WEBVTT - Boys To Men 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.120 This is The Dream Team Tapes, a Diversion Podcasts original 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:11.200 series in association with I Heart Radio. This is a 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:13.840 story of the United States Olympic basketball team that won 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:25.120 gold in Barcelona, known worldwide as the Dream Team. One 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:27.560 of the signposts we could use to begin the complete 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:32.440 Dream Team story is Believe it or Not nineteen thirty six. Well, 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:34.720 I guess we could go back to one when good 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:37.280 old James and a Smith hung up a peach basket 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:39.920 in the Springfield y m c A. But we all 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:44.040 know about that. In six, basketball became an Olympic sport 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:52.920 for the first time, right, no, I will, And it 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:56.240 happened at the much remembered Olympic Games, during which Adolf 0:00:56.360 --> 0:01:00.760 Hitler advanced the idea of aryan superiority and American track 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:05.240 athlete Jesse Owens, with four gold medals, promptly unadvanced it. 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:10.160 Welcome to episode two of the Dream Team Tapes, in 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:13.679 which we traced the history of Olympic basketball, including its 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:17.760 humble beginnings, and figure out how over the course of 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:22.160 a half century it advanced to the orgiastic celebration it 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:27.039 became in Yes, if you want both basketball and use 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:29.919 of the word orgiastic. You've come to the right place, 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:35.000 so let's travel back in time. Basketball was an afterthought 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:37.800 in those ninety six games, which were played on an 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:41.720 outdoor clay court that had become muddy and almost unplayable 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.480 by the finals, which the United States won by a 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:48.560 football like score of nine eight over Canada. M I 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:51.840 wonder if Steve Nash knew that the US Canada rivalry 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:55.720 goes all the way back to ninety six. One of 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:57.880 the stars of the United States team was a fellow 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:00.960 named Bill Wheatley, who was working for Globe Oil and 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:04.120 Refining at the time. He was an example of the 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:09.480 well eclectic method of selecting players. Back then, college basketball 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:12.120 was just a blip in the national radar, and the 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:15.240 stars of American hoops were just as likely to be 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:18.960 a AU players, generally tough but sure men who were 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:23.280 already in the workforce. Of course, the selection committee could 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:27.160 have sent a more formidable team had they chosen players 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:30.720 from either the original Celtics, a great touring team made 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:33.679 up of white players, or the New York Renaissance a 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:36.920 k a. The Renaissance Big Five or a k a. 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:41.760 The Harlem Wrens, comprised of African Americans, but the Celtics 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:45.320 were considered professionals and the Olympics were for amateurs, a 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:48.079 notion that was not quite as ridiculous back then as 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:51.079 it came to be, and the Wrens were black. Though 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:53.800 the Celtics and the Wrens frequently played against each other, 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:56.120 for the most part, basketball, like a lot of things 0:02:56.160 --> 0:03:01.080 back then, was strictly segregated. War canceled the four into Olympics, 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:04.760 but the games came back in and by that time 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:08.160 college basketball had started to become big in our sporting culture. 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:10.679 So the American stars of the team that won gold 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:15.239 in London they beat France in the final one, we're 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.160 players like Ralph Beard and Alex Groza, who were all 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:21.400 Americans in Kentucky, and oh yes, they were also two 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:23.880 of the players who a few years later were barred 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:28.239 from basketball for point shaving. Ah. Yes, that true Olympic spirit, 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:33.040 but precedent was set. Gradually, the a AU representation went 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:37.160 away and college players dominated the Olympic rosters as we 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:41.080 continued to win and win big. By mid century, we 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:44.680 reached the best version of the college led team, the 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:48.520 nineteen sixty gold medal team in Rome Co captained by 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:52.920 Oscar Robertson and Jerry West, the Magic Johnson and Larry 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:58.240 Bird of their time. Believe It victories in sixty and 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:00.760 sixty eight were followed by