Delayed Reaction: The Other Dream Team

The Pitch: You know, there were other Basketball teams with an interesting back story in 1992 than the Dream Team.

A documentary about the 1992 Lithuanian Olympic basketball team, full of generational talents.

It's hard to find sport documentaries anymore that aren't tied to 30 for 30 or ESPN Films. That's not a bad thing, necessarily. In fact, I'd call 30 for 30 one of the finest contributions to television in the last decade. Still, there's something nice about watching something that hasn't been vetted by ESPN first.

I think international basketball is fascinating, not to watch, but to track (Note: I have nothing against watching it either). There are so many leagues and countries with great players. The sport's popularity is growing worldwide, so there's always a new corner of the world producing surprising talent. Spain is in the waning days of an exceptional group. Argentina came before that. Canada is looking like the next big deal. Australia is having a moment too. The late 80s and early 90s was when Lithuania (and other former Soviet countries) had an unexpected convergence of talents. Of course, the U.S., pound-for-pound still pummels them all, but the gap is shrinking. The Other Dream Team is a nice dive into what it was like to be on the 1992 Lithuanian team.

Structurally, it's pretty blase. The story is linear. The interviews are cut with footage just like you'd expect. Certain soundbites are the kind that you could write before even seeing the movie. The story itself gets interesting context, mixing this team's rise with the rise of a newly free nation. The movie is at its best when it's most specific. My favorite part was hearing the players explain how they smuggled goods back into their country for extra money and why they needed to o that. The story of how they came to be sponsored by The Grateful Dead is the kind of thing I'd expect to be the inspiration for the documentary in the first place. From a basketball nerd perspective, I love how they mixed the NBA and NBA Draft into this almost as if they were a distraction. If anything, I think the film understated how good Arvydas Sabonis was. I'd say he's the biggest non-injury "What If" in NBA history.

There's enough Lithuanian history for this to appeal to non-basketball fans. I certainly got the most entertainment from the basketball parts though.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend