“It was beautiful…There was the Magic era, the Jordan era” – Former USA Basketball coach outlines the potential the Dream Team had
In all of basketball's history, the Dream Team stands alone as the greatest group of talent ever assembled. After years of sending college players to the Olympics, rulings changed that allowed NBA players to compete on the international stage.
It's been 20 years since this group won gold at the 1992 Olympics. And there still hasn't been a team that can come close to comparison in terms of talent. Some of the most notable names on the roster include Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Scottie Pippen and Charles Barkley.
One person heavily connected to USA men's basketball is longtime Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. When the Dream Team was assembled, "Coach K" served on the staff as an assistant coach.
Krzyzewski has been around his fair share of good teams, and nothing compares to the squad from 1992. During a recent interview with Esquire, Coach K touched on how special it was to have so many different eras come together on one team.
"It was beautiful. Those guys, still all of the guys are friends. And there were eras there. There was the Magic era, the Jordan era. They combined a lot of years and successes to make that team."
Coach K believes the Dream Team could have been better
Outside of one hiccup in a scrimmage against college players, the Dream Team were always head and shoulders above the competition. In their journey to securing a gold medal, most games ended in blowouts.
Even with Jordan and company easily taking care of the competition, Coach K still believes they could have been better. He feels that if every player was in their prime then they would have been unstoppable.
"The amount of talent, it wasn't as current, all the guys, in their careers. In other words, Magic had been out, Bird was injured.
"When you're talking about Pippen, Drexler, Ewing, those guys were in their prime, or even still getting better. Then you had a few guys who were at the end of their careers. All those guys, they were unbelievable to watch. If they were all in their prime? Forget it."
Magic Johnson and Larry Bird dominated the NBA through the 1980s. But by the time the Dream Team was assembled, they were near the end of the line. Had they been in their prime along with Michael Jordan, it wouldn't have mattered what other players were around them.
Some groups might come close, but there will never be another collection of superstar talent on one roster like the Dream Team.