Dream Team Iii Includes Stockton Team Includes Mix Of Old And New, Including Olajuwon

Hakeem Olajuwon has led the Houston Rockets to consecutive championships. He has won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award.

Now, he will have the chance to win his first gold medal.

Olajuwon heads the list of 10 players who have been extended invitations to compete for the U.S. basketball team in the 1996 Summer Olympics. Several sources involved in the selection process confirmed to The Dallas Morning News that the core of the team that will represent the country in Atlanta has been selected.

This is how the group, already dubbed Dream Team III, breaks down:

Centers - Olajuwon, Orlando’s Shaquille O’Neal and San Antonio’s David Robinson.

Forwards - Utah’s Karl Malone, Detroit’s Grant Hill, Chicago’s Scottie Pippen and Milwaukee’s Glenn Robinson.

Guards - Indiana’s Reggie Miller, Orlando’s Anfernee Hardaway and Utah’s John Stockton.

The announcement of who is on the team will be made in late July and will be broadcast on NBC. The final two spots on the roster have been left open to give the selection committee for USA Basketball some flexibility. Those players will be named once the 1995-96 regular season concludes.

Rod Thorn, the NBA’s vice president of operations, is the chairman of the selection committee. When reached at his home Saturday evening, Thorn refused comment.

The team is a mix of old and new. David Robinson, Pippen, Malone and Stockton were members of the original Dream Team that won the gold medal in Barcelona in the 1992 Summer Olympics. That marked the first time a team comprised of NBA talent was allowed to compete.

O’Neal and Miller were part of the U.S. contingent that won the gold medal in last year’s World Championships in Toronto. The Nigerianborn Olajuwon, who has become a U.S. citizen, was cleared to play because of to a recent ruling by FIBA, the international ruling body of basketball.

The other spots - Hill, Hardaway and Glenn Robinson - went to three of the league’s new wave of stars. Hardaway just completed his second season in the NBA, while Hill and Glenn Robinson are coming off their rookie years.

The selection committee for USA Basketball met in Chicago on June 8 to determine the nucleus of the team. C.M. Newton, president of the organization, had said earlier that the committee would put an emphasis on character as well as talent. Players began to receive their invitations in the last 10 days.

There are some notable omissions. Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who is considering a comeback with the Los Angeles Lakers and has proclaimed his desire to compete for another gold medal, is not on the team. Chicago’s Michael Jordan, New York’s Patrick Ewing and Phoenix’s Charles Barkley also were left off. In the case of Jordan and Barkley, each had indicated they didn’t want to participate in Atlanta.

Charlotte’s Larry Johnson and New Jersey’s Derrick Coleman, two of the forwards from the World Championship team, also were omitted. Privately, members of USA Basketball said the attitude and behavior of Johnson and Coleman during last year’s tournament killed their chances of being included in 1996.

Dallas’ Jason Kidd was another player who hoped to be named to the Olympic team. He’s the only player taken among the top three picks in last year’s draft who didn’t receive an invitation. But Kidd, who shared the league’s Rookie of the Year award with Hill, suffered from a glut of talent at point guard.

“I’m not at all disappointed,” Kidd, 22, said.

“I’ll have a chance one of these years.”