The Dream Team Tapes
#1 New Sports Podcast 2020 • Top 20 New Podcasts 2020
SEASON 1
The story of the greatest team in NBA history, the 1992 Dream Team that won Olympic gold in Barcelona. Hear the incomparable players in their own words, including Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Clyde Drexler, Karl Malone and the others. Renowned sportswriter and author Jack McCallum was there with the guys and brings us the thrilling memories, personal stories, and sometimes surprising anecdotes of the twelve historic players. In 10 riveting episodes, this series brings back a singularly exhilarating time in basketball history.
SEASON 2
An epic examination of the legendary 2008 US Olympic Men’s Basketball Team. Hosts and veteran sports journalists Jack McCallum and J.A. Adande talk to players and coaches including Carmelo Anthony, Phil Jackson, Jason Kidd, Chris Bosh, Robert Horry, Jerry Colangelo, Deron Williams, Mike Krzyzewski and more, bringing you an insider’s study in athletic challenge, transformation, and ultimate victory. With icons such as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Dwayne Wade, The Redeem Team comprised the greatest single team since the superlative Dream Team of Jordan, Johnson, and Bird from 1992. The US team was in shambles following the rise of Olympic teams around the world and their humiliation at the 2004 Games. It was the gold medal in ’08 or total failure — there was nothing in between. What The Redeem Team achieved signaled a total rebirth of USA Basketball —and some would say basketball in general — whose legacy we are living out today.
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The Book
Season 1 of The Dream Team Tapes podcast is based on Jack McCallum’s bestselling book, Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever. As a senior staff writer for Sports Illustrated, McCallum enjoyed a courtside seat for the most exciting basketball spectacle on earth, covering the Dream Team from its inception to the gold medal ceremony in Barcelona. For the duration of the Olympics, he lived with, golfed with, and – most importantly – drank with some of the greatest players of the NBA’s Golden Age: Magic Johnson, the ebullient showman who shrugged off his recent diagnosis of HIV to become the team’s unquestioned captain and leader; Michael Jordan, the transcendent talent at the height of his powers as a player – and a marketing juggernaut; and Charles Barkley, the outspoken iconoclast whose utterances on and off the court threatened to ignite an international incident.
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Jack McCallum joined the staff of Sports Illustrated in 1981 and became known for his articles on the NBA. He won the Basketball Hall of Fame’s Curt Gowdy Media Award. During the 2005-2006 NBA pre-season, McCallum began working as an unofficial assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns NBA basketball team as part of an assignment for Sports Illustrated. The piece soon evolved into a larger project, as the Suns granted McCallum full access to their practices and strategy sessions throughout the entire season. The resulting work was his book :07 Seconds or Less: My Season on the Bench with the Runnin’ and Gunnin’ Phoenix Suns. In 2008, McCallum left Sports Illustrated but has continued to write for the publication as a special contributor. Additionally, McCallum wrote Unfinished Business: On and Off the Court With the 1990-91 Boston Celtics, as well as the original basis for The Dream Team Tapes podcast, Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and The Greatest Team Of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever, chronicling the players on the Dream Team and the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. His recent work, Golden Days, is on Jerry West’s L.A. Lakers and the current Golden State Warriors team.
J.A. Adande is the director of sports journalism at Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications and a regular panelist on ESPN’s “Around The Horn.” He was formerly a sports columnist and sideline reporter who covered the NBA for ESPN and was a regular guest host on ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption.” Adande is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, and also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Journalism. In addition to The Dream Team Tapes Season 2, he is also the host of Netflix’s podcast about The Last Dance.