It was 1992 and they would be the first team of NBA stars to represent the United States in the Olympics. They would secure an 8-0 record on their way to the coveted gold medal, demolishing their opponents by an average of nearly 44 points. They were the original Dream Team. And now, in honor of their 20th anniversary, the NBA TV documentary The Dream Team gathers the players that coach Chuck Daly, who passed away in 2009, led to victory (including Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Charles Barkley). "It was a moment, really, for the game of basketball," says then-assistant coach Mike Krzyzewski (head coach at Duke University and now also the head coach of the U.S. team going for gold at the London Olympics this summer). "You could feel just the aura, the power of the personalities and the talent. It made you feel that, wow, this may never happen again."
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Following the disappointing (some might say embarrassing) bronze-medal performance at the Athens Olympics, the U.S. men's basketball team knew it had to make some changes. The biggest was hiring Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to reinvent the program. A new docu-series beginning Wednesday night, Road To Redemption, chronicles the squad's journey back to Dream Team status (July 2, 7 pm/ET, ESPN). Expect plenty of product placement for a certain shoe company, but there's also great behind the scenes footage, including Coach K's initial 2006 address to the team. "We’re the guys who are gonna show people how to play, on any surface, in any court, in any location, it is our game," he said to a group that included NBA stars LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Jason Kidd, the sole holdover from the last gold-medal-winning team (2000).The initial outing, the 2006 world championships, produced another bronze medal. But by the time the team swept through the FIBA Americas Championship last summ...
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