Dream Team documentary

[MisterCreosote]

Sorry if this has been mentioned elsewhere, but I'm pretty excited to watch this tonight:

http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2012/06/13/dream-team-documentary-film-sheds-light-on-92-olympic-legends/

Not sure if it will shed any new light on the team, but I'm very interested to see the footage from their practices and scrimmages. I would've liked it if Isiah Thomas had agreed to be interviewed, as he is apparently vilified by a few people.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Covering them in Barcelona was an awesome experience. What I remember best is going to the mixed zone after a U.S. practice one off day and every player on the team, even Laettner, was surrounded by media of all forms from all known countries. Then, over in a corner by a potted palm, sat Chuck Daly. He was sitting down reading a newspaper, all alone. A couple of us U.S. writers went over to say hello, and he just looked up and started laughing.

 

[JackReacher]

Pretty pumped for this. Got it set to DVR tonight. Also recording the Jordan Flu game, which is on sometime this afternoon. I keep seeing that dumb commercial -- Gatorade? -- and it's made me want to go back and watch that game. Thankfully, NBA TV is making that happen.

The GQ oral history of the Dream Team was pretty damn good. Don't have a link handy, but it's easy enough to find. Unless you're Moddy.

 

[LongTimeListener]

There have been stories about a legendary Dream Team scrimmage, with Michael Jordan leading one team and Magic Johnson leading the other. Did you know that footage existed?

Yeah. Chuck Daly’s USA video staff had recorded these practices, and no one’s ever seen them before. The practice footage is incredible. Everything lives up to the legend of how those scrimmages really were more competitive than the games.

Boy, if they played that scrimmage for real instead of like an All-Star Game, I'd pay money for that video.

 

[Quakes]

Pretty pumped for this. Got it set to DVR tonight. Also recording the Jordan Flu game, which is on sometime this afternoon. I keep seeing that dumb commercial -- Gatorade? -- and it's made me want to go back and watch that game. Thankfully, NBA TV is making that happen.

The GQ oral history of the Dream Team was pretty damn good. Don't have a link handy, but it's easy enough to find. Unless you're Moddy.

The GQ oral history was nice, although it seemed to just scratch the surface of that story. I'm looking forward to Jack McCallum's book, which will be released next month. His website (http://www.jackmccallum.net/) has some interesting blog posts and behind-the-scenes stuff about some of the interviews he did with Dream Team members.

 

[ColdCat]

also looking forward to this
http://movies.netflix.com/movie/The-Other-Dream-Team/70229271
now someone just has to make a documentary about the Croatian team and we'll have the entire medal podium covered

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Don't get NBA TV - any chance I can view this elsewhere?

 

[LongTimeListener]

Love how the league's own channel is willing to air a movie that might as well be titled "Isiah Thomas Really Is A ****, Isn't He?"

Guessing that wouldn't have been possible five years ago.

 

[Starman]

Still preposterous that the fraud Laettner was selected to that team. There were 100 NBA players more deserving, starting with Isiah Thomas.

If I were Chuck Daly after the roster was selected, I would have announced publicly that Laettner was never going to set foot on the court -- not one second.

Of course, Daly was about the worst possible choice to coach that team, too.

 

[MightyMouse]

Don't get NBA TV - any chance I can view this elsewhere?

It's possible iTunes or someone will have it at some point.

 

[MightyMouse]

I remember in 1992 when my mom said we'd never see a team like that again.

I didn't understand why at the time, but the last 20 years really has made me appreciate just how special that era of the NBA really was.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Still preposterous that the fraud Laettner was selected to that team. There were 100 NBA players more deserving, starting with Isiah Thomas.

If I were Chuck Daly after the roster was selected, I would have announced publicly that Laettner was never going to set foot on the court -- not one second.

Of course, Daly was about the worst possible choice to coach that team, too.

And if they had to have a college guy on the team there were better choices there too. Starting with Chris Webber.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

And if they had to have a college guy on the team there were better choices there too. Starting with Chris Webber.

Coming off his freshman year? With the fab Five's trash-talking rep?

No chance.

