David Robinson sat down with Joe Buck and opened up about his experience from Military school to his NBA journey. In this interview, we selected what he said about the 1992 Dream Team, competing with Tim Duncan, and his experience with Dennis Rodman.
He started by discussing his experience on the US Olympic National Team in 1992, affectionately called ‘the Dream Team’, featuring the likes of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, and of course, David Robinson himself.
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“As soon as they asked me, ‘We’re gonna get the best players, would you like to play?’ Are you kidding me? I would absolutely want to play. It was surreal. Getting a chance to play with these guys. For me, we hadn’t won a championship yet. Being around Larry Bird, and Magic, and Michael, and Scottie. Being around these guys who were champions was important for me. I felt like I am going to swallow up everything they had to say. I’m going to get underneath them, listen, learn, go to practice, and figure out what they’re doing to be champions. That’s part of what helped me learn how to be a leader for the Spurs.”
Robinson formed a devastating big-man partnership with Tim Duncan after the Spurs drafted him in 1997 to form ‘The Twin Towers’. They would go on to win two championships together, with the first coming in Duncan’s sophomore season. Robinson discussed how he felt about playing alongside Duncan and why their twin tower set-up made them championship quality.
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“I was on my knees saying Thank you, Lord. We played against him in 1996, in the Olympic team, we played against a college group of All-Stars. He played against me, Shaq, and Hakeem, and he had like 22-10 and made it look so easy. I had never seen him play, but that kid was amazing… The good thing for us was having two guys that can shoot the ball and put the ball on the floor. It allowed us to spread our offense out so well, it’s like, who do you guard? What do you do? We played inside and out really well, so it put a lot of pressure on other teams… Defensively, who’s going to come in the paint? You’re shutting the rim down, so it put our defense in a good spot.”
Robinson shared a locker room with Dennis Rodman for two seasons from 1993 to 1995, years where the Spurs were consistently among the best teams in the West. Despite Rodman still winning rebounding titles, he clashed with the Spurs culture and would leave the franchise after two trophyless seasons. Robinson got real on Rodman, praising his play and personality but reiterating that he wasn’t built to be a leader.
(Starts at 30:21)
“You know what? I love Dennis. I really do. He’s an unbelievable player, incredibly athletic. I mean, he was like Superman. Like, he just was a freak of nature. The guy could run all day long, never got tired, and was like the Energizer bunny. I loved having him next to me on the court because you always felt like, you know you just got a warrior with you. So on the court, he’s a great guy to have next to you. In the locker room is a little different story… When you need a leader, a leader needs to be tuned in to what everybody else is doing. A leader needs to say, ‘Hey, how do I help this guy and that guy?’ And so that was hard for him. He is not that guy.”
Robinson had an incredible NBA career over 15 seasons, spending all those years with the Spurs and winning two championships. He retired as a champion, bowing out of the game in 2003 after winning with the Spurs and contributing 13 points and 17 rebounds in the close-out Game 6 versus the New Jersey Nets.
Over his career, Robinson was named a 10-time All-Star, 10-time All-NBA selection, and eight-time All-Defensive selection, also winning the 1992 Defensive Player of the Year award. Robinson’s biggest individual achievement came in 1995 when he won the regular season MVP. He also was a one-time scoring champion, one-time rebounding leader, one-time blocks leader, and the 1990 Rookie of the Year.
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