{"id":1554522,"date":"2023-03-20T19:40:46","date_gmt":"2023-03-20T23:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1554522"},"modified":"2023-03-20T19:40:47","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T23:40:47","slug":"michael-jordan-joined-dream-team-1-reason-wasnt-win-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/michael-jordan-joined-dream-team-1-reason-wasnt-win-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Jordan Joined the Dream Team for 1 Reason, and It Wasn't to Win Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The story of the 1992 U.S. Olympic Men's Basketball Team starts with Rod Thorn, then the head of USA Basketball, getting\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/michael-jordan\/\">Michael Jordan<\/a>\u00a0on board. After that, all the dominoes fell into place, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/michael-jordan-destroyed-3-nba-stars-at-dream-team-practice-with-4-words-scottie-you-can-stay\/\">the Dream Team<\/a>\u00a0was born. Convincing the Chicago Bulls superstar to play was surprisingly easy, even though he'd played in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/olympics\/\">Olympics<\/a>\u00a0and won gold before, and that was because he had ulterior motives. He wanted to see how his NBA competition worked behind closed doors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-michael-jordan-joined-the-dream-team-to-gather-intel-on-his-nba-competition\"><strong>Michael Jordan joined the Dream Team to gather intel on his NBA competition<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In Episode 5 of \u2018Icons Club,\u2019 Jackie MacMullan details how the Dream Team experienced helped some of the NBA\u2019s biggest rivals form friendships\u2014even Michael Jordan and Clyde Drexler: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cVof6la7of\">https:\/\/t.co\/cVof6la7of<\/a><\/p>&mdash; The Ringer (@ringer) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ringer\/status\/1509864699411812368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 1, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dream Team was born in the aftermath of the disastrous 1988 Olympics, where the U.S. Olympic Team \u2014 featuring college stars Danny Manning, Mitch Richmond, and David Robinson \u2014 could only manage a bronze medal in the sport we invented in Springfield, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Former NBA executive Rod Thorn was in charge of picking the first-ever Olympic squad with NBA players, and he started with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/michael-jordan-skipped-nba-draft-most-jordan-reason\/\">a guard he drafted<\/a>\u00a0as general manager of the Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By the summer of 1992, Jordan would have two NBA titles under his belt with (unbeknownst to anyone except maybe him) four more to come. He was the biggest basketball star in the world, and, as longtime NBA insider Jackie MacMullan tells it on her <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/5-the-dream-team-icons-club\/id1483525141?i=1000555932765\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Icons Club podcast<\/em><\/a>, &#8220;if Jordan committed, everyone else would quickly fall into line.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem was Jordan played on the 1984 gold-medal-winning squad, and he was fully focused on NBA glory. He already did his part, so winning another medal for his country wasn't a priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, always looking for an angle and a leg up on his competition, Jordan decided to say yes to the Dream Team for a brilliantly sneaky reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Look, my only reason for going was to see how the other guys competed,&#8221; Jordan says on <em>Icons Club<\/em>. &#8220;I heard about it, read about it, I knew how I practiced. I wanted to see how everybody else practiced, and compete in that environment with no cameras.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jordan wanted a peek behind the curtain to see how his competition operated. He had nothing to hide. His Airness went 1000% all the time. Now Jordan wanted to get a look at what he was up against when he took on the like of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-patrick-ewing-shocked-dream-team-becoming-close-friends-earning-joint-nickname\/\">Patrick Ewing<\/a>\u00a0and the New York Knicks,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/michael-jordan-rode-1-dream-team-member-so-hard-coaches-teammates-asked-mj-dial-it-back\/\">Clyde Drexler<\/a>\u00a0and the Portland Trail Blazers, and John Stockton and Karl Malone with the Utah Jazz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Jordan's Dream Team scouting paid off in the following years<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1250\" height=\"703\" src=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Michael-Jordan-Dream-Team-Join-1-1.jpg?w=925&#038;strip=all&#038;quality=89\" alt=\"Michael Jordan, Dream Team, Chicago Bulls\" class=\"wp-image-1554526\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">MIchael Jordan and the Dream Team | Dimitri Iundt\/Corbis\/VCG via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Michael Jordan has never truly shared exactly what he learned in those famous Dream Team scrimmages and practices, but surely he picked up some nuggets here and there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the next seven seasons,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/michael-jordan-nba-tandem-scottie-pippen-bulls\/\">Jordan and Scottie Pippen's Bulls<\/a>\u00a0dominated the NBA and repeatedly beat fellow Dream team members when it mattered most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the ensuing season, Jordan and the Bulls took down Patrick Ewing and the Knicks 4-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals. After that, it was a 4-2 series victory over Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jordan took his time off for baseball the next two seasons and returned for the 1995-96 campaign when the Bulls again took our Ewing in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. For the next two seasons, Chicago faced Stockton and Malone on the Utah Jazz and won both times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are plenty of reasons that Jordan dominated his contemporaries in the NBA, and it's hard to tell how much the Dream Team experience helped the GOAT do this. However, after specifically noting that he joined the Dream Team to gather intel on his competition, it's hard to believe it didn't play some type of role.   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Jordan didn't join the Dream Team for Patriotic reasons or to win gold. He did it to get a leg up on his NBA competition. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":1554526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4815,4835,11071],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Michael Jordan Joined the Dream Team for 1 Reason, and It Wasn&#039;t to Win Gold - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Michael Jordan didn&#039;t join the Dream Team for patriotic reasons or to win gold. 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He did it to get a leg up on NBA competition with the Bulls.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/michael-jordan-joined-dream-team-1-reason-wasnt-win-gold\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-20T23:40:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-20T23:40:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Michael-Jordan-Dream-Team-Join-1-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"703\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tim Crean\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@twcrean\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tim Crean\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/michael-jordan-joined-dream-team-1-reason-wasnt-win-gold\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/michael-jordan-joined-dream-team-1-reason-wasnt-win-gold\/\",\"name\":\"Michael Jordan Joined the Dream Team for 1 Reason, and It Wasn't to Win Gold - Sports7\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/michael-jordan-joined-dream-team-1-reason-wasnt-win-gold\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/michael-jordan-joined-dream-team-1-reason-wasnt-win-gold\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Michael-Jordan-Dream-Team-Join-1-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-20T23:40:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-20T23:40:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/3c64130dc33c55e64c149d1269d9c32e\"},\"description\":\"Michael Jordan didn't join the Dream Team for patriotic reasons or to win gold. 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He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike &amp; The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs. As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He's a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early '90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer \u2014 with a Manchester City focus \u2014 in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA. When he's not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.\",\"sameAs\":[\"\",\"twcrean\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/tim-crean-78785622\/\",\"\",\"\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Tim Crean | Sports7 Staff Writer, Producer\",\"email\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Michael Jordan Joined the Dream Team for 1 Reason, and It Wasn't to Win Gold - Sports7","description":"Michael Jordan didn't join the Dream Team for patriotic reasons or to win gold. 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He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike &amp; The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs. As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He's a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early '90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer \u2014 with a Manchester City focus \u2014 in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA. 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