the strange goings on in 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:04.000 Munich nineteen seventy two, games that were marred by the 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.760 murders of eleven Israeli athletes as well as the West 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:11.960 German policeman. Now the card shows three seconds there is 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:14.200 time for the Russians to go to their big man, 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:23.599 Alexander bell Out. They're going to try Alexander Bellar between 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:30.279 two American defenders. Back there with you yet parts and 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:34.960 the Russian team is Bob Alexander Bella. At this time 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:38.279 it is over the infamous due over game. In fact, 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:40.440 that twice due over game that gave the Soviets the 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:43.640 gold medal and gave the United States its first loss 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.679 ever an Olympic competition. If you don't know the whole story, 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:50.520 google it. It's fascinating. Anyway, that final was considered an anomaly, 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:55.000 and our supremacy went on Golden Montreal in seventy six 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:58.880 and gold in Los Angeles and four spliced around the 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:03.279 nineteen eighty Boy cut that four team, which included Dream 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:07.359 teamers Michael Jordan's, Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullen, and was 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:10.400 so good that it cut Charles Barkley, John Stockton and 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:13.240 Karl Malone, none of whom should have been cut. By 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:17.120 the way, was a particular source of pride and joy. 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:21.039 Our college kids, though younger and unpaid, played for the 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:23.480 love of the game, and damn it, we were still 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:27.839 better than anyone else. But then we come to the 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:32.360 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, our critical trip down court, 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:35.039 Smith tan Head at the Sabonis has the rebound for 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:40.440 the Sauviettes, Tate Sock, they'll break the pressure, and here 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:45.239 it comes Martial Nas, Sabonis and Kurt Nitas is fouled 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:47.279 as Paul's had to cut in to say these He've 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.400 asked at four files on him. You heard the announcer 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:53.200 Dick Nburgh say three names in that brief clip, Sa Bonus, 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:57.599 Marciaonis and Kirk Nitas. All three played for the Soviet Union. 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:01.520 All three were better prepared at that moment to win 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:04.560 a gold medal than anyone from the United States. For 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:08.599 these eight games, which are best remembered for Ben Johnson's 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:13.440 amazing one final win over Carl Lewis followed by Johnson's 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:18.000 drug suspension that also changed forever the perception of college 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:23.359 players representing the United States in the Olympic Games. Here's 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:26.039 David Robinson, who was supposed to be the star of 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:31.880 that team, talking about his first surprising and disappointing meeting 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:41.640 with that Olympic coach. Why not you have another go? 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:46.120 It's pretty good? I was thinking, why wouldn't he said, 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:49.039 you're not gonna make the he David is referring to 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:53.480 as John Thompson, who coached that team in Seoul. You 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:58.600 can't pass, you know your your basketball skills are a home. 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.159 I mean, maybe that was just John Thompson's head game. 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:06.640 Let's hope so, because one would hope that John wasn't 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:10.400 that bad at judging basketball talent. Now, over the years, 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:14.480 Thompson has gotten much criticism for the team's embarrassing bronze 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:18.480 medal finish. But Thompson was simply in the wrong headspace. Damn, 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:21.120 I hate that expression, but there it is, and a 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:24.000 dozen other college coaches would have been there too. He 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:27.400 was slow to realize how good international basketball had become. 