The subtle art of building teams
The term Dream Team became well known during the Barcelona Olympics of 1992 when the US basketball team brought their NBA professional stars to play for the gold.
The biggest stars were Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Charles Barkley. Their singular focus was on one goal — Olympic gold. They were unwavering in their dedication, understanding that anything less than gold would be a colossal failure.
They did not stay in the Olympic Village with the other athletes, partly because of their stardom ‘habits’ and partly to avoid distractions from hysterical fans. They booked the entire floor of the most expensive 5-star hotel in Barcelona.
They were called a Dream Team because bringing them together to play at the Olympic Games was a dream come true. The hype was enormous.
They lived up to the task and became Olympic Champions. The dream team’s golden dream had been fulfilled.
It’s easy to conclude that these NBA stars were so good that it was inevitable that they would win the gold. And yes, they were that good.
However, later versions of the Dream Team failed at the Olympic Games and were defeated by better ‘teams’ with less skilled players.
