|
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Dream Team point guard Gary PaytonAmerican Gary Payton won a gold medal in Atlanta as a member of the 1996 Dream Team. CNNSI.com asked the NBA veteran to compare that team to the 2000 team and explain how he gets ready for Olympic competition. You can't really compare the '96 and '00 teams. The team in '96 was a veteran team. They were older guys. A lot of guys who could play basketball -- and still can play basketball. I think this is a younger team that has more athletic guys who want to run and press more -- do a lot of things like that. In '96 we had a lot of guys who wanted to post up and just bang, bang, bang. I think that's the only difference. It's just a little younger and a little more athletic.
You've still got kids on this team. We've got people in there who want to play PlayStation. They want to run around the city, you know, with their music, their headphones -- hooping and hollering. And it's really different because they are younger. They are more in that kids stage; they are just now growing up. They still want to watch cartoons and stuff like that. The older guys just want to have their family around, spend more time with their kids and and have more time on their own. These guys all want to hang out and be with each other. And that's the difference. I think we are doing really well. We are practicing really hard. I think everybody's getting into the tune and getting with each other. When you bring 12 great guys together from different teams -- who always have been the star on their team -- it gels and everybody wants to do too much. The team has been great. Everybody really knows their role and that they're only going to play a certain amount of minutes, and they have been adjusting to it. And that is good for us. I think playing in the Olympics and in a NBA Championship is the same. You still get the pride. I think everybody wants to win a NBA championship. I do. I want to win one bad. When we bow our heads down and get those gold medals over us -- and millions of people are watching us on television -- I think it is the same thing. I can't let how other teams look at us affect me. When we get out on the court, I think it is a job for us. We go out there and do our job. Afterward, when it all happens, then you can take it. You can absorb it all. They're not going to lay down and let us beat them because they are in awe of us. They are going to want to go back and have bragging rights. We are going to have to come out and play hard.
| |||||||||||||||||||||
