction in 1936. To ensure that such a result would not happen again, the Olympic Committee decided to assemble the best possible team.
The Dream Team dominated its opponents in the 1992 Summer Olympics. They ended up winning all of their games by an average margin of 43.8 points.
Its players were a who’s who of basketball greats, including Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, and John Stockton.
The team’s coach was Chuck Daly, who was known for his ability to manage superstar egos and get them to play as a team. However, Daly couldn’t get his own NBA superstar into the team – one Isiah Thomas.
Isiah Thomas admits that his Dream Team snub got him more publicity than if he were a member
Isiah Thomas was recently a guest with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on the All the Smoke Podcast. The 2-time NBA champion spoke with the duo for over 3 hours, with the second part of the interview released yesterday.
As expected in an interview of this length, Thomas touched upon his feelings about his Dream Team snub. The 61-year-old believes that in a twisted way, the Dream Team snub has actually done him some good:
“Do I feel like I should have been on it? Absolutely! But let me say this: Me not making it has given me more pub(licity) than if I would’ve made it. There’s always some good and some bad with it. So I like the fact that the people acknowledge (it), even though the institutions don’t acknowledge (it).”
Who was responsible for Isiah Thomas being snubbed?
Reports from many quarters in the past hinted that it was Michael Jordan who’d put his foot down on Isiah. However, this version of events has been challenged via some recent revelations.
Magic Johnson had had some bad blood with Isiah because of the latter’s comments about his HIV-positive status. He admitted in an interview that he’d specifically asked the selection committee to omit his 2-time Finals rival.
The same went with Scottie Pippen, who was arguably the second-best performer on the Dream Team squad. Pippen had also vehemently campaigned for the exclusion of the Pistons star.
With so many dissenting voices involved, coach Chuck Daly had to understandably heed the wishes of his team.
