When Chuck Daly was appointed head coach of the 1992 U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball team all he could think about was that initial meeting. How would he make an impression on the newly coined "Dream Team" of basketball made up of 12 of the best players in the world: Michael Jordan Magic Johnson Larry Bird Charles Barkley Karl Malone John Stockton Patrick Ewing David Robinson Scottie Pippen Clyde Drexler Chris Mullin and Christian Laettner. "I've thought more about that meeting than any aspect of basketball" recalled Daly leading up to the Dream Team's first assembly in La Jolla CA on June 20 1992. "That first meeting has to set the tone. We have to heal wounds. You saw [Patrick] Ewing and Jordan jawing at each other. It's part of basketball. But this has to be a very unified effort" (Detroit Free Press). Featured here are Daly's actual handwritten notes for that first team meeting before their 6-day training session (June 21-26) on the University of California San Diego campus.

Written in black ink on two sheets of binder paper the notes read like an organized outline with nine sections including "I General Greetings - Congratulations II Media III Security IV Practice V Rules VI Games VII Training VII [repeated] Defense and VIII Offensive Attack." The first page talks about the gold medal being the "only reason to assemble coming together as a team getting along" and "setting aside personal issues" such as "stats and minutes." He also addresses the need to be "on time" whether for "practice the bus etc." He tells them to "go hard - no injury (fouls etc.)" An interesting part of the second page is under section VI [Games] where he outlines "A) Minutes B) Who to Start C) Different Team" and "What to Attack: *Man - Full Court *Zones *Zone Presses *OB [Out of Bounds] *Holding Ball (Short game)." He also writes "Misconstrued Playing Time Most Watched" on the side of that section as if to say that those who get the most playing time are not necessarily the most watched. Perhaps this was Coach Daly's strategy of trying to massage 12 egos without feeling obligated to appease any one player. As legend has it and NBA TV's documentary "The Dream Team" attests whatever Chuck said at the team's first gathering was put to the test during their very first scrimmage a few days later. Against a team of all college players including Duke's Grant Hill and Michigan's Chris Webber the Dream Team lost by 8 points in what assistant coach Mike Krzyzewski referred to as Chuck's master plan to show his squad of 11 future Hall of Famers that the gold medal would not be handed to them; they had to work for it. "Chuck wanted them to lose" Coach K said. "If you look at how much Jordan played and how he subbed the guys in not picking up not making any adjustments; he knew what he was doing." The rest as they say is history. These notes are an extremely important basketball artifact from one of the game's best coaches ever.

Also included in this lot are copies of the following:

January 14 1991 two-page document from the U.S. Olympic Committee laying out the qualifications and selection process for head coach of USA Basketball.

March 8 1991 letter (4 pages) from USA Basketball confirming Chuck Daly as head coach of the 1992 U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball Team along with the terms and guidelines (5 pages) of his duties.

1992 Olympics player information packet with timeline of events (practice in San Diego qualifying tournament and Olympic competition) general logistics and all commercial matters.

Includes copy of LOA from Terry Daly Chuck's widow. Also comes with Letter of Provenance from Rich Behar owner of SportsCard Central who acquired many items directly from the Daly estate in 2010.

Pre-certified by PSA/DNA.