Salt Lake City's hosting of tonight's men's Olympic basketball exhibition between the Dream Team and Australia can be seen as a fitting tribute to the longtime core of Utah Jazz basketball: point guard John Stockton, power forward Karl Malone and head coach Jerry Sloan.
Stockton and Malone are on their second tour of Olympic duty, having been on the original Dream Team in 1992 as well as the 1996 version (which is Dream Team III, for those of you keeping score at home)."They're one of the best - if not the best - tandems in basketball, and they've meant so much to their franchise," said Reggie Miller. "The most remarkable thing is that they've missed - what is it? - just eight games between them over their careers."
Miller singled out Stockton's court savvy as being critical to the squad - a reason that he was selected along with David Robinson and Scottie Pippen as Dream Team co-captains. "He's a great leader. He knows how to get guys into the flow of the game."
DREAM COACHING: Sloan joins college coaches Bobby Cremins of Georgia Tech and Clem Haskins of Minnesota as assistants to USA head coach Lenny Wilkens (head coach of the Atlanta Hawks).
Sloan admits the coaching and teaching opportunities are limited with the current collection of NBA stars. "Lenny has a great approach. He just lets them play, although he has put in a couple of things. They're going to get the job done. It's just a matter of time."
ADD 1984: Malone and Stockton got their first taste of Olympic opportunities a dozen years ago, when they were among the 80-plus collegians who participated in the 1984 Olympic trials for head coach Bobby Knight of Indiana.
Malone and Stockton weren't the only future Olympians trimmed from the 1984 U.S. men's Olympic basketball team. Also dismissed were the likes of Charles Barkley ('92 and '96) and Danny Manning ('88) as well as another pair from Dream Team II - Mark Price and Joe Dumars.
Others at the '84 U.S. trials with Utah ties included current or former Jazz players Antoine Carr, Dell Curry, Mike Brown, Tyrone Corbin, Jay Humphries and Larry Krystkowiak; former BYU standout Devin Durrant and Utah State star Greg Grant. The coaching staff included Ladell Andersen and Kohn Smith (the latter then an assistant to Knight at Indiana), with BYU's Frank Arnold on the player selection committee.
MORE '84: And if the likes of Stockton, Malone, Barkley, Dumars and Price couldn't make the '84 squad, just who comprised the Team USA roster for the Los Angeles Summer Games?
Let's see, there was this junior guard from North Carolina by the name of Michael Jordan, his senior Tar Heel teammate Sam Perkins, Georgetown junior center Patrick Ewing and St. John's junior Chris Mullin for starters. Joining them were Indiana freshman Steve Alford, Georgia's Vern Fleming, Arkansas' Joe Kleine, SMU's Jon Koncak, Arkansas' Alvin Robertson, Oklahoma's Wayman Tisdale, Vanderbilt's Jeff Turner, and Cal State-Fullerton's Leon Wood.
Four alternates were selected and toured with the team for exhibition play. They included Johnny Dawkins of Duke, Lancaster Gordon of Louisville, Tim McCormick of Michigan and Chuck Person of Auburn.
MISCELLANEOUS: This Dream Team stuff isn't entirely new to Anfernee Hardaway and Grant Hill, who scrimmaged against the original Dream Team in 1992 as members of a USA Basketball Developmental Team. In one of the daily scrimmages during the first week of training, the younger team actually edged the Dream Team 62-54, causing Michael Jordan to comment: "If they were in the Olympics, they'd win the silver medal." . . . In the three previous exhibitions, no player has started all three games, and all players except David Robinson have started at least one game . . . Malone's eight rebounds against China is a team high so far this during the exhibition tour . . . Shaquille O'Neal was practicing a "lounge" act of sorts following the game in Phoenix. Shaq conducted most of his postgame interviews while reclining atop buffet tables in the media dining area. Yes, the food trays had been long removed . . . International rules require free throws to be shot within a five-second period. How is Malone faring, since his prolonged procedure at the line had Seattle fans counting the 10-second NBA allowance during the Western Conference finals? Through three games, the Mailman has delivered on 9 of his 13 foul shots . . . The Dream Team concludes its exhibition tour Sunday against the Greek Olympic Team in Indianapolis.