The 30 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All-Time - Elliott Kalb [37]
Daly told me to check out America’s Dream Team: The Quest for Olympic Gold, his journal of the experience, written in 1992. On page 36, Chuck wrote that many people didn’t realize that the coach did not select the U.S. Olympic team, and actually had very little input. The team was selected by one of the USA Basketball Committees, known as the Men’s Olympic Team Subset. It originally consisted of thirteen members, including C.M. Newton, Wayne Embry, Bob Bass, Quinn Buckner, P.J. Carlesimo, Billy Cunningham, Charles Grantham, Mike Krzyzewski, Jack McCloskey, George Raveling, Rod Thorn, Jan Volk, and Donnie Walsh. Daly wrote that Buckner and McCloskey withdrew from the committee during the period when the team was being chosen, and Willis Reed was added as a replacement.
Hold on. Quinn Buckner and Jack McCoskey withdrew from the selection committee? Buckner was an Indiana graduate, and fiercely loyal to Bob Knight (and Isiah). McCoskey was the then-General Manager of the Pistons.
Daly went on to include Newton’s reasoning for not including Daly in the process. “If [Daly] were to make the selections, you put an active coach in a very difficult position,” Newton reportedly said. “By keeping him in an advisory capacity, you try to take some of the pressure off him.” Chuck didn’t buy that totally, although he wrote, “having the committee pick the players did relieve me of some, if not all, criticism in the area of player selection.”
Again, it’s hard to argue with the selections. Coach Daly never had to call a single time-out in the tournament. The average margin of victory for the U.S. team was more than forty-three points. The closest game came against Croatia, when the USA won 103-70. Opponents were simply in awe of the Dream Team.
Still, if I had been making the decisions, Thomas would have been on the team instead of Stockton. Why wasn’t Isiah Thomas on the team? People who believe in conspiracy theories claim that there must have been a secret negotiation between Michael Jordan and the higher-ups at USA Basketball. Jordan and Thomas were never warm to each other.
Thomas must have had mixed emotions towards Jordan. He wanted to be the hometown hero in Chicago, but that role was taken by Jordan almost as soon as he arrived there in 1984. Thomas wanted to be draped in red, white, and blue, representing his country and winning a gold medal, but that was a role that Jordan got to play early in 1984. Isiah had to be content with playing the role of the villain, the competitor that would rip your heart out. He became a fan of the Oakland Raiders, because of their commitment to winning and their rebellious nature.
And so, when Jordan made his initial NBA All-Star Game, Isiah Thomas apparently led his eastern teammates to “freezeout” Jordan. This wasn’t the polished Jordan, adept at being in center-stage for the world. It also wasn’t the classiest move in Thomas’ career. Close to two decades later, Thomas would play a part in Jordan’s final All-Star Game, as well. Coaching the Eastern All-Stars, Thomas and Vince Carter convinced Jordan to start the game in Carter’s spot, at the urging of nearly everyone.
Thomas and Jordan waged quite a rivalry in the years leading up to the 1992 Olympics as well. The Bulls and Pistons were and still are heated rivals. Scottie Pippen labeled Thomas “a cheapshot artist,” and implied that he wouldn’t play on the Olympic team if Thomas were named to the squad. The Pistons met the Bulls in the playoffs four consecutive years (1988, 1989, 1990, and 1991), and Daly’s Pistons eliminated Chicago three straight seasons before Chicago broke through and swept the Pistons in 1991. When the Bulls did