Last week’s NBA TV documentary on the Dream Team brought basketball fans back to the summer of 1992 when nothing else mattered in the Barcelona Olympics except when the Dream Team was playing and how much they would win by. The team of elite NBA players included Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, John Stockton, Karl Malone, David Robinson, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Chris Mullin and collegiate standout Christian Laettner. The team defeated opponents by an average of 44 points on their way to bringing home the Olympic gold.
NBA TV will re-air “The Dream Team” Friday, Saturday and July 4-5. “The Dream Team,” gave the network its most-watched telecast ever on Wednesday evening, averaging 847,000 viewers, according to Nielsen. 
LOVE IT: Twenty years ago the only access we were given to the Dream Team was Ahmad Rashad’s “NBA Inside Stuff” program that aired on NBC and “Michael Jordan’s Playground” documentary that showed snippets of his Olympic highlights. This documentary takes us into the practices, on the team bus, inside the hotel, on the beach, and on the streets of Barcelona with the players. You will see your favorite legend getting dunked on and also doing the dunking. There is no way to avoid being scored on. It was greatness versus greatness. By getting access to team practices we get to see a rejuvenated Magic Johnson playing in full contact after a year away from the game due to contracting HIV and being deemed an outcast by his NBA counterparts. With Magic back in the fold we get to see him talking smack and leading his squad. Michael Jordan actually shows that he takes practice as serious as he takes the real game. The reverse layups and consistent jumpshot aren’t a fluke or something he only does when he is on TV. Air Jordan is the real deal and if you look very close you can see where Kobe Bryant gets his flair from.
We learn that Larry Bird and Patrick Ewing created a tight friendship while on the team even though they come from two different worlds. John Stockton is the only Dream Teamer that can roam the streets of Barcelona by himself because the fans do not recognize and some of the other players wish they had that luxury.
HATE IT: Hall of Fame point guard Isiah Thomas was not selected for the Dream Team even though he led his Detroit Pistons to two NBA championships. We never get a real answer as to why he did not make the team except a rare glimpse of a Michael Jordan interview in 1992 where he makes it clear that he wants to avoid all questions regarding Thomas. We never get an answer from Magic Johnson who was extremely close with Isiah during their playing days. The image we see is Thomas in 1991 leaving the basketball court with time on the clock after he realizes that Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls have eliminated his Pistons from the playoffs. This image of Thomas being a sore loser is suggested as a major reason why he was not chosen. Anyone who agrees with this should not use Isiah’s failures as an executive with the New York Knicks as a reason to justify something he earned decades earlier. What makes matters worse is that his Pistons coach Chuck Daily was the head coach of the Olympic team and did not come to his aid at the time as it was rumored that players such as Jordan and Johnson conspired to keep him off the team.
During their early practices the U.S. Olympic men’s team played a scrimmage with collegiate All-Stars including Chris Webber, Penny Hardaway, and Grant Hill. The young gunners beats the NBA icons and “The Dream Team” documentary states that coach Daly “threw the game” in order to teach the guys a lessons that they could be beat. Somehow Jordan wasn’t playing enough and Daly’s substitutions were inconsistent. No matter what reason they give, the NBA All-Stars lost to a group of college kids who were hungry. There is no excuse. They just lost.