Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever

by Jack McCallum

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
 
Acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum delivers the untold story of the greatest team ever the 1992 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team. As a writer for Sports Illustrated, McCallum enjoyed a courtside seat for the most exciting basketball spectacle on earth, covering the Dream Team from its inception to the gold medal ceremony in Barcelona. Drawing on fresh interviews with the players, McCallum provides the definitive account of the Dream Team phenomenon. He offers a behind-the-scenes look at the controversial selection process. He takes us inside the team’s Olympic suites for late-night card games and bull sessions where superstars like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird debated the finer points of basketball. And he narrates a riveting account of the legendary intrasquad scrimmage that pitted the Dream Teamers against one another in what may have been the greatest pickup game in history. In the twenty years since the Dream Team first captivated the world, its mystique has only grown. Dream Team vividly re-creates the moment when a once-in-a-millennium group of athletes came together and changed the future of sports—one perfectly executed fast break at a time.
 
With a new Afterword by the author
 
“The absolute definitive work on the subject, a perfectly wonderful once-you-pick-it-up-you-won’t-be-able-to-put-it-down book.”— The Boston Globe
 
“An Olympic hoops dream.”— Newsday
 
“What makes this volume a must-read for nostalgic hoopsters are the robust portraits of the outsize personalities of the participants, all of whom were remarkably open with McCallum, both then and now.”— Booklist (starred review)

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Basketball, History, Biography, Audiobook, American History

358 pages, Paperback

First published July 10, 2012

Reviews

[evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Without giving away too much, here are my top 5 anecdotes from Jack McCallum's incredible book about the original Dream Team.

1) Michael Jordan stayed up all night before the gold medal game vs. Croatia: playing cards and smoking cigars until dawn, filming a special video for the NBA, and even getting in a round or two of golf -- all before, you know, playing the game of basketball at the highest possible level, and helping the US secure the gold medal. Which admittedly wasn't that hard, but still!

2) Christian Laettner - team douchebag. Pretty much everything you've always thought about his is confirmed. When the rest of the team would show up to events in suits and ties, he'd be all bro'ed out in sweatpants and t-shirts, not givin' a fuck. This is why all normal people hate Duke and everyone who went there, forevermore.

3) Arvydas Sabonis was too drunk to join the rest of team Lithuania for the medal ceremony. Background: Lithuania won the Bronze medal in '92, which is a great story itself - this was a highly charged atmosphere for them (right after the Soviet Union dissolved - they beat the Russian "Unified Team" to secure their medal - a victory that was, rightfully, celebrated worldwide). As an added bonus, the Grateful Dead supported the team and gave them sweeeeet tie-dyed uniforms, which is hilarious and awesome.

Anyway, turns out the team had some time to kill before receiving their medals, and Sabonis got into a vodka chugging contest with himself and had to sleep it off. Classic Arvydas, eh?

4) Ping pong, unsurprisingly, was just one of the fun, competitive activities that the Dream Teamers, their families, and other dignitaries/hangers on would engage in at the Ambassador hotel in Barcelona, in between the beat-downs of all the other countries lucky/unfortunate enough to be in Team USA's path in 1992. Shockingly, here is the hierarchy of the top players in the Dream Team contingent:

1) Laettner
2) David Stern(!)
3) MJ.

Yes, David Stern is apparently a bad-ass at ping pong. (Insert joke about rigging the NBA lottery here.)

5) Every detail of "The Greatest Game that Nobody Ever Saw," the infamous team scrimmage that Coach Chuck Daly organized at the team's practice facility in Monte Carlo. The greatest collection of basketball players ever, playing hard, talking trash, the works. McCallum goes play-by-play through this exhibition, and I can't describe the jealousy I experienced when reading it. Oh, to have been there.

Highly recommend this book for any basketball junkies, or fans of longform sports journalism in general.

[Andre · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was highly disappointed in this book. Instead of being about the Dream Team, it was more about Jack McCallum’s experience covering the Dream Team. It was not about the players, the team, and what they meant to the Olympics so much as it was about the author’s feelings about them. The end product was not very enjoyable. It was, in fact, highly disappointing.


The biggest takeaway for me was that McCallum’s just not good at writing long, book-length pieces. From chapter to chapter, the narrative was disjointed. It did not feel like one cohesive work, but rather a series of independent essays that, fairly often, contradicted each other. One of the major contradictions involve Isiah Thomas’ exclusion from the team. In Chapter 5, McCallum wrote that he believes the major strike against Thomas was his agreement with Dennis Rodman that Larry Bird would have been just another player had he been Black. Later, he stated that Isiah was never really under consideration because Michael Jordan’s initial reaction to being approached about playing was to tell Rod Thorn that he wouldn’t be on the team if Isiah was. Still, in another chapter, McCallum wrote that Isiah used an intermediary to lobby Magic Johnson for support and that Magic never spoke up because Isiah had questioned his sexuality after the HIV diagnosis. The initial announcement was made on September 21, 1991; Magic’s announcement wasn’t until November 7 of that year. Isiah was left off the initial roster long before Magic’s HIV was known.