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:30.880 He was slow to realize how subtly different Olympic rules 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:34.880 were from what was played in NCAA basketball. He was 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:38.200 slow to realize that other countries, especially the Soviet Union 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:41.200 which won the gold and Yugoslavia, which won the silver, 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:46.360 were sending polished professionals who had learned the game for Americans. Meanwhile, 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:49.520 we were sending younger college players who were still learning 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.960 the game. Thompson was slow to realize that perhaps someone 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:55.600 else should have been coaching the team, but Big John 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:59.080 was part of an ingrained system. Our Olympic teams were 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:02.640 manned by colle uch players and coached by college coaches, 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:09.040 all of whom had paid their dues. The next college coach, Ah, 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:12.440 it would almost certainly be that dues paying genius at 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:16.400 Duke Mike Sassky, but that never happened. The Eight Eight 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:19.040 Games was a watership. The last time we sent our 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:23.160 college kids, the basketball world was about to change. The 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:25.320 next boy she'll hear will be that of the late 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:28.080 great Boris Nankovic, who, at the time the Dream Team 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:31.880 was formed, was Secretary General of PHOEBA, which is the 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:37.200 Federation International Day Basketball. Boris, and Boris alone saw the future. 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:39.760 He was the one that thought you know what if 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.320 we play people better than us and they beat us 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:45.200 by a hundred points, so what that will make us 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:47.839 better in the end. Here's Boris. It's a little hard 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:51.560 to understand, but Boris is English is infinitely better than 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:57.240 my Serbian, which is non existent. The future then only 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:03.719 with the vetter that Stankovic was an interesting cat. He 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:06.240 was sort of the Yugoslavian version of the late great 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:11.640 David Stern, Intelligent, far sighted, and suddenly, very subtly, more 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:15.880 suddenly than Stern, in love with power. Stankovic was a 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:18.880 utility player on the Yugoslavian team that competed in the 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:23.440 first Feeble organized World Championships in nineteen fifty in Argentina. 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:27.800 We finished nights, Stankovic told me. And there were nine 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:32.240 teams anyway. Boris had long been a fan of American basketball, 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:35.840 and after he joined FIBA, he was sent to America 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:38.920 to better learn the game. He traveled all around and 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:43.040 saw mostly college games, and Bill Walton was his favorite player. 0:09:44.200 --> 0:10:00.959 Boor Stankovic amazing, man, amazing, that's my Bill Walton. I 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:02.640 had met Boris a couple of times back in the 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:04.640 eighties when he was in the height of his FABA power. 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:06.760 But by the time I interviewed him for the Dream 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:08.640 Team book in two thousand and ten, he was pretty 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:11.559 much retired. I caught up to him in his Stanbul, 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:14.559 who was during the World Basketball Championships. But the main 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:17.920 reason I went was to talk to Boris. Well, that 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:20.599 and to eat Turkish food with my wife, which is 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:24.040 absurdly good. So Boris, by that time was the eminence 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:27.840 Grease of international basketball. While we were talking, people came 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:30.200 by and just stared at him, much like they would 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:32.760 stare at David Stern. You could tell Boris loved it, 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:35.600 But I mean, who wouldn't write. When I sat down 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:37.680 to start the book, I decided to make the Stankivic 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:41.599 story chapter one, and something about his bio really struck me. 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:44.160 For much of his early life, Boris had been a 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:48.360 meat inspector in Belgrade in his native Yugoslavia. My job 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.040 was to look over the meat and cheese and as 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:53.560 you do here, put a stamp on it. Boris told 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:56.960 me that really struck me. David Stern, more or less 0:10:57.000 --> 0:11:01.360 his counterpart, was the child of New York City Delhi operators. Still, 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:04.439 Stern went to Columbia law and started in New York 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:07.840 City with a high powered law firm. Boris was slapping 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:11.160 meat and smelling cheese. Hit me for another reason too. 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:14.160 I grew up working in my father's meat market. So 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:17.400 I titled the first chapter The Inspector of Meat, and 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:19.480 it gave me kind of a format for the rest 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:23.120 of the book. Every subsequent chapter began with a V. 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:27.520 David Robinson was the Christian soldier, Jordan was the chosen one, 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:30.199 and so on. It was a little thing, but it 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:34.160 helped anyway. The Inspector of Meat was convinced that international 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:36.920 basketball would not grow if the greatest players in the world, 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:40.520 those in the NBA, did not interact with the rest 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:43.000 of the world. There was a proviso in effect back 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:49.280 then that specifically forbade international players from playing against NBA players. 