Michael Jordan destroyed three NBA stars at Dream Team practice with four words: “Scotty, you can stay”
In 1992, the greatest basketball team ever assembled and dominated the Barcelona Olympics. Dream Team took the gold medal by winning their games by an average of 43.8 points. However, for some members of the Dream Team, such as Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and Clyde Drexler, winning NBA gold was much more difficult. And Michael Jordan never let them forget it.
Dream Team members had a big disparity in NBA championships
In the 1992 NBA Finals, Dream Team members Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls faced Clyde Drexler and the Portland Trail Blazers.
Jordan averaged 35.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 6.5 assists en route to the Finals MVP, while Pippen averaged 20.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.7 assists to become the top Drexler (24.8/ 7.8/5.3) and his blazers. It was the second consecutive Larry O’Brien Trophy for the Bulls and (ultimately) the second of six in eight seasons.
When Jordan, Pippen, and Drexler hit Dream Team practice in the summer of 1992, the Blazers star wasn’t the only member who didn’t have an NBA championship under his belt.
At that point, only Magic Johnson with five and Larry Bird with three joined Pippen and Jordan with NBA Finals victories.
Drexler ended up winning one with the Houston Rockets in 1995, and David Robinson ended his career with two in 1999 and 2003.
The other half of the team not only didn’t have a championship in 1992, they never did. Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Chris Mullin and Christian Lettner never received their rings. Most of the time it was a direct result of playing Jordan and Pippen’s Bulls in the 90s.
The fact that Jordan had more rings at the time than eight of his Dream Team teammates did not escape his notice. And MJ, always talking about trash, told his contemporaries about it in a hilarious way.
Michael Jordan crushes his teammates without a championship at Dream Team practice
In an episode of Jackie McMullan’s Dream Team Icon Club Podcastlongtime NBA insider, starts with a fantasy tale of Michael Jordan talking nonsense to his fellow NBA superstar Olympic teammates.
In true Jordan GOAT spirit, it only took four words to crush the spirit of the non-NBA title Dream Team members. McMullan explains:
Charles Barkley approaches the ring. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen are already there, knocking down jumpers. Another training session of the Dream Team began. … Jordan abruptly stopped his teammates. “Find another basket, Charles. He turned to Patrick Ewing. You too, Patrick. Scotty, you can stay. The future members of the Hall of Famers looked at MJ inquiringly. “Only champions!” Jordan announced. “Not you, Clyde. Find another place. Magic, a five-time champion, understood this immediately. He billed his corner of the gym as a “ring basket”.
Jackie McMullan at Dream Team training
And that’s how Jordan did what he did best throughout his NBA career. On a basketball court filled with stars, he distinguished himself as the best of the best.
This has been a theme throughout Jordan’s career, as he has been directly responsible for most of the Dream Teamers without a slump in the rings.
Despite the greatness of Charles Barkley’s Phoenix Suns, Patrick Ewing’s New York Knicks, and John Stockton and Karl Malone’s Utah Jazz, none of these teams could overcome the hump thanks to Jordan and Pippen’s Chicago Bulls.
Even Drexler’s title doesn’t carry that much weight because of the Jordan factor.
Jordan and Pippen are the reason why several NBA greats don’t have championship titles.
Charles Barkley never won a ring in the NBA due to eight different members of the Dream Team. His Philadelphia 76ers could never make it out of the Eastern Conference playoff bracket. They lost once to the Boston Celtics of Larry Bird, once to the New York Knicks of Patrick Ewing, and twice to the Chicago Bulls of Michael Jordan and Scotty Pippen.
In 1992, Barkley moved to the Phoenix Suns and lost to the Bulls in the 1993 NBA Finals. In 1995, the Suns lost to Clyde Drexler and the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference Finals. A year later, his Suns lost to David Robinson and the San Antonio Spurs in the same round.
Barkley then joined Drexler and the Rockets in 1996 but lost twice to John Stockton, Karl Malone and the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference Finals. Magic Johnson, Chris Mullin, and Christian Lettner were the only Dream Team members Barkley didn’t lose to in the NBA playoffs.
Ewing, Stockton and Malone also fared poorly against members of the Dream Team.
Ewing’s Knicks lost four times in their career to Jordan and Pippen in the playoffs. He also lost to Drexler and Robinson in the NBA Finals. Bird not only beat Ewing and the Knicks as a Boston Celtics player in 1988, but he also beat them twice in the playoffs as coach of the Indianapolis Pacers in 1998 and 2000.
Last but not least, Stockton and Malone also lost to several dream teams.
Chris Mullin and the Golden State Warriors beat them in the 1987 and 1989 playoffs. Magic Johnson’s Lakers defeated them in 1988. Drexler’s Portland Trail Blazers knocked them out in 1991 and 1992, and his Rockets defeated them in 1995.
However, it is most notorious that Jordan and Pippen’s Bulls beat Jazz Malone and Stockton in the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals.
All statistics provided Basketball Handbook
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