Other takeaways are that McCallum doesn’t have a lot of respect for Charles Barkley and that he really doesn’t like Magic Johnson. Throughout the book, he went out of his way to disparage both players. But, oh, how he loves Larry Bird.


The subject of Christian Laettner versus Shaquille O’Neal was a rather large omission from the text. That subject cannot be ignored. It should have been explored.


The author tried to be clever with his phrases, but it rarely worked for me. Far too often for my liking, the book was littered with condescending statements. Here’s one: “When talking about Bird, one must be careful not to carry those Midwestern attributes too far because you run the risk of making him sound dumb…” Another: “My late father-in-law was a straight-shooting kind of guy—he kept the trains running on schedule at a plant that manufactured condensers and pumps, good old-fashioned American stuff like that—so he understandably had trouble getting his mind around the Dream Team’s decision to hold pre-Olympic training in Monte Carlo.”


And, man, can this man watch a newish movie? Every movie reference is so dated you would think the book was written before the Dream Team had even been assembled. Of the dozen or so films referenced, I think Basic Instinct is the most recent. I think it’s a sign that this book wasn’t written for me or my generation. It’s an old man’s book. Given the subject matter, that is probably its biggest failing.

[Brina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last vacation of the summer. I needed light reading for the car. My interest piqued from a new book on my library’s display- The Real Hoosiers about Oscar Robertson and his championship high school basketball team. It is still baseball season, so anything about school was a no go; however, I saw that the author wrote a book about the original Dream Team from the Barcelona Olympics. This year’s men’s basketball team featuring today’s top stars won a gold medal. To many it was a huge deal, but if you ask a generation of fans, they will say that no team will come close to the first team from 1992. I am from Chicago and the city is still home. My love is baseball, but I came of age at a great time to be a basketball fan because the Bulls were kings of the sports world. All over the world people knew that Chicago is home to Michael Jordan his royal airness, and I was proud to come from his city. The Olympics in Barcelona took place right in the middle of the Bulls first three peat when Jordan was at the peak of his powers. A book that features Jordan’s participation as the best player on the best team ever assembled was a perfect read to end my summer vacation as summer turns to fall, and baseball turns to football and then basketball season. If I am going to take time away from baseball, there is no sports persona I would rather read about than his Airness.

For years the Olympic spirit had been about preserving the purity of amateur athletes. Over the course of many Olympic cycles, the United States sent amateur athletes to these games, only to see some of their teams fall short to those of China and Eastern European countries. Although those countries claimed their athletes to be unpaid, it was an open secret that communist bloc countries targeted young children who they viewed to be of superior athletic talent and allowed these developing stars to make training for their sport their life. Usually these athletes received plum housing assignments for their families as they trained toward an end goal- Olympic gold and glory for their country. Although this background knowledge is not described in this book, it is common knowledge to sports fans who have followed the Olympics for years. The author gives as an example 1972 when the Soviet Union somehow received three chances to beat the United States in men’s basketball. The United States boycotted the 1980 summer games in Moscow, and the Soviets returned the favor for the 1984 games in Los Angeles. During this era, Americans sent their top college stars to the Olympics and split with the Soviets. A top international official made trips to the United States and believed that the time was ripe to allow professional players to participate in the Olympics. Although the Americans missed their chance for the 1988 games, by the 1992 games in Barcelona, the stage had been set for professional athletes to go for the gold. In the United States with Jordan and the Bulls ascending to the top of the NBA, it was a perfect storm of celebrity that would allow the NBA to grow the game internationally.

For those who did not grow up watching the Bulls, the team was like rock stars. This was all because of Jordan who brought the game to new heights. When he entered the league in 1984, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird had brought the game out of the dark ages. Jordan, fresh off of a college championship and Olympic gold medal, signed with Nike and then Wheaties, Gatorade, Hanes, and McDonalds, and the league took off. Air Jordan, Jumpman, His Airness, or whatever moniker you wanted to call him was a combination of charm and a lethal basketball player. Kids today can say what they want about LeBron, Steph, et al, but none of them had the killer instinct with the game on the line the way Jordan did. Only one other athlete in recent memory exhibited that instinct but he played on the gridiron not on the hardwood. Once the Bulls obtained a supporting cast who could play as Jordan’s foils, he began to win championships, and both his and the league’s popularity took off. It would be a no brainer that Jordan would be the centerpiece of this Dream Team. Even though Magic and Bird were close to the end of their careers, they would be the team captains. The rest of the team was comprised with future hall of famers, including Pippen, Jordan’s Bulls teammate and Charles Barkley, Jordan and Bird’s foil in a classic McDonald’s commercial. It’s still on YouTube and it’s still just as funny. Getting ahead of myself, this team all came of age as the NBA rose to international prominence. They were the perfect cast of characters to take basketball to the global stage.

