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United States national basketball team

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rightThe United States National Basketball Team is the international representative for the United States of America. They are also commonly known as The Dream Team, the unofficial nickname of the United States men's basketball team that won the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. That team is often regarded as the greatest collection of talent on one competitive basketball team.[link] [link] [link]

A 1989 rule change by FIBA allowed professional athletes to play in international competition for the first time. The Dream Team qualified for the Olympics after having a 6–0 record in the Men's Tournament of the Americas.

Two years later, a second "Dream Team" competed in the 1994 Basketball World Championships, finishing first. In 1996 and 2000, Dream Teams III and IV once again captured gold medals. (No Dream Team competed in the 1998 World Championships as an NBA lockout prevented its players from competing.) Though the nickname was bestowed by some upon subsequent American national teams, the performances of the 2002 World Championship and 2004 Summer Olympic teams (which finished sixth and third, respectively) all but denied it, and perhaps future teams, the right to the "Dream Team" nickname. The 2004 team lost three games on its way to a bronze medal, a record that represented more losses in a single year than the country's Olympic teams had suffered in all previous Olympiads combined. It was also the first time since NBA professionals became eligible that the U.S. men's basketball team returned home without gold medals.

Contents

Pre-Dream Team

Before the 1992 Olympic games, USA Basketball competed with amateur basketball players. In Olympic play from 1936 to 1988, the USA Men's team compiled an impressive 85-2 record, collecting 9 gold medals and 1 bronze medal. While the 1972 team placed 2nd, they unanimously voted to refuse their silver medals following a controversial loss to the Soviet Union in the gold medal game.

1936 Olympics (Berlin)

The 1936 games marked the first time basketball was played as an official medal sport. The USA brought home the gold medal after completing a 5-0 run.

Roster

Team USA Results

Final Standings

1948 Olympics (London)

In their second Olympics, the US again posted a perfect 5-0 record and won the gold medal. Legendary University of Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp was an assistant coach for the team.

Roster

Team USA Results

Final Standings

1952 Olympics (Helsinki)

For the first time, the Soviet Union sent athletes to compete in the Olympics. In the midst of the Cold War, the US-USSR matchup was quite intriguing. The US beat the Soviets twice, including a 36-25 win in the gold medal game.

Roster

Team USA Results

Final Standings

1956 Olympics (Melbourne)

Before leading the Boston Celtics to 8 consecutive NBA championships, Bill Russell led the 1956 USA men's basketball team to an Olympic gold medal in Melbourne. Russell averaged 14.1 points per game, and Team USA dominated the tournament, winning by an average of 53.5 points.

Roster

Team USA Results

Final Standings

1960 Olympics (Rome)

Arguably the best US roster before the 1992 Dream Team, the 1960 US Olympic team featured 3 players who would go on to become members of the NBA's 50 greatest players - Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, and Jerry Lucas.

Roster

Team USA Results

Final Standings

1964 Olympics (Tokyo)
A team consisting of future hall-of-famer and U.S. Senator Bill Bradley, and future Team USA coach Larry Brown again racked up a perfect record and brought home the gold medal. Hank Iba coached his first of three USA Olympic teams.

Roster

Team USA Results

Final Standings

1968 Olympics (Mexico City)

The US entered Olympic play as underdogs to the Soviets and Yugoslavia, but Spencer Haywood led the team to another unblemished record. Team USA won by 15 over Yugoslavia in the gold medal game.

Roster

Team USA Results

Final Standings

1972 Olympics (Munich)

Without question, the 1972 Olympic men's basketball gold medal game is the most controversial in Olympic history. Trailing 49-48 to the USSR, Doug Collins sank 2 free throws to put the Americans up 50-49 with three seconds left. However, the horn sounded before Collin's second free throw.

Immediately following Collins' free throws, the Soviets inbounded the ball and failed to score. But one official had whistled play to stop with one second remaining after hearing the earlier horn and seeing a disturbance near the scorers table. The Soviets argued that they had requested a timeout before Collins' foul shots. The referees ordered the clock reset to three seconds and the game's final seconds replayed. However, the clock was in the process of being reset when the referees put the ball in play. A length of the court Soviet pass missed its mark, the horn sounded and the U.S. again began celebrating.

