The 1992 U.S. Men’s Olympic Basketball Team, better known as the Dream Team, the first Olympic team to include NBA players, are one of the finalists for the team category for induction into the Jame Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
The powerful, star-studded team cruised to victory in both the Tournament of the Americas and Barcelona Olympics with an average victory margin of 43.8 points.
Eight members of that legendary team, that played 14 games in 1992, are already in the Hall of Fame as individuals, and will likely to be joined by at least two more – Scottie Pippen and Karl Malone, who are amongst the individual finalists this year. The remaining players from the Dream Team that have yet to be inducted are Chris Mullin and Christian Laettner.
Karl “the Mailman” Malone was the NBA’s MVP in 1997 and ‘99 and finished his career as the league’s number two scorer with 36,928 points behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Arguably the best power forward in NBA history, he still never won a title despite joining a star-laden Lakers team in 2004.
Another reason Malone never got a championship ring was because Pippen’s Bulls teams blocked the path both times the Utah Jazz made it to the finals. Pippen teamed up with Michael Jordan to win six championships in the 1990s.
Malone and Pippen would also play on the 1994 U.S. Team, or Dream Team II – a team that also featured original Dream Teamers John Stockton, Charles Barkley, and David Robinson, as well as Shaquille O’Neal, Reggie Miller, and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Returning finalists include fellow Dream Teamer Mullin, Boston Celtic’s guard Dennis Johnson, coach Don Nelson and four-time WNBA champion Cynthia Cooper from the now-defunct Houston Comets.
No comments:
Post a Comment