Dream Team was a trip down memory lane. I turned thirteen that year and was obsessed with the Bulls. In the days before streaming services, I was fortunate to watch every Bulls game on basic cable. That would not be possible today. Yes, the dream team beat most opponents by fifty to eighty points. The games ended before they started. The team and all opponents realized that. The best game this team played was a scrimmage that few people saw, with Jordan and Magic talking trash the entire time and Jordan’s team coming out on top. Jordan ended that day in Monte Carlo by singing the “Be Like Mike” Gatorade commercial, which is still my favorite one. Yes, I watch and sing along to it from time to time. Dream Team came about at a time when Magic recently announced that he had HIV. Many were afraid to play against him, but he used the disease as a platform to bring awareness to it. Newsflash: Magic is still alive and well thirty years later. He must belong to a subgroup of people who a college professor of mine referred to as “homo sapiens sapiens.” All the dream team members do because they are athletically talented beyond our wildest dreams but Magic especially for living with a once thought of as deadly virus for all these years. The team lead by Jordan took the world by storm. They won gold, protected their commercial interests, and grew the NBA internationally. To this day, there is no looking back as a new generation of dream teamers won gold. That first team of Michael, Magic, and Bird was special, and, because it was the first one, it was still viewed on as a novelty, and what a talented group of novelty players it was.

As a Chicagoan I was privileged to watch Jordan play in person on a handful of occasions. The atmosphere was electric like that of a rock concert. At the time of the Dream Team, the author opines that Jordan could have been the most famous person in the world. He only grew more famous from there, winning four more championships and starring in a movie with Bugs Bunny. Until Space Jam 2 came out a few years ago, what settled the Jordan-LeBron debate is that Jordan starred in a movie with the Loony Tunes but LeBron did not. That’s been equalized but there’s Jordan’s Jumpman shoes and his Gatorade commercials that are still airing over twenty years after he ended his playing career. In Barcelona he was too famous to leave his hotel room without a posse of body guards. He could hit the golf course and then drop fifty on an opponent hours later. Observers describe Jordan of 1992 as Babe Ruth of 1927; he had no equals. The rest of us were just along for the ride and kids today are in awe when I tell them that I watched Jordan play in person. Jaws drop. The Bulls as good as they were did not measure up to the Dream Team. While not a book to win literary awards, it brought me back to my adolescence of following Jordan and the Bulls’ every moves. What a time and a perfect book to bring along on an end of summer week in Chicago.

4 stars

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack McCallum has basically unmatched access to NBA players, coaches, and management, and because of that, parts of this book are amazing. One of the best chapters of the book is an incredible play-by-play of a scrimmage between Jordan and Johnson-led squads that manages to provide both a thrilling account of a close basketball game and insight into the personalities of some of the greatest players of all time. The book as a whole finds a great balance between the individual players and their dynamic as a team. While I can't say enough good things about the parts of this book that focus on the players (both their games and their lives), parts of this book were frustrating enough to make me periodically put the book down and read another before picking it back up again.

Unfortunately, McCallum plays an outsized role in this narrative, and the book suffers when he becomes a character. He tells one anecdote about driving several of the Dream Teamers around Monaco, taking the curves like he's a Bond character. The story ends with the author ignoring Charles Barkley's panicked cries for him to slow down before he kills them all. This is obviously meant to be a funny story about the time he out-crazied Barkley, but it makes McCallum look like a sociopath without adding anything to the larger narrative. He also spends a bit too much time dwelling on uninteresting conversations with Larry Bird, the player he obviously admires the most. In some of these instances, there's actually a parenthetical basically noting that you had to be there to really get what was so witty or insightful about Bird's remarks.

He also frequently wades into pretty offensive territory when he talks about race or gender. In one section he apologizes profusely for an earlier slight to Bird that involved quoting him in dialect. McCallum rightly recognized that this made Bird look dumb and that he shouldn't have done it, but the apology veers into nonsense territory when he puts his actions down to "reverse racism", swearing that he'd never have done that to a black player" (he spends parts of the book doing this to black players). It would be a little less bothersome if McCallum's thoughts on racism (the kind that actually exists) weren't so dumb. His descriptions of white players as smart and hardworking and black players as talented alpha males demonstrates an incredible lack of self-awareness. At one point he ventures close to a realization that this is a racist trope, but quickly backs down. He's discussing a poll about the smartest player in the NBA, one in which white players captured a huge majority of the votes, when he finally bothers to ask himself "is this racist?" He follows up with a giant shrug ("I couldn't really say") and moves so quickly on to other things that it's not clear why he bothered at all with this moment of almost-reflection.

This is a story about men, and so McCallum doesn't have that many natural opportunities to say anything offensive about women, but he still manages to get a few shots in. The most egregious might be the section where tries to put a professional athlete's troubles in the context of what he believes to be the plight of working class men and women. For men, this includes working long hours; for women, cleaning house and carrying children. Like most of the worst parts of this book, it's so bothersome because it feels so unnecessary.

