Head coach | Lenny Wilkens |
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1996 Summer Olympics | |
Scoring leader | Charles Barkley [1] 12.4 |
Rebounding leader | Charles Barkley 6.6 |
Assists leader | Gary Payton 4.5 |
The men's national basketball team of the United States won the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Led by Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Lenny Wilkens, the team won gold for the second straight Olympics. Nicknamed Dream Team III, [2] [3] the team included five players who were Olympic teammates on the original "Dream Team", from the 1992 Olympic basketball tournament: Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, and David Robinson. Gary Payton was a late replacement for the injured Glenn Robinson. [4] [5]
With Michael Jordan intimating in 1994 that he would pass on the opportunity to participate in his third Olympic Games (previously in 1984 and 1992 (the "Dream Team")) to let others get their chance at a gold medal, USA Basketball officials sought to construct the team dubbed Dream Team III (Dream Team II was the moniker of the lesser-known 1994 FIBA World Championship team) [3] with a winning combination of veteran players from the 1992 Dream Team that won the gold medal in Barcelona and some of the league's best young talent.
The first ten players of the 1996 United States Men's national basketball team roster were announced in the summer of 1995, featuring young talent, and first-time Olympians, included the likes of Penny Hardaway, Grant Hill, Shaquille O'Neal, and Gary Payton, who was added as a replacement for an injured Glenn Robinson. Other veteran players who were first-time Olympians were Reggie Miller and Hakeem Olajuwon. Mitch Richmond, along with Charles Barkley, were added in April 1996 completing the roster as the eleventh and twelfth members. Thus, the holdovers from the 1992 Olympic Team, Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson, John Stockton, and Charles Barkley, coupled with the first-time Olympians and 1988 Olympian Mitch Richmond formed the 1996 United States Men's Olympic basketball team roster. [3]
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The USA Basketball Men's National Team, commonly known as Team USA and the United States men's national basketball team, is the basketball team representing the United States. It is the most successful team in international competition, winning medals in all nineteen Olympic tournaments it has entered, including sixteen golds. In the professional era, the team won the Olympic gold medal in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020. Two of its gold medal-winning teams were inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in August 2010: the 1960 team, which featured six Hall of Famers, and the 1992 "Dream Team", featuring 14 Hall of Famers. The team is currently ranked first in the FIBA World Rankings.
1992 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
Scotty Maurice Pippen Sr., usually spelled Scottie Pippen, is an American former professional basketball player. He played 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. Considered one of the greatest small forwards of all time, Pippen played an important role in transforming the Bulls into a championship team and popularizing the NBA around the world during the 1990s.
Toni Kukoč is a Croatian-American former professional basketball player who serves as Special Advisor to Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the Chicago Bulls. After a highly successful period in European basketball, he was one of the first established European stars to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Kukoč played for four NBA teams between 1993 and 2006, winning the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1996. He is a three-time NBA champion, having won championships with the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls in 1996, 1997 and 1998.
Leonard Randolph Wilkens is an American former basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as a player, as a coach in 1998, and in 2010 as part of the 1992 United States Olympic "Dream Team" for which he was an assistant coach. In 1996, Wilkens was named to the NBA 50th Anniversary Team, and in 2021 he was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. In addition, in 2022 he was also named to the list of the 15 Greatest Coaches in NBA History, being the only person to be in both NBA 75th season celebration list as player and coach. He is also a 2006 inductee into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
Steven Delano Smith is an American former professional basketball player who is a basketball analyst for Turner Sports. After a collegiate career with Michigan State, he played with several teams in his 14-season National Basketball Association career, including the Miami Heat, the Portland Trail Blazers and the San Antonio Spurs, but is perhaps best known for his five-year stint with the Atlanta Hawks which included an All-Star Game appearance in 1998. He won a championship with the Spurs in 2003. Smith was widely regarded as an excellent three-point shooter, and is one of three players to make seven 3-pointers in a quarter.
The 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, also referred to as NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team, were chosen in 1996 to honor the 50th anniversary of the founding of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was the third anniversary team in the league. Fifty players were selected through a vote by a panel of media members, former players and coaches, and current and former general managers. In addition, the top ten head coaches and top ten single-season teams in NBA history were selected by media members as part of the celebration. The 50 players had to have played at least a portion of their careers in the NBA and were selected irrespective of position played.
The United States (USA) was the host nation for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. 646 competitors, 375 men and 271 women, took part in 263 events in 31 sports.
Robert Joseph Cremins Jr. is an American retired college basketball coach. He served as a head coach at Appalachian State, Georgia Tech, and the College of Charleston.
The Bulls–Knicks rivalry is a rivalry between the Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The two basketball teams have played each other every year since the Bulls first joined the NBA in 1966.
Joseph William Kleine is an American former professional basketball player who played fifteen seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and for the US national team. He won a gold medal as a member of the United States men's basketball team at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In 1998, he won the NBA championship as a member of the Chicago Bulls. Kleine is now a restaurant proprietor, owning a number of successful Corky's Ribs & BBQ restaurants.
Team USA Basketball is a 1992 video game that was available for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis game console. The game is a spinoff following the success of the Bulls vs Lakers video game as well as the popularity explosion of the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team also known as the "Dream Team". It is the third game in the NBA Playoffs series of games.
NBA Live Legend All-Stars Teams is a video game feature on the NBA Live video games series. It gathers five teams, each representing a decade, starting from the 1950s. Each team consists of great players from that era. Most of the players had been inducted into Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame or named NBA 50 Greatest Players.
The 1996 NBA All-Star Game was the 46th edition of the NBA All-Star Game, an exhibition basketball game played on February 11, 1996. The event was held at the Alamodome in San Antonio and was a part of the 50th season of the NBA. The game was televised nationally by NBC in the United States and by CTV in Canada. There were 36,037 people in attendance. Michael Jordan put on a show for the fans in his first game back from retirement and ended up receiving the game's most valuable player award.
The 40th National Basketball Association All-Star Game was played on February 11, 1990, at Miami Arena in Miami. Magic Johnson was named the game's MVP as well as the leading scorer with 22 points.
The 1960 United States men's Olympic basketball team competed in the Games of the XVII Olympiad in Rome, Italy, representing the United States of America.
The 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team, nicknamed the "Dream Team", was the first American Olympic team to feature active professional players from the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team has often been described as the greatest sports team ever assembled.
The 1984 United States men's Olympic basketball team competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, representing the United States. The USA's senior men's team was led by coach Bob Knight, who was also the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers at the time. The team won the tournament's gold medal. It was the last amateur-level U.S. team to win an Olympic gold medal in men's basketball. The team was considered to be one of the strongest in the U.S.A.'s history at that time, as it featured four of the five 1984 consensus first team All-Americans, in Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Wayman Tisdale, and Sam Perkins.
The men's national basketball team of the United States won the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. They defeated France by a score of 85–75 in the gold medal game. Team USA won gold for the 12th time in 14 Olympic basketball tournaments.
Twelve men's teams competed in basketball at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
WAGERS were being taken on how badly Dream Team III would route Angola last night in Game 2 of its gold-medal tour.