Dream Team

The Dream Team was the unofficial title of the United States men's basketball team that won the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. New rules allowing professional athletes to play at the Olympics made it possible for the millionaires of professional basketball to compete.

The team featured Michael Jordan, probably the best basketballer in history, amongst a team who featuring many players regarded as amongst the best of all time:

• Charles Barkley
• Larry Bird
• Clyde Drexler[?]
• Patrick Ewing
• Magic Johnson
• Michael Jordan
• Christian Laettner[?]
• Karl Malone[?]
• Chris Mullin[?]
• Scottie Pippen[?]
• David Robinson
• John Stockton[?]

Because of this star line-up, the team's games usually started and began with the opposite team taking pictures of their opponents - their idols.

The team won all of its games by huge margins, beating Croatia in the gold medal game by 32 points. Whilst the opportunity to see the game's greats playing together was appreciated, the team's occasionally belittling attitude to opponents was not.

Coaching Staff

• HEAD COACH: Chuck Daly, New Jersey Nets
• ASSISTANT COACH: Lenny Wilkens, Cleveland Cavaliers
• ASSISTANT COACH: P. J. Carlesimo, Seton Hall Univ. (NJ)
• ASSISTANT COACH: Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University (NC)
• TEAM PHYSICIAN: David Fischer, Minneapolis, MN
• TEAM PHYSICIAN: Steve Lombardo, Los Angeles Lakers
• TEAM PHYSICIAN: Norman Scott, New York Knickerbockers
• ATHLETIC TRAINER: Ed Lacerte, Boston Celtics

Results at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona

• USA 116 Angola 48
• USA 103 Croatia 70
• USA 111 Germany 68
• USA 127 Brazil 83
• USA 122 Spain 81
• USA 115 Puerto Rico 77
• USA 127 Lithuania 76
• USA 117 Croatia 85

Final Standings

1. United States (8-0)
2. Croatia (6-2)
3. Lithuania (6-2)
4. Com. of Ind. States (5-3)
5. Brazil (4-4)
6. Australia (4-4)
7. Germany (3-5)
8. Puerto Rico (3-5)
9. Spain (3-4)
10. Angola (2-5)
11. Venezuela (2-5)
12. China (0-7)

Subsequent United States teams have had the "Dream Team" moniker attached, but with their increasingly less extraordinary performances (nearly losing to Lithuania at the 2000 Sydney Games, and being embarrassed into sixth place at the 2002 World Championships) many regard such a moniker as no longer appropriate.