Still, despite the worst of it, I'm really glad I read this book. The behind the scenes stories are incredible, and I'd highly recommend it if you're even a little interested in basketball history.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was fine when McCallum wasn't busy inserting the asides about himself and dishing out gossip like an eighth grader. At times, I felt kind of sorry for him because it sounded suspiciously like he was attaching himself to this athletic collective in the hopes that some of their ____ (fill in the blank - awesomeness, prowess, attractiveness) would rub off on him. I definitely got the sense that some players were people he DESPERATELY wanted (wants?) to be personal friends with (Barkley, Bird and Jordan) while some players (Ewing and Laettner) he covered simply because they were on the team and he knew he had to say something about them. His handling of Magic was oddly sterile - almost like he knew he had to juxtapose Magic with Michael but that if he was too honest, his own opinion that heavily favored Michael would show through. His unabashed hostility towards Drexler was amazing: at points, it definitely felt like I was back in George C. Marshall Middle School and half of the class was friends with Clyde and half of the class (the part McCallum was in) was friends with Michael and he was the kid telling the new kids that there's no way you can be friends with both Michael AND Clyde.

Don't get me wrong - it was entertaining and a worthy read but it was WAY more gossipy that I was expecting it to be.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a huge fan of '90s basketball players, I can say that this book did not disappoint. This tell-all book follows the Dream Team of the 1992 Olympics led by such NBA superstars as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, and Charles Barkley, among other hall-of-famers. The voice of the book does not come from any of the star players, but rather from a sports writer who tagged along with the Dream Team at the Olympic games, chronicling their time in Barcelona. Jack McCallum thus presents his unique insight into the off-the-court shenanigans of some of the greatest basketball stars to ever grace the sport.

Dream Team recounts many entertaining behind-the-scenes stories of the Dream Team members when they weren't defeating their opponents by embarrassingly large margins. If you're a fan of some of these basketball legends, you'll love reading about their interactions with one another. Being an Ewing-era Knicks fan, I found the excerpt detailing Patrick Ewing's and Larry Bird's blossoming friendship to be quite interesting. Here you have two of the seemingly most opposite kinds of people coming together to form an unlikely bond, proving that there is much more to to these sports stars than meets the eye. I also got a kick out of the rivalry between Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson over who would be the team leader. Their private pick-up game against each other must have been quite a sight to behold!

If I had one complaint about this book, it would be that McCallum goes a bit overboard telling these stories as they relate to his personal experience whilst being an observer. Rather than flesh out what Jordan might have been thinking at any given moment or exploring in any true depth the uncanny relationships that spawned between some of the players, McCallum writes a lot about what he thought or how he felt as a journalist and sports fan in those moments. Although that approach isn't necessarily unheard of in a book such as this, I wish more time and attention was devoted to the players, as I picked up Dream Team to read about players like Jordan and Ewing, not journalists McCallum.

Though any seasoned fan of basketball and the NBA might already know most of these anecdotes and stories, Dream Team is, nonetheless, a great choice of read that will give a much broader account of the legendary basketball ensemble. In lieu of having full game footage of the Olympic basketball games themselves, I'd say that this book is as complete an account of the Dream Team's historic outing as you can find. At the very least, it provides a lot of insider information that you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was difficult for me to score. First off, the subject matter is near and dear to my heart. I love the basketball that was played in the 1980's and 1990's. I was a huge fan of Magic, Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley and others of the era. I also love hearing about how these guys came together and gave up their summer to be the first group of NBA players to compete in the Olympics.

So, most of the content was interesting, especially the 'behind the scenes' stories of the closed practices, and the background of Chuck Daly and other players. There's a lot of interesting and enlightening commentary that supposedly came from the players as filtered through the author.

Unfortunately, the author is, in my opinion, the weak link in this project. While being grammatically correct and without typos, I found that he writes in a style similar to an adolescent boy, too often focusing on the petty sniping and whiny resentments that I would expect more from a Cosmopolitan magazine article than a former Sports Illustrated author. He also would add filler to beef up the book which would be monotonous and annoying. For example, while talking about what a cultural icon Michael Jordan is and how he is a "frame of reference", McCallum spent almost an entire page listing people:

Patricia Zhou from the Royal Ballet of London will be the Michael Jordan of Ballet...Itzhak Perlman is the Michael Jordan of the violin. A character on ABC's Happy Endings is the Michael Jordan of ruining relationships

etc.

For the actual content regarding the basketball related information, I'd give the book four stars, but for the authors digressions, I'd give the book a one and a half.

[Eduardo Bahena · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot is mainly about basketball players for the 90's mostly from Michael Jordans time. It talks about how several players for the NBA had a chance to live a dream and go on to the Olympics and win the Gold Medal for basketball. I think that the book and events moved slowly first of all because the book is pretty long and the NBA season goes by slow as well. It was intresting because at those times players like Michael Jordan Larry Bird and Magic Johnson use to compete to see who was the best player at their time. They were all trying to make it to the Olympics but them not knowing all three of them went to the Olympics they were known as the Dream Team. My favorite character in the book was Michael jordan because he was the best NBA player of all time and of their time. I also liked Larry Bird and magic Johnson those three in my opinion made up the Dream Team. This tought me that these NBA players never stopped in beliving that they could and would make it to the olympics then won the gold medal.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 2012 this was a trip down memory lane from the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. A very well written book in which the author had unparalleled access to the players - particularly Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. These are the two superstars who we wanted to know the most about anyway.