However, R. William Jones, Secretary General of FIBA, stepped in and ordered the clock again reset to 0:03 and the game replayed from that point. This time, the Soviet's Aleksander Belov and the USA's Kevin Joyce and Jim Forbes went up for the pass, Belov caught the long pass from Ivan Edeshko at the foul line sending the two Americans sprawling, Belov then drove to the basket for the layup and the winning points. Post-game, the U.S. filed a protest and FIBA officials met to discuss the protest. The U.S. protest was denied and the Soviets were awarded the gold medals. The U.S. team voted unanimously to refuse their silver medals.

This game marked the first ever loss for Team USA in Olympic play, ending a winning streak of 63 games and 7 gold medals.

Roster

Team USA Results

Final Standings

1976 Olympics (Montreal)

Adrian Dantley averaged 19.1 points and Dean Smith coached Team USA to a 7-0 record and another Olympic gold medal.

Roster

Team USA Results

Final Standings

1980 Olympics (Moscow)
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan prompted several countries, including the US, to boycott the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.

Final Standings

1984 Olympics (Los Angeles)

Michael Jordan made his Olympic debut, 8 years before his appearance on the original Dream Team. Jordan led the team with 17.1 points per game, and Bobby Knight coached the team to an 8-0 record and another Olympic gold.

Roster

Team USA Results

Final Standings

1988 Olympics (Seoul)

A roster than included a host of future NBA all-stars including David Robinson and Mitch Richmond came up short, finishing third and winning the bronze medal. Team USA lost its only game to the Soviets 82-76 in first Olympic meeting between these countries since the controversial 1972 gold medal game. The Americans went on to pound Australia 78-49 in the bronze metal game. "Thunder" Dan Marjerle lead Team USA in scoring, averaging 14.1 points per game.

Roster

Team USA Results

Final Standings

The Original Dream Team

Dream Team I featured some players considered among history's best. The roster was:

Team roster

The original Dream Team's starters. Top row: Barkley, Ewing, Malone ;Bottom row: Johnson, Jordan
Enlarge
The original Dream Team's starters. Top row: Barkley, Ewing, Malone ;Bottom row: Johnson, Jordan

Coach: Chuck Daly of the New Jersey Nets

Because of this star line-up, the team's games usually featured pregame photos by the opposite team of their U.S. opponents — and idols.

The team won its games by huge margins, beating Croatia in the gold medal game by 32 points.

Stockton was the only Dream Team member to wear his NBA number in the Olympics (12), and the only one allowed to by international rules, which restrict player numbers to 4 through 15. All other Dream Team members normally wore numbers outside the allowable range.

Despite being regarded as the best mix of players ever, half of the Dream Team members never won an NBA title: Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Christian Laettner, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin and John Stockton.

Results at the 1992 Tournament of the Americas in Portland

Results at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona

Final standings at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona

  1. United States (8–0)
  2. Croatia (6–2)
  3. Lithuania (6–2)
  4. Commonwealth of Independent States (5–3)
  5. Brazil (4–4)
  6. Australia (4–4)
  7. Germany (3–5)
  8. Puerto Rico (3–5)
  9. Spain (3–4)
  10. Angola (2–5)
  11. Venezuela (2–5)
  12. China (0–7)

1994 World Championship Team, or Dream Team II

The second Dream Team competed in the 1994 World Championships, held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This was an entirely new roster, as USA Basketball elected to showcase stars who were not present at the 1992 Olympics. Composed primarily of younger NBA players, the team lacked the widespread appeal of its predecessor but nevertheless continued its dominance.

Team roster

^Injured; unable to compete

Coached by Don Nelson of the Golden State Warriors, this team easily captured the gold medal in tournament play.

Results at the 1994 World Championships in Toronto

Final standings at the 1994 World Championships in Toronto

  1. United States (8–0)
  2. Russia (5–2)
  3. Croatia (7–1)
  4. Greece (4–4)
  5. Australia 5–3)
  6. Puerto Rico (3–5)
  7. Canada (4–4)
  8. China (2–6)
  9. Argentina (5–3)
  10. Spain (5–3)
  11. Brazil (2–6)
  12. Germany (5–3)
  13. Korea (3–5)
  14. Egypt (1–7)
  15. Cuba (3–5)
  16. Angola (1–7)

1996 US Olympic Basketball Team, or Dream Team III

The third Dream Team participated in the 1996 Summer Olympics held in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The star quality of team was impressive as it featured five members of the original Dream Team (Barkley, Malone, Pippen, Robinson, and Stockton). The rest of the squad consisted of high-caliber players, and they rolled to another gold medal.

Team roster

Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone, and David Robinson were the only players who participated in both Olympic Dream Teams.

