Tuesday, August 28, 2012

WHY THE DREAM TEAM WAS A DREAM TO COACH (PART I)

The following comes from Chuck Daly's first team meeting with the 1992 Olympic "Dream Team."  But first, let's just review the Dream Team roster: Charles Barkely, Larry Bird, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Christian Laettner, Karl Malone, Chris Mullen, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson, and John Stockon!

Finally, Daly approached the most delicate subject, one even more frightening than terrosim since it was well within the realm of possibility.

"Look, there are twelve of you, and you're all All-Stars and future Hall of Famers," said Daly. "and there is no way I can get all of the minutes you're use to having on ----"

Magic and Jordan interrupted him.

"That isn't going to be a problem," said Jordan.

"We're here to win, and nobody is going to care about playing time, Chuck," Magic said.

Such problems, particularly the knotty one of minutes, are rarely solved that easily.  This one was.  Magic and Jordan said there would not be a problem, and that was that.

From "Dream Team" by Jack McCallum