It turns out that they were the most competitive minded players on the team - although by this time Bird was nowhere near Jordan's level athletically and was only months from retirement due to his chronic back problem. Both players had a sixth sense for how to win games and were ruthless on the court. Neither did they shoot their mouths off (other than to razz and tease players). They also knew immediately who the weak links on the court were - ahem Laettner.

4.5 stars

[Mario · Rating 5 out of 5]

La historia detrás de el mejor equipo de la NBA, un experimento que se cuaja desde las tierras lejanas de la Europa Oriental en la búsqueda del perfeccionamiento de un juego metódico y falto de experiencia. Una mirada profunda y personal a los iconos de la década de los noventas que marcaron el final de la era Magic/Bird y fraguaron la consolidación de la época brillante de Jordan. Cómo satélites del astro del basquetbol, entrevistas con Ewing, Barkley, Malone, Drexler, Pippen, Mullin, Robinson y compañía. El fenómeno mundial visto desde adentro con una muy buena escritura de Jack McCallum, periodista de Sports Illustrated

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun read. McCallum really knows how to tell stories.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

1992 seems like a lifetime away, and I guess it was if you are 20 years old. For those of us who can actually remember 1992 and were basketball fans even then, “Dream Team” is a treat.

Sports journalist Jack McCallum doesn’t chronicle everything about the ’92 Olympic basketball team and their games and victories. This is not a transcript of the play by play. What he does is give us is insight into how the Dream Team came to be, from getting the go ahead to allow professional athletes to play in the Olympics to the attainment of gold. In addition we get a glimpse of the past and present of those stars and we learn a little about what they are up to now. Jack kind of gives us a little basketball version of VH1’s behind the music. He provides us with the backstage access to one of history’s greatest basketball teams which included Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Chris Mullin, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, David Robinson, Clyde Drexler, Christian Laettner, and Coach Chuck Daly

Now, there has been a recent claim by one Kobe Bryant that the 2012 incantation of the U.S. Basketball team could defeat the 1992 Dream Team. My only response to that is a gut busting laugh, because he must have been joking. Michael Jordan laughed as I did, and while admitting that the new guard may have a physical edge, they aren’t as smart. I would also venture to guess that there are few players today who are as competitive as the ’92 squad. Jordan, Bird, and Magic took competitive to a whole other level. Today’s players only care about personal stats and money; winning is secondary to the other two goals. I’ve read quite a bit about Bird (one of my favorite athletes of all time) and Magic, and through their words and this book I have come to a grudging acceptance of Jordan’s greatness. These three together just had a head for the game and they learned how to work as a team, they had a killer instinct, and they never shrunk from the big moment.

Basketball experienced a complete renaissance in the 80’s early 90’s and it culminated with the Dream Team. The Dream Team proved to be a boon for international competition, bringing the game to a worldwide audience and creating new basketball fans and players in far off lands. No matter how good players get, I find it highly improbable that any proceeding team could ever be as good as that one. This is a great read for the Basketball fan and historian.

[Landon]

I like this Book because it tells so many stories from when the dream team was created then from when they all retired. Another cool thing about this book is that it would show you and tell you about the games and winning olipmic metals. I think that this is a cool book and I recommend it.

[Steven Mandeville · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sports journalism at it's best.

[Nolan Bowar · Rating 4 out of 5]

They win gold

[Charlie Grozier · Rating 5 out of 5]

9.5/10

[Dominic Douglass · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sports!! Could’ve been about 100 pages shorter

