The NBA Finals date back to 1947 (when they were known as the Basketball Association of America Finals) and the very 1st NCAA tourney was held in 1939. Olympic basketball competition is even older: it debuted as a demonstration event in 1904 and the men’s version became a medal sport in 1936, with the women finally getting their chance to go for the gold in 1976. The United States has dominated Olympic basketball competition from the start: the men have won 15 gold medals in the 18 tournaments they have participated in during the past 84 years, while the women have won 8 gold medals in the 10 tournaments in which they have competed during the past 44 years. Those of you who were looking forward to the 2020 Olympics opening ceremonies in Tokyo on July 24, 2020 will have to wait an extra 364 days, as the coronavirus caused a postponement until July 23, 2021. Due to the absence of college basketball since mid-March, HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel decided to fill the void by trying to interview as many prior Olympic players/coaches as possible so that you have something to read this summer while not watching the Summer Games. We continue our coverage by chatting with David Robinson about winning a pair of NBA titles and a pair of gold medals. Yesterday marked the 24th anniversary of David scoring a game-high 28 PTS in a 95-69 win over Yugoslavia to clinch his 2nd gold medal.
You went to college at the Naval Academy and wore #50 in honor of your idol Ralph Sampson: how much of an influence was your dad on your college decision, and what was it like to have a triple-double (27 PTS/13 REB/11 BLK) when you finally got to face Sampson in the NBA in 1990? My dad enlisted/served for 20 years. Ralph was an amazing college player and I was a big fan of his while growing up in Virginia.
In 1986 you set an NCAA record with 14 BLK vs. UNC-Wilmington and finished that season with a D-1 record 207 BLK: what is the secret to blocking shots? Patience/anticipation. You have to be able to read people. Now guys can jump into you and get calls so you have to see where their momentum is going.
In the 1986 FIBA World Championship you scored 20 PTS against Arvydas Sabonis in a 2-PT win over the USSR to win the 1st World Championship gold medal for the USA in 32 years: how good was Sabonis back then, and which of your teammates impressed you the most (Tommy Amaker/Sean Elliott/Steve Kerr/other)? Sabonis was phenomenal: at 7’2” he could run/pass/shoot from distance and was as complete a player as I had ever seen. Sean was 1 of the most impressive guys we had and Derrick McKey was another great guy due to his skill set/length. Sean was a much better shooter than I had ever expected for a guy his size.
What are your memories of the 1987 NCAA tourney (you had a tourney-school-record 50 PTS/22-37 FG and 13 REB in a loss to Michigan in your final college game)? I remember losing the most. Michigan had a nice team and we were never really that close so I was just trying to do my best to help us win. When you score 50 PTS in a loss it is just a footnote.
You had 19 PTS/12 REB in the 1988 Olympic semifinals (the 1st Olympic matchup against the USSR since the controversial 1972 gold medal game), but Rimas Kurtinaitis scored 28 PTS in a 6-PT win by the eventual gold medalists: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of your career? Pretty high…but the losses help shape you going forward. We were still trying to hold up the honor of the US and had only lost 1 game in our country’s history so I felt personally responsible. We were very close and had the team to do it.
After being drafted 1st overall by San Antonio in the summer of 1987 you spent 2 years fulfilling your service requirement with the Navy before joining the Spurs in 1989, where you were named ROY after leading the team to the greatest 1-year turnaround in NBA history (from 21–61 to 56–26): how were you able to make such a smooth transition to the NBA after being away from the sport for 2 years? I do not think that I had a magic bullet. The Spurs changed their roster around and brought in some veteran players, which helped change our team’s mentality. A 21-win team does not expect to win but when you bring in veteran guys like Terry Cummings/Maurice Cheeks who have had previous success it helps a lot.
In the 1992 Olympics you were part of the “Dream Team” that won a gold medal in Barcelona, and in the 1996 Olympics you scored 28 PTS/9-11 FG in the final against Yugoslavia in front of an Olympic basketball record crowd of 34,600 in Atlanta: do you think that we will ever see another team as good as that 1992 team, and was it extra-special to win the 1996 gold medal in front of the home-country crowd? There will be other teams as good as the Dream Team in terms of talented guys on the floor but how do you compare LeBron James to Michael Jordan? That Dream Team will remain special for so many different reasons. In terms of charisma and changing the sport that team is unmatched. Everywhere I go around the world I see generations of people who grew up with that. The players today are super-talented and the past couple of Olympic teams would have been competitive against us because we were not all at our peak. 1996 was phenomenal: I was not 100% at the time but we had guys like Shaquille O’Neal/Patrick Ewing so I got to provide some leadership. It was phenomenal to win it in the US.
In February of 1994 against Detroit you became 1 of 4 players (Nate Thurmond/Alvin Robertson/Hakeem Olajuwon) to ever record a quadruple-double (34 PTS/10 REB/10 AST/10 BLK): where does this rank among the best all-around games of your career? I do remember that game against my former teammate Sean Elliott. When you look back historically it is very significant but it was hard to appreciate it at the time because I was just doing my thing. Looking back on it is very cool…especially when my kids notice stuff like that!
In the final game of the 1994 season you scored a franchise-record 71 PTS (including 47 in the 2nd half and 28 in the 4th quarter) against the Clippers to beat out your Olympic teammate Shaq for the league’s scoring title: was it just 1 of those scenarios where every shot you put up seemed to go in because you were “in the zone”? I definitely felt like I was in the zone but it was more intentional. I always prided myself on being an efficient player so scoring a lot of PTS did not often make our team better. Our coach John Lucas wanted me to go out and be the best I could be on 1 given night so I was reluctant but once I started it became such a fun thing to do. It was a very cool accomplishment even though all I usually cared about was winning. I am really glad that it happened because I would never had tried to do it on my own. I am so glad that Lucas pushed me to do it because you never know what you can do until you try.
In Game 5 of the 1999 Finals you had 15 PTS/12 REB in a 1-PT win on the road over the Knicks to clinch your 1st title, and in Game 6 of the 2003 Finals you had 13 PTS/17 REB to beat the Nets and win your 2nd title: what did it mean to you to win your 1st title, and was it harder/easier to win the 2nd title? No title is easy! You are always fighting and there are always 1-2 teams who are in your way. They were both incredibly difficult and very rewarding but I was very fortunate to win them both.