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:52.680 It was the worst case of pearl clutching. Oh my god, 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:56.760 our lads will be sullied by playing against the dastardly prose. 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:58.920 But it was a sham, of course, since every other 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:04.480 nation routinely sent its professionals into international competition. Now did 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:09.120 they make the millions earned by American professionals. No, they 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:13.000 were still pros sports was their living. Oscar Schmidt, who 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:15.800 played for Brazil, an excellent shooter who never met a 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:18.120 shot he didn't like, by the way, was making a 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:21.360 half million dollars playing hoops. So to get NBA players 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:24.719 into the Olympics, Stankovic had to change FEBA rules and 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:28.360 began lobbying to do so as early as nineteen eighties. 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:34.040 Three in the resolution for allowing professionals to play almost passed. 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.360 The vote was thirty one twenty seven, the two most 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:40.880 notable negative votes cast by the United States and the 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:45.120 Soviet Union. But by the late nineteen eighties the winds 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:48.760 of change were strong, despite the fact that USA and 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:52.280 the Soviet Union still voted against it. The resolution that 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:55.560 open basketball should be the rule of fiber was passed 0:12:55.640 --> 0:13:01.439 in April of nine, and there was overwhelming joyous triumphant 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:06.160 cheers throughout our land. Not really, almost nobody in the 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:11.240 United States noticed. Almost nobody gave a damn, including David Stern. 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:13.080 I don't think we were through the act. We had 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:15.599 no idea what we might be getting into. You know, 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:18.640 the Olympics is that it didn't it didn't you know, 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:21.040 it didn't pick up steam until after it passed. It 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:24.760 was okay, now what do we do? So let's unpack 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:27.040 that a little bit. Why did the United States vote 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:29.960 against open competition which would open the door for pros 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:33.679 and the Olympics. Very simply, the Olympics were not on 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:37.800 David Stern's radar. In truth, they weren't on anyone's radar 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:41.199 beside bar of Snakovics. True, Stern had drawn up TV 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:44.400 deals with several European countries, and the league had even 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:47.880 stepped its toe into international play. But Stern was not 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:51.280 thinking about the Olympics with those TV contracts and those games. 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:55.959 He was thinking about the bottom line. TV meant revenue, 0:13:56.640 --> 0:14:01.760 game exposure meant marketing opportunities, And even to this visionary commissioner, 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:05.480 the idea of the NBA participating in the Olympics was, 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:08.559 for the first six or seven years of the decade 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:12.600 of the eighties, a non starter. How could the Olympics 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:16.440 be monetized? How could that help anyway? Our college lads 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:19.840 represented the Olympic team, right, But things started to change. 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:24.600 Stankovic had support around the world. The world was getting smaller, 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:27.400 the game was getting bigger. Then it was that beating 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:31.640 and sold in that demonstrated the world was catching up 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:35.360 to us. And there was also this man who Larry 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:39.040 Bird speaks about. I love Dave. Dave gas one of 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:43.040 the smartest human thingy loss. I wanted to hang out 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:45.680 with That's what it was, if he wanted me to 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:48.320 hang out with him. A man named Dave Gavitt has 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:51.240 a central part in the Stream Team saga, and, along 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:54.120 with Boris Stankovic, is one of the forgotten men of 0:14:54.200 --> 0:15:07.200 the Stream Team story. An amateur basketball circles, Gavitt had 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:09.680 done it all, seen it all, had been a successful, 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:12.680 respected coach and athletic director. He had been one of 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:15.440 the masterminds behind the creation of the Big East Conference, 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:18.760 and most impressive, he was the moving force behind the 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:22.320 expansion of the n c A basketball tournament into a 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:26.000 billion dollar bonanza. So it was natural that when an 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:30.000 organization called USA Basketball was formed, Gavitt would be the 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:32.320 one to let it. Most men who had been around 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:34.840 the college game for as long as Gavitt had were 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:38.680 hide bound traditionalists NBA players in the Olympics, why do 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:42.120 you kid me, this is a college game? But Gavitt 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:46.520 wasn't like that. Gavitt saw the future, Embrace the future. 