Just heard a fantastic interview on the Jim Rome show with Charles Barkley. He talks for a good 15 minutes on the Dream Team experience. Some of his thoughts (from memory):
On Christian Laettner:
Everyoone had their clique they hung around with, except poor Christian Laettner. No one cared about Christian Laettner. He was never going to play. We would tell him, "We'll put you in when we're up by 70 points". He'd complain "We'll never be up by 70 points". Then, in the first game, we were up by 70 points and afterwards had to say to him "Whoops, my bad".
On 92 vs. 96:
I was on both the 92 and 96 Dream Teams, and I can't believe the difference. 96 there were players complaining about their playing time, refusing to play unless their playing time was increased. I can honestly say that in 92, we didn't have a single disagreement. We had 2 starting lineups and no one ever complained.
On Isaiah Thomas' exclusion from the team
I was surprised when I heard Jordan and Pippen saying that they didn't want Isaiah on the team. This was a chance of a lifetime, and I'd hate to have anyone block me from having a chance to experience it.
On security and being in the public:
It was incredible. 4 of us would play poker every night from 6 to around 1am. Then I'd go for a walk around all these outdoor cafes. I wasn't worried about security - if someone was going to kill me, they were going to kill me, and cooping me up in a hotel wasn't going to make me any safer.
Lots of other quotes on topics like hazing (I had to bring Dr. J his paper every morning at 6am) and his dislike for the AAU (the worst thing to happen to the world).
Not sure if the shows are archived and available to the general public, but worth a listen if they are.
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