UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, April 20, 1995
9A
Panel could have trouble choosing '96 Dream Team
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Magic wants to be there, but what about Michael and Karl and some of the other original Dream Team members? Are they showing up in Atlanta next year for a shot at another Olympic basketball gold medal?
With the world's deepest talent pool at their disposal, the people who will pick and run the U.S. team at the 1996 Summer Games were far from ready yesterday to say just who might be chosen, even if their names are Johnson and Jordan and Malone.
"They will try to develop the best team possible," said Craig Miller, representative for USA Basketball. And when it comes to hoops in America, the best possible seems to get better and better.
With pro players allowed in the Olympics since 1992, the U.S. team already has been all but handed the gold in Atlanta, but recent developments have added intrigue to just who might be on Dream Team III.
Just this week. the captain of the
'92 Olympic winners, Magic Johnson, said he wanted to go to the Games again, even though he hasn't played an NBA game in almost three years. Johnson retired from the Los Angeles Lakers in November 1991 after contracting the AIDS virus and, aside from the Barcelona Games, has limited his competition since then to his own international all-star tour.
And if Magic is in the running, what about Mike?
Michael Jordan's comeback from a 11/2-year pursuit of baseball means the man generally considered the greatest basketball player ever could be in Atlanta looking for his second straight gold medal and an unprecedented third overall.
Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks and Chris Mullin of the Golden State Warriors, teammates of Jordan in both 1984 and '92, could be in that history-making group of triple gold-medal winners, too, if they were picked.
Other Dream Team originals still active include Karl Malone and John Stockton of Utah, Charles Barkley
of Phoenix, David Robinson of San Antonio, Clyde Dlexrek of Houston and Scottie Pipen, Jordan's teammate with Chicago.
All remain among the best in the game, but they may not remain Olympic prospects.
And before it draws up the Olympic roster, the panel must decide whether to go again with old-timers such as Jordan and Johnson or give another generation of players such as Grant Hill and Anfernee Hardaway a chance at gold medals
The 11-member panel that will pick the team was just named Tuesday, hours before Johnson's announcement, and won't hold its first meeting until late this month.
Finally, selectors have to see what the players themselves want. After the gold-medal finish in Barcelona, most Dream Teamers said once was enough.
Since returning to the NBA, Jordan has said he would not be an Olympian again.
But he said the same thing before Barcelona, too.
Indiana's success is owed to center
The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — Rik Smits is motoring toward his best NBA season, and the Indiana Pacers have hitched a ride.
The 7-foot-4 center already has more points and rebounds than in any of the six previous seasons since Indiana made the Dutch native the second overall pick in the 1988 draft behind Dannv Manning.
Smits, whose best average was 15.7 points last season, is averaging 18.1 points. He's shooting 53 percent and has scored 20 or more points 28 times. He has 23 double-doubles.
"I think one reason for my success this year is the officials are starting to give me some respect, understanding my abilities," Smits said. "In my early seasons, I often got into foul trouble."
His performance has helped produce Indiana's first 50-win season
since 1972-73, when the Pacers still played in the ABA.
"To win 50 for this franchise, some people take that for granted, but it's been quite a while," said Indiana coach Larry Brown, who also has the Pacers on the verge of winning their first NBA divisional title.
Smits' 577 rebounds tops his previous career-high of 512 in his second season. He has 1,358 points, topping the previous career-high of 1,271, which he also achieved in his second NBA campaign.
With three games to play and having won the season-series with Charlotte, the Pacers began the week needing any combination of two Indiana victories or Hornets' losses to clinch the Central Division.
Recently, he's turned up his play a notch. He's shot 50 percent or better in each of his past seven games, making 57 of 99 attempts.
Smits had team-highs of 22 points
and nine rebounds as Indiana defeated Minnesota 114-75 on Sunday — the Pacers' most lopsided victory since it beat Philadelphia 133-88 last April 22.
His figures could have been higher if Brown had not sat down all his starters for the entire fourth quarter.
"He's become one of the best big men in the game, offensively and defensively," Indiana guard Mark Jackson said of Smits. "He's just a joy to watch because he's put so much pressure on other teams, night in and night out."
Jackson knows something about bigmen, having been a teammate of Patrick Ewing for five seasons in New York.
"He's become one of the top five big men in the NBA and he's done extremely well against the others like Ewing, Shaquille O'Neal and David Robinson this season," Jackson added.
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