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:49.600 He had bargained with the slickst of the slick network 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:53.400 TV executives to get serious jack for college hoops. So 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:55.600 he was the one that could step into David Stern's 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:59.800 office without being intimidated and tell him what's what, Which 0:15:59.880 --> 0:16:03.560 is what he did. When Stern suggested, look, we'll just 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:08.240 buy the Olympics, Gavitt was the one that said to him, David, 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:11.560 We're not going to buy the Olympics. The Olympics belongs 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:15.120 to the country. What I remember most about Gavitt was 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:19.400 that he was both businessman and visionary romantic about basketball. 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:21.680 I interviewed him for the book not long before he 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:24.280 died at the age of seventy three and two thousand eleven, 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.960 and over lunch he told me this story. He was 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:30.480 coaching a touring college all star team at a game 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:33.400 in Assens. We were playing a night game and there 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:36.760 must have been thirty thousand people there and the Acropolis 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:39.240 was in the background with a full moon. Gathertt remembered, 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:42.680 I had chills. I love that story and often think 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:45.600 about when I think of Gavitt. After Gavitt had cast 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:49.040 a no vote on behalf of the United States, even 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:52.440 though he knew the resolution was going to pass, which 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:55.560 it did, he asked for the floor. Now that we've 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:58.360 done this, Gavitt told the feb reps, you need to 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:01.440 realize a few things and help us. We're dealing with 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:05.280 a powerful organization in the NBA, and we're gonna have 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:09.080 to get your cooperation with dates and things like that. 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:12.719 So the NBA was ready. It had a good man 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:16.760 and Dave Gabett ready to take charge. What it didn't 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:20.280 have was the NBA stars. Here's Charles Barkley and Larry 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:23.400 Bird who were coming at this Dream Team thing from 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:26.720 two distinctly different directions, and everyone in the first five 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:30.879 it was a big, beautiful Nobody put all five us 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:34.400 on the cover illustrated and but one thing I didn't 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:36.760 want to do is go over there and not built 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:39.680 to play at all and take away a chance for 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:43.000 somebody else to have officer. So Charles was gung ho 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:47.440 and Larry was worried about his back. Twenty eight years 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:50.000 after the Dream Team won Golden Barcelona, there is still 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:54.640 mystery surrounding how exactly the team was selected. There weren't tryouts. Hey, 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:56.960 Michael Jordan listened, would like you to take a couple 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.560 of days off from golf and come out to Indianapolis. 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:02.359 Or some o their godforsaken place. You wouldn't set foot 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:05.639 in and run through some drills that was not going 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:08.520 to happen. There was a selection committee, but really some 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:12.560 of the players selected themselves. Magic wants in. He's in. 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.480 Carl Malone wants in. He's in. Jordan once in, of 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:20.720 course he's in. Charles Barkley wants in. Charles not so fast. 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:24.280 So in the next episode of The Dream Team Tapes, 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:28.040 I'll discuss how this team came together, some of the 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:31.920 inner intrigue and lasting antagonism that came out of the 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:36.840 Dream Team selection process. I'm calling it hrding cats. Thanks 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:46.360 for listening. If you enjoyed The Dream Team Tapes, please follow, rate, 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:50.760 and review wherever you get your podcasts. The Dream Team 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:55.639 Tapes is written and hosted by Jack McCallum. Executive producers 0:18:55.880 --> 0:19:00.840 Mark Francis and Scott Waxman. Executive producer for I Heart 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:04.800 Media is Shorn to Tone. The Dream Team Tapes is 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:09.760 a Diversion podcast's original series in association with I Heart Radio. 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:14.119 For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:18.520 Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:19.600 your favorite shows.