[Trace Guzman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I applaud you, Mr. McCallum, both for the greatness of Dream Team, and the fact that you could experience all of this! The stories he tells in this book will be sure to change the way you look at the Dream Team. He tells it as if he's your dad or grandpa, telling you about his hey-days, with a mix of a documentary-style writing. Whole paragraphs in parenthesis gives a "Oh, and by the way..." feel, while writing about a scrimmage like commentating gives a feel of an actual game.
Something that makes this book so great is that is does not just talk about basketball, it talked about the personalities of the players. Along with this came the showing of the fact that these guys were not gods or perfect people. Throughout this book, I learned so much, to the point that I look at all of them so much differently after I finished the book. One player I didn't even know of (David Robinson) ended up being one of my favorite players. When describing the coach, Chuck Daly, the author talks about how Daly once commented how "the subtle pinstripe" in his suit was "the perfect match for the gold coloring in [the] tie" (McCallum 66). The author then says, "Try to imagine, say, Bill Belichick acting that way before a playoff game; actually, try to imagine Bill Belichick noticing that his pinstripes matched his tie" (McCallum 67). It is this kind of humor that is sprinkled throughout the book that contributes to it being such a joy to read. McCallum, when describing Charles Barkley, said, "What he said on Tuesday might go against what he said on Monday, but that didn't matter because he'd say something else on Wednesday" (McCallum 78). He also told of Barkley's classic quote about Angola and did not leave out that fact that he elbowed an opponent in that game. This shows and is a good example of how the author knows, and shows, that this team was not made of saints and angels. These were human beings, flawed human beings, just like everyone else. He wrote about the differences between Barkley and the man he elbowed, showing that Barkley was not justified in elbowing the man. Along with the personalities of each player, came the relationships between them.
Probably one of the least expected things was the relationships that existed between the players. For instance, the main reason that Isiah Thomas was not on the Dream Team was because Michael Jordan said he would not play if Thomas, his rival, was on the team. Also, he talked about the friendship that flourished between Larry Bird and Patrick Ewing, who became known as "Harry and Larry." "'They were just two unlikely guys to be close, I guess,' said Jordan, 'but there they were, hanging out, every night'" (McCallum 169).
Another point made by McCallum was that this Dream Team lived on, that it was timeless. He gives examples of how "...John Stockton, a buttoned'down, no-nonsense point guard, is on a track in a 2011 release by Brooklyn rapper Nemo Achida..." and so on (McCallum XX). He gives more than half of a page of different "Michael Jordan"'s of their profession or area, just rattling off, one by one, different people and saying so-and-so is the Michael Jordan of blah-blah-blah.
One last subject he discusses throughout the book is the polotics of everything. How FIBA decided that they would allow NBA players, who thought of that, all of the committees and executives tangled in the whole experience, etc.--all of that is told and talked about in Dream Team. No, he is not just a commentator writing what happened in the games, no, in fact most of this book is about the personas, the childhood, the politics, etc. That is what makes it so much fun and so interesting to read.
As McCallum put it, "[The Dream Team] was a secret kingdom to which I had one of the keys, at least to a side door" (McCallum 162). And, that was how he told the story and events, as he saw it, or heard about it, or learned about it through interviews. But, wow, he is a lucky man. I would have given a kidney to have key to a doggy door to this kingdom, and he was having casual lunches and joking with some of the most respected, amazing, and legendary players ever to walk this earth. So, it is clear that little was known about the Dream Team, and I am glad Jack McCallum told us of the wonderful untold stories of this time. This has to be one of his greatest achievements of his life.
So now, Mr. McCallum, I applaud you for the greatness of Dream Team, being there for the ride, and spreading the knowledge of the Dream Team that this generation is deprived of.

[Brian Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book; much more than many I have rated higher. I guess that I am rating this on a curve because I am a basketball junkie of that era. Said another way: I am the target demographic for this book. This is a good behind the scenes look at how these Greats interacted with each other and generally showed a their reverence for the game. Dream Team may not be the best basketball book that I have read (either "Playing their Hearts Out" or "Art of the Beautiful Game"), but it's definitely worth a read if you have fond memories of the Dream Team (and there is only one) or any of it's players. Something I believe we would agree about: Jack McCallum had one hell of of job/life for at least that period of his career!

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of my fondest memories include sitting in funky Chicago Stadium and watching Jordan and Pippen play with my dad.

I don't remember the Dream Team very well (I was 8 in 1992), but there's no denying their cultural impact. This book did a good job of talking about the interplay between players. It reinforced some things I knew well (Michael Jordan is a jerk) and other things I didn't know at all. (Bird does not seem like he would be a trash talker, but he was one of the greats)

I wish the author talked more about the games. I know there's probably not much to say about them, but I felt like there wasn't very much basketball. But it was cool to see the personalities and the trash talking. I have to admit that the image of Ewing and Bird hanging out and being BFFs makes me smile.

[Barnabas Piper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this account of the greatest team ever assembled. They were so iconic in my childhood and McCallum writes it wonderfully. He has sort of an old-fashioned sports reporter style that suits an easy 90s team just fine. It is a great behind-the-scenes look without being tabloid or exploitative. You get a sense of the team dynamic and interpersonal reactions without it being psychobabbly. He writes the games and basketball portions without being overly-detailed. Over all a fantastic read for ball fans.

[TheBookWarren · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars - The greatest SPORTS team ever assembled, by a stupidly large distance!!!

This has some great insights, especially the training camp stuff around MJ/Magic - One all Hoops fans hardcore & Casual can enjoy on equal footing.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever had that experience, where you learned about something so interesting you could go to the time it happened and watch it. I had that experience after reading this book. The book has allowed me to view one of the greatest times in sports in history. I have only ever heard of the legend of the Dream Team. Since being born 12 years after the team was assembled, I was unable to see these all-stars conquer the 1992 olympic games. We don't really hear much of these players because they are old news compared to what is new and fresh. The Dream Team, novel, has allowed me to get a chance to know about what took place. The book contains portions of interviews between the players which has allowed for insight into what took place in Barcelona,1992. This biography allows for people to relive, or get an experience for the first time while reading The Dream Team.
Jack McCallum's work with piecing together information and perspectives has allowed for amazing insight into the story of The Dream Team. The novel begins with the faint idea of The Dream Team. As the book progresses, you dive deeper into all the details of the relationships, the battles, and the experiences of the dream team. We learn that these men were sworn enemies in the NBA, but they had to come together in order to dominate the 1992 Olympic Games. The players of the very old, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, had a rough time giving the reins of the league to the younger players, aka Michael Jordan. Charles Barkley was very exuberant when presenting himself to the bustling city of Barcelona. John Stockton felt very unnoticed while he walked the city streets and not a single person knew who he was. Along with these events, there were key interactions which changed the NBA for the better, but the true emotions of these situations were held in the interviews with the players.
There wasn't much figurative language that was used in this book, because it was mostly interviews and perspectives from people involved with the dream team. There was one way that the reader could view some images of what happened because there were pictures that showed key events. Though the author couldn't use imagery in this book, the player's perspectives allowed the reader to imagine what it could have been like to be in Barcelona in 1992. When Michael Jordan describes how it was so chaotic on the Barcelona streets, they were traffic jams for hours. Larry Bird describes how his reign on the NBA had reached its end, and Magic Johnson and emotions towards leaving the NBA due to HIV.
Jack McCallum's work truly is astonishing in this book. It makes the book come to life as you're reading it, and you just can't stop reading because you just get trapped in a world of fascination and amazement. I was very pleased with the structure of the novel as well. I have noticed that some biographies jump around so the information is all over the place. The Dream Team was consistent with the information from the start to finish, it started with the idea of an all NBA olympic basketball roster and ended with the amazing final product of the changed NBA. This book captures how this team changed the NBA. The NBA was mainly just in the USA, but after The Dream Team, the NBA was now a global enterprise. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

[Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like basketball, read this book. If you don't you may not even want to read this review.

For people around my age, this book covers a seminal piece of our childhood. I remember being angry that they hadn't won the gold in 2008 (mostly remember my dad being angry about it). Then there was the slow rumbling about pro players going to the next Olympics, then the rumblings about who might go (Magic out of retirement?! Bird? Sir Charles? ...Michael?), then I remember getting giddy when I heard the names of who was going (Michael!), then the Tournament of the Americas beat downs (the indignity of the US playing their way into the Olympics, our gold medal birthright!)

- and then the Basketball Justice League went out and did exactly what a 12 -year-old hero-worshipping boy thought they would do. I loved every second of it. 40+ beat downs of sad little nations I've never heard of? Beautiful. The emotional dismantling of a future NBA All-Star? Please step up, Mr. Kukoc. Vicious Charles Barkley elbow to the skinny chest of some unnamed Angolan? Magnificent (After a classic Sir Charles quote before the game: "I don't know nothin bout Angola, but Angola's in trouble.") I got giddy all over again, this time as a grown man.

This book will walk you through that glory. I fear that it was the high water mark for anything American- that we as a nation will never be as good at anything globally as we were at basketball at that moment. (For those of you who think the 2012 team could beat the 1992 team, I'll explain with some technical detail why that's wrong below. But my first and best reason is that 2012 didn't have Michael Jordan). The utter domination of the actual Olympics, more of a coronation than a series of competitions, outstrips my ability to describe it. In fairness, no nation may have ever been this much better than the rest of the world at anything than the Dream Team was at basketball.

This book takes you behind the scenes of the selection process, the way the players committed. It shows the leadership qualities Magic commanded (and portends his future success as a businessman), the level of respect accorded to a barely ambulatory Larry Bird-a known quantity from Magic, of course, but also from Jordan, Mullin and his odd-couple best friend on the team, Ewing. Bird, barely able to walk most mornings of that season had averaged 19, 7 and 5 while wearing a giant back brace.... and, again, barely able to walk. His contributions to the Dream Team were mostly ceremonial, but no less important- it's not like they needed more talent, they were winning by 40 and opponents were trying to get pictures with them before the games. It gave me a new respect for Chuck Daly (who I met when he coached the Nets, and was very nice to me). It reminded me how good Charles Barkley was. It reminded me of how Isaiah got screwed (by Jordan), how he sent a message to Stockton (dropped 44 on him, though Stockton had 28 and 14 assists and the Jazz won), then how the next time the Jazz and Pistons met, Isaiah started sending the same message, only Karl Malone had one for him... that came with a concussion and 40 stitches. (Also, Karl Malone was not a guy to be trifled with). And it reminded me why Michael Jordan was the most dominant athlete I've ever seen in any sport.

The book details the greatest game no one ever saw, the legendary Magic vs Michael pick up game with two guys out- no subs, every available pair of legs- nine hall of famers and legit basketball immortals (and Christian Laettner) battling for something they cared about so much more than money. McCallum apparently got his hands on footage from the game and walks through every possession and quote. It's dreamlike.

Finally, the 2012 team. Easily the second-best team of all time, there are those that think they could beat the 1992 team. They're wrong. LeBron might be the most physically gifted human ever to play basketball, but the way to slow him down is to hound him with an athlete near his size with a legitimate rim protector behind him. Indiana made his life difficult, and 2012 Paul George and Roy Hibbert are not Scottie Pippin and Robinson/Ewing. Kevin Durant would wilt under the force that was 1992 Michael. This is not a slight- everyone wilted under 1992 Michael. Magic always had trouble staying in front of waterbug point guards, but he dealt with Isaiah and Mr. Westbrook isn't there just yet (though CP3 is an advantage- the one and three spots would be slight advantages for the 2012 team). And all that is before you get to the matchup nightmare that was Sir Charles, AND the massive advantage at center. David Robinson didn't win titles by accident. Super athletic 7'1 lefties who win scoring titles and can score 70 in a game (?!) don't just wander in any time. The abilities of several of these guys are often overshadowed by the Jordan force of nature (and 6 titles)- specifically Robinson, Barkley and Mullin.

