Current:Home > InvestLenny Wilkens tells how Magic Johnson incited Michael Jordan during lazy Dream Team practice -MacroWatch
Lenny Wilkens tells how Magic Johnson incited Michael Jordan during lazy Dream Team practice
View
Date:2025-04-14 00:45:40
Much has been made about the original 1992 Dream Team and how competitive the practices were, considering the players probably knew weren't going to get much competition once the team set foot in Barcelona.
Hall of Fame coach Lenny Wilkens, who was an assistant on the Dream Team, tells of one instance when practice wasn't going as planned, and head coach Chuck Daly was starting to fume at the lack of intensity.
"For a coach, it was a dream come true to have that kind of talent. And they were always ready. ... And they challenged one another."
"Guys were going through the motions, one time," Wilkens said to host Bob Kendrick on the Black Diamonds podcast.
Wilkens said he called Magic Johnson over to discuss the practice.
"We don't have to be here all day. We can be here as short a period of time depending on how we perform," Wilkens said he told Johnson.
HALL OF FAME: How Dream Team influenced inductees
Johnson didn't need another word, telling Wilkens, "I got it, coach. I'll take care of it."
According to Wilkens, Johnson talked to a few of his teammates about how they were playing and then came to Michael Jordan.
"He started to get on Michael and that's all we needed," Wilkens said. "Michael went berserk."
Jordan's antics forced Daly to stop the practice, fearing that a team member would get hurt.
"We laugh about it to this day. I saw Magic not too long ago ... and he reminded me of it," Wilkens said.
Of course, the Dream Team, the first time USA Basketball used professionals in Olympic competition, steamrolled its opponents in Barcelona by an average of 44 points a game on the way to the gold medal.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- Kylie Jenner Shows Off Sweet Notes From Nieces Dream Kardashian & Chicago West
- Too many subscriptions, not enough organs
- Coal Powered the Industrial Revolution. It Left Behind an ‘Absolutely Massive’ Environmental Catastrophe
- After the Wars in Iraq, ‘Everything Living is Dying’
- Elon Musk's skyrocketing net worth: He's the first person with over $400 billion
- Labor's labors lost? A year after stunning victory at Amazon, unions are stalled
- Can Biden’s Plan to Boost Offshore Wind Spread West?
- Michigan clerk stripped of election duties after he was charged with acting as fake elector in 2020 election
- Sonya Massey's father decries possible release of former deputy charged with her death
- Inside Clean Energy: Yes, We Can Electrify Almost Everything. Here’s What That Looks Like.
Ranking
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- A New Hampshire beauty school student was found dead in 1981. Her killer has finally been identified.
- Why G Flip and Chrishell Stause Are Already Planning Their Next Wedding
- One Last Climate Warning in New IPCC Report: ‘Now or Never’
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Women now dominate the book business. Why there and not other creative industries?
- Deadly ‘Smoke Waves’ From Wildfires Set to Soar
- College student falls hundreds of feet to his death while climbing Oregon mountain with his girlfriend
Recommendation
Average rate on 30
Plans to Reopen St. Croix’s Limetree Refinery Have Analysts Surprised and Residents Concerned
As Illinois Strains to Pass a Major Clean Energy Law, a Big Coal Plant Stands in the Way
Why tech bros are trying to give away all their money (kind of)
New Mexico governor seeks funding to recycle fracking water, expand preschool, treat mental health
Inside Clean Energy: What’s Cool, What We Suspect and What We Don’t Yet Know about Ford’s Electric F-150
Major effort underway to restore endangered Mexican wolf populations
How Pay-to-Play Politics and an Uneasy Coalition of Nuclear and Renewable Energy Led to a Flawed Illinois Law