Dream Team III cruised through the 1996 Olympics, defeating every other team by margins greater than 20 points. They captured the Gold Medal after defeating Yugoslavia 95–69. Lenny Wilkens coached this team, which definitively lived up to the expectations of the thousands of fans that went to see their home team. Dream Team III was thought by some to be the last of the "invincible" Dream Teams#redirect .

Results at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta

Final standings at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta

  1. United States (8–0)
  2. Yugoslavia (7–1)
  3. Lithuania (5–3)
  4. Australia (5–3)
  5. Greece (5–3)
  6. Brazil (3–5)
  7. Croatia (4–4)
  8. China (2–6)
  9. Argentina (3–4)
  10. Puerto Rico (2–5)
  11. Angola (1–6)
  12. South Korea (0–7)

1998 World Championship Team

The American team that competed in the 1998 World Championships in Athens, Greece is not considered a Dream Team, as none of its players were current members of NBA teams. Because of a labor dispute that led to a lockout, no NBA players were permitted to compete in the tournament. This unheralded team, composed largely of players from the minor-league Continental Basketball Association, captured a bronze medal—considered a solid achievement given the team's complete lack of top-notch talent.

Results at the 1998 World Championships in Athens

Final standings at the 1998 World Championships in Athens

  1. Yugoslavia (9–0)
  2. Russia (7–2)
  3. United States (7–2)
  4. Greece (5–4)
  5. Spain (7–2)
  6. Italy (5–4)
  7. Lithuania (5–4)
  8. Argentina (3–6)
  9. Australia (5–3)
  10. Brazil (2–6)
  11. Puerto Rico (3–5)
  12. Canada (1–7)
  13. Nigeria (2–3)
  14. Japan (1–4)
  15. Senegal (1–4)
  16. Korea (0–5)

2000 Olympic Basketball Team

During the late 1990s, international basketball began to gather attention as more and more foreign players became stars in the NBA. Therefore, Dream Team IV had the enormous task of proving that American basketball was the best in the world. The new team that was assembled again featured NBA players, but this time few of them were considered to be true superstars, as several elite players elected not to participate. Since the team was more ordinary than a collection of the greatest ever to play, and not much better than other teams in the tournament, many fans do not believe that the name "Dream Team" should apply#redirect and instead use the term 2000 US Men's Basketball Team.

Team roster

The 2000 US Olympic Basketball Team participated in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and was coached by Rudy Tomjanovich. It began by defeating its first rivals by large margins but suddenly the margins began to shrink. The preliminary game against Lithuania 85–76 was the first time a Dream Team failed to win by double digits. It was in these Games that Vince Carter of Team USA executed one of the most famous dunks in history, literally jumping over 7'2"/2.18 m France center Frédéric Weis on his way to the basket.

A major shock came on the semifinals game when Lithuania fell to the Dream Team by only two points, 85–83, after Lithuanian star (and future member of the Indiana Pacers) Sarunas Jasikevicius missed a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer that would have won the game. Dream Team IV eventually won the Gold Medal against France in a very close game, which the Americans won 85–75. Though Dream Team IV won the 2000 Olympics undefeated, for the very first time the American superstar team began to lose its aura of invincibility.

Results at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney

Final standings at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney

  1. United States (8–0)
  2. France (4–4)
  3. Lithuania (5–3)
  4. Australia (4–4)
  5. Italy(4–3)
  6. Yugoslavia (4–3)
  7. Canada (5–2)
  8. Russia (3–4)
  9. Spain (2–4)
  10. China (2–4)
  11. New Zealand (1–5)
  12. Angola (0–6)

2002 US Men's Basketball Team

The 2002 US Men's Basketball Team competed in the 2002 Basketball World Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Coached by George Karl, the team finished a surprising sixth in the competition, marking the first time that a team consisting of NBA players failed to capture the gold medal in international play. To a greater degree than in 2000, a number of top NBA players declined to participate, forcing USA Basketball to resort to picking mostly second-tier players.

Team roster

Results at the 2002 World Championships in Indianapolis

Final standings at the 2002 World Championships in Indianapolis

  1. Yugoslavia (7–2)
  2. Argentina (8–1)
  3. Germany (6–3)
  4. New Zealand (4–5)
  5. Spain (7–2)
  6. United States (6–3)
  7. Puerto Rico (6–3)
  8. Brazil (4–4)
  9. Turkey (4–4)
  10. Russia (3–5)
  11. Angola (2–6)
  12. China (1–7)
  13. Canada (2–3)
  14. Venezuela (1–4)
  15. Algeria (1–4)
  16. Lebanon (0–5)

2004 US Men's Basketball Team

The humiliating outcome in 2002 prompted a number of NBA superstars to agree to join the team for the 2003 Tournament of the Americas, which the squad was required to participate in to qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympics. The team easily cruised to a first-place finish, earning it a spot in Athens, Greece the following summer.

