I was just reading ESPN about the first dreamteam article. I never knew that Jordan agreed to go only if Isiah Thomas, a deserving candidate for the team, was not chosen. What is the story behind this?...... Does anyone know?
Jordan hated the Pistons and Isiah Thomas in particular. Isiah led a "freeze" against passing the ball to Jordan during Jordan's first all-star game so that Jordan wouldn't get the MVP and so Jordan would know his place (in other words, be deferrential to the veterans). That proceeded along until the Bulls and Pistons locked up in the playoffs a few years later and instituted the "Jordan rules." Which basically was beat the crap out of Jordan if he does anything except shoot jumpers. Etc., etc., etc. Much bad blood between the two. It is an often stated thing that Jordan kept Isiah off the dream team, but Jordan has denied it (not that anyone believes him).
Isiah Thomas definitely should have been on that first Dream Team, not that it would have mattered..They STILL would have won each game by 45 points
I don't know the details of the story...but I just never liked Zeke. The guy destroyed the CBA, quit on the Raptors....he's like a homewrecker. But he is one of the greatest point guards ever. I'm probably not one to judge since I never met the guy.
when was that a criterium for judging someone? judge away...i think he worked hard for the things he got in life but i still find him to be an a$$...
it's ridiculous that zeke was left off. i like chris mullin and he will be known for his dead-on shooting, but he shouldn't have been there. zeke should have. i hope that jordan and zeke don't still have a grudge...tha would be kinda pathetic
Definetley. If you're going to put NBA players in the Olympics, why have a token college player? Why not just go all-out, drop Laettner and add Thomas? Laettner looks very odd among all those greats. The perfect Dream Team would have had Thomas and Olajuwon instead of Laettner and Mullin. Unfortunatley, Isiah was left off for reasons already spoken of, and Dream wasn't a US citizen yet. Those subs would have made all members of the Dream Team Top 50 players. Unfortunately, they would have also left the team short of forwards. I guess you can't have everything.
Christian Laettner over Shaq no less. Shaq didn't have the collegiate career with the accolades of Laettner, but, c'mon, even then he was still Shaq.
The real travesty was that Mullin went as a SF instead of Dominique Wilkins. 1991-1992 stats Mullin -25.6 ppg 5.6 rpg 3.5 apg Wilkins -28.1 ppg 7.0 rpg 3.8 apg
Dominique was and still is one of the most underrated players in the history of basketball. How does Nique not make the top 75 when he is one of the few players with 25,000 pts. They had the nerve to put Bill Walton on the top 75. Anyone with any sense knew Shaq should have been there because even though Laetnerr was player of the yr, Shaq was the most dominant then. Zeke was screwed and why did they wait to put Clyde on there after being runner up mvp?
I don't agree with this statement at all. Nique was one of the most overrated players in the history of basketball. He was an above average scorer with many points but that's all he could do and he did it only on mediocre teams with no other scoring options.
Mullin deserved to be on that team. Statistically he was in the top 3 players overall at the time. He was top 10 in like every stat you could imagine. It shouldn't even be questioned. Wilkins probably deserved to be on the team, but not ahead of Mullin.
46-1 was the run, I believe. I can't recall the exact number for unanswered points though. Laettner was essentially picked to appease the purists who argued the Olympics are meant to honour amatuers, meaning the Dukester was the logical choice. With that said, a horrible, horrible selection. Azim da Dream
I guess 7 rebs didn't count I guess from the time Dominique got to atl in 83, they didn't eve factor in the playoffs either? I guess being the 5th all time scorer in the HISTORY OF THE NBA doesn't count for anything either. Some people just crack me up.
I think I heard about this thing during a Sportcentury on Isiah. But I thought it saidPippen said he wouldn't play if Isiah did? I wouldn't be surpised if Jordan did the same, though.