The bottom line goes beyond just talent and matchups- it's mentality. The 1992 team was full of guys who played basketball like it was a holy war. Sure, they got paid, but no one was a 'brand' before Michael (and the Dream Team went a long way towards making players into brands). Every member of the 2012 team is a brand, a business. These guys have business managers, publicists, charities- other things they did besides basketball. The 1992 team only had one player like that (even Magic wasn't just yet), and Michael Jordan was a pathologically ferocious competitor- the greatest competitor I've ever seen in any sport. Michael's will contorted teammates, opposing players and referees. We've never seen anything like him, and the 2012 team, in a league where the players have been buddies since AAU games as kids, would not be prepared for the ferocity the 1992 team competed with (not without Derrick Rose, anyway). The 1992 team believed they were the greatest team of all time- and they would defend that title. It mattered to them. Plus, who do you want coaching a brawl between evenly matched teams- Coach K or the guy who invented the Bad Boy Pistons?

But, still, I'd love to see that game.

If you've gotten through this much of this review, just go get the book, you'll love it.

Owen Gardner Finnegan

[Weston Skaggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just fine. If you love these 80's and 90's NBA stars you'll like spending time hanging out with them and getting to know some minutiae that you haven't hear yet (the author himself admits there is little "red meat" to share about this team that hasn't already been parsed over).
I think the chracters that were given the most dimension for me were Magic, Charles, and Chuck Daly. There's a lot of the player's trash talk and joking together that gets documented, especially in the centerpiece chapter which delivers a play by play of the "greatest game nobody ever saw" (The locked door 5 on 5 scrimmage between Magic, MJ, et al)
Maybe the closest thing to a surprise for me was just how unlikeable Karl Malone is (and Clyde Drexler to a lesser extent).
I loved the David Robinson chapters, I appreciated the insight into him as a man, but he is nowhere near the forefront of the story.
One thing that felt quite dated to me was the writing style of McCallum. The intentionally edgy (skeezy) writing style of baby boomer beat reporters has not aged well at all (twice in just a few pages he refers to the cigar in MJ's mouth as "phallic" whyyyyy?!?!)
Definitely not a "must read", but the book is a solid hang for any nostalgic NBA fan.

[Andrew Baker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dream Team

In the book “Dream Team” by Jack McCallum, he describes how the 1992 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team, known as the greatest basketball team ever, was formed. You are introduced to Boris Stankovic, the man who fought to allow professional basketball players to participate in the Olympics. This book dives into the personal backgrounds of legends including Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Charles Barkley, and how their skills combined to become a worldwide sensation.

Although this book was written to share an in-depth look at the 1992 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team, I found it unappealing because of the focus on each player’s personal life. It was difficult for me to stay engaged in this book when the first half was mainly focused on the individual players. I was hoping to learn more about the team as a whole and their victories. If you enjoy basketball and reading biographies, then you would find this book enjoyable.

[Doug Thorsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much more interesting than Larry Bird's autobiography. McCallum gives a fair portrayal. He isn't overly critical or obsequious. What is unique is that he's able to observe all these players interacting with each other which makes for a much more natural setting. They are generally far more likely to be themselves amongst each other. You are able to see locker room Larry Bird. He is shit talking self confident jock with a penchant for lewd humor. You get why he doesn't want to portray that in say an autobiography. You get to see the Michael Jordan that is hardly the lovable warm and fuzzy hero of Haines underwear, Looney tune cartoons, and breakfast cereal. You get to see the Magic Johnson that makes many of his peers roll their eyes. All that said, this is not a gossip piece. It is not hater journalism. McCallum toward the end of the book comes close to coming off as a get off my lawn nostalgia leaning dweeb, but he balances it out

[Grace Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for the impact this book has on me. I read this book back in the day in elementary school, and it truly kickstarted my love of the NBA. Reading it again so many years later, it’s still special. Yes, sometimes it gives *white man writing about sports* but it’s just so dang cool - it’s “almost famous”-esque in its behind the scenes look it presents. Also, I am so ready for the Olympics now!!!!

[Jake Etienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was in the Olympic mood and wanted to read about best Olympic basketball team of all time. It was a very interesting set up as author spent a lot of time on history of basketball Olympics and lack of NBA players being allowed (although professionals from other countries could play). Also had 1 chapter on each player describing the process of them getting selected.

However hardly any time was spent on the actual games they played in the Olympics. But with all the blowouts it makes sense. The best chapter was definitely the intrasquad scrimmage in Monte Carlo.

[Andrew Gibney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was just turning 11 when the Dream Team arrived in Barcelona. These are the guys who made me want to play basketball. Which is not normal in a small Scottish town. Charles Barkley was and will always be my favourite player and it was so nice to hear the thoughts of a writer who knows them better them most.

Great insights, lovely stories, just an all-round excellent read. Loved it