However, the dominant team that competed in 2003 could not be kept together. Primarily due to security concerns, 10 of its 12 players elected not to participate in Athens, causing USA Basketball to scramble to fill their places. The revamped 2004 US Men's Basketball Team generally consisted of either young NBA players early in their careers, or veteran players thought to be somewhat beneath superstar status. The only established superstars on the team were Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson—not coincidentally, the only two players left from the 2003 roster.

Team roster

The 2004 US Men's Basketball Team was coached by Larry Brown.

Although this team was occasionally called a "Dream Team" because it was composed of NBA players, it is likely that the media will end the use of that nickname after its performance. Indeed, some media outlets took to calling it the "Nightmare Team." Many people criticized both Larry Brown and the players for a lack of dedication to the team. The 2004 US Men's Basketball Team was defeated by Italy by 17 points in an exhibition game in Cologne, Germany; two days later, also in Cologne, the US team needed a long Iverson three-pointer to keep its friendly game against Germany from going into overtime. For the very first time, the world saw that in fact a team composed of American players who played in the NBA was beatable. The vulnerability of the Americans was confirmed on August 15, 2004 when Puerto Rico defeated them 92–73 in the very first game of the 2004 Olympics in Athens. It was only the third Olympic basketball defeat ever in the history of the United States and the first one for a American team composed of professionals. Carlos Arroyo of Puerto Rico led the attack in the game, which suggested that the level of international basketball had caught up with that of the United States.

After winning close games against Greece and Australia, the U.S. team lost another game against Lithuania, dropping to 2–2 in the Olympic tournament. Sarunas Jasikevicius, who missed a three-pointer that would have beaten the U.S. in the semifinals four years earlier at Sydney, scored 28 points to lead the Lithuanian team.

Even though it managed to win easily against Angola, 89–53, because of the goal average rules 2004 US Men's Basketball Team entered the quarterfinal round in 4th place, the lowest seed of their group. The Americans faced undefeated Spain in their quarterfinal game and finally put up a dominant performance. Led by Stephon Marbury's 31 points, the 2004 US Men's Basketball Team defeated the Spaniards 102–94, eliminating them from medal contention.

Any momentum gained from that victory was lost a game later, however, as the team was defeated by Argentina, led by Duncan's teammate Manu Ginobili, 89–81 in the semifinals, ending the Dream Team's lock on the gold medal. The 2004 US Men's Basketball Team ended the Olympics with a 104–96 win over Lithuania to win the bronze medal. It marked only the third time that an American team failed to win gold, and the first time for a American team composed of professionals. Before 2004, American teams had only lost two games in all previous Olympic tournaments, whereas in this one the American team lost three.

Results at the 2004 Olympics in Athens

Final standings at the 2004 Olympics in Athens

  1. Argentina (6–2)
  2. Italy (5–3)
  3. United States (5–3)
  4. Lithuania (6–2)
  5. Greece (4–3)
  6. Puerto Rico (3–4)
  7. Spain (5–1)
  8. China (2–5)
  9. Australia (2–4)
  10. New Zealand (1–5)
  11. Serbia & Montenegro (2–4)
  12. Angola (0–6)

2006-2008 US Men's Basketball Team

Following the failure of the previous "Dream Teams", USA Basketball decided to move in a different direction. It appointed Jerry Colangelo to be solely responsible for selecting the team. Colangelo made it clear that he would ask players for a three-year commitment—the 2006 Worlds and the 2008 Summer Olympics. The head coach picked is Duke University coach Mike Krzyzewski with assistants Jim Boeheim, Mike D'Antoni, and Nate McMillan. While some prominent players, such as Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett have already stated that they do not plan to play for the team, superstars Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Allen Iverson, and Shawn Marion have publicly announced their commitment for the 2006 Worlds and the 2008 Summer Olympics. Iverson, however, despite being the captain for the 2004 Olympic team, was not invited to train with the team as well as Houston Rockets All-Star Tracy McGrady.

Training camp roster


Shaquille O'Neal of the Miami Heat has a standing invitation but has not made it clear if he wishes to participate.



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