Still preposterous that the fraud Laettner was selected to that team. There were 100 NBA players more deserving, starting with Isiah Thomas.

If I were Chuck Daly after the roster was selected, I would have announced publicly that Laettner was never going to set foot on the court -- not one second.

Of course, Daly was about the worst possible choice to coach that team, too.

While I enjoy your constant hatef%$#ing of all things Detroit sports, Isiah had no shot, and Daly was a fine choice. Looking back, it's a shame Riley or Jackson never got the chance, but oh well.

Laettner was one of the great college players of all time. They chose a Duke guy, with Duke coming off consecutive titles.

If they had to have a college kid, he was a good selection. Especially to make Coach K happy.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Piotr:

That trash-talk rep really didn' take hold til their sophomore year. Webber was a better fit for that team as a basketball player than Laettner was.

Here's the roster for the select team that beat the Dream Team:

http://www.usabasketball.com/mens/mdev_1992.html

If they had to have a college guy on the roster at least three of those guys- Webber, Jamal Mashburn & Grant Hill would have been better choices than Laettner.

Looking at that select roster, that probably would have been the Olympic team (with Laettner and maybe Jim Jackson & a couple others to round it out) had the pros not been playing.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

Piotr:

That trash-talk rep really didn' take hold til their sophomore year. Webber was a better fit for that team as a basketball player than Laettner was.

Here's the roster for the select team that beat the Dream Team:

http://www.usabasketball.com/mens/mdev_1992.html

If they had to have a college guy on the roster at least three of those guys- Webber, Jamal Mashburn & Grant Hill would have been better choices than Laettner.

Looking at that select roster, that probably would have been the Olympic team (with Laettner and maybe Jim Jackson & a couple others to round it out) had the pros not been playing.

I think ultimately they wanted a senior. Laettner was the Wooden Award winner. His accepted narrative was that he was a good kid (I know, I know). Duke was the flavor of the week at the time. Coach K was an assistant with the Dream Team.

It really was a no-brainer, based on circumstances.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Piotr:

That trash-talk rep really didn' take hold til their sophomore year. Webber was a better fit for that team as a basketball player than Laettner was.

Here's the roster for the select team that beat the Dream Team:

http://www.usabasketball.com/mens/mdev_1992.html

If they had to have a college guy on the roster at least three of those guys- Webber, Jamal Mashburn & Grant Hill would have been better choices than Laettner.

Looking at that select roster, that probably would have been the Olympic team (with Laettner and maybe Jim Jackson & a couple others to round it out) had the pros not been playing.

I think ultimately they wanted a senior. Laettner was the Wooden Award winner. His accepted narrative was that he was a good kid (I know, I know). Duke was the flavor of the week at the time. Coach K was an assistant with the Dream Team.

It really was a no-brainer, based on circumstances.

I don't disagree. My point is that they didn't pick the best player. They picked the best player that fit the profile they were looking for.

 

[LongTimeListener]

You guys are ****ed in the head if you think there was a better college basketball player than Christian Laettner in 1992. Don't let his NBA mediocrity fool you -- he is in the all-time top 10, maybe top five, of NCAA resumes. The maximum number of tournament games a team can play in four years is 24, and Laettner's Duke teams played in 23. For its era, that might be as impressive as UCLA's dynasty. And he was their tournament hero and savior in every one of those years.

 

[JC]

Still preposterous that the fraud Laettner was selected to that team. There were 100 NBA players more deserving, starting with Isiah Thomas.

If I were Chuck Daly after the roster was selected, I would have announced publicly that Laettner was never going to set foot on the court -- not one second.

Of course, Daly was about the worst possible choice to coach that team, too.

And if they had to have a college guy on the team there were better choices there too. Starting with Chris Webber.

Why would Webber have been a better choice? At the time the team was picked the only other player that would have been considered should have been Shaq. Webber would have been down the list.

Edit: LTL said it much better than I did.

 

[LongTimeListener]

I should also add that in the specific case of Webber, Laettner ate his lunch twice, including in the championship game.

 

[imjustagirl]

Jamal Mashburn?

Seriously?

Someone threw Jamal Mashburn out there?