2018-19 NBA Thread

Thomas sealed his fate when he walked off the court in the 1991 Eastern conference finals. And they would have told Drexler to take a hike, not Laettner. They were hellbent on having at least one “amateur” on the team
In the first version of dream teams. As a trailblazer fan in general and Drexler fan in particular, I’m glad they didn’t. Fuck Isiah. His true colors have shown in retirement.

 

USBA did Laettner no favors. I am convinced the freezeout/hazing he got from the Dream Team are one big reason he never came close to his potential in the pros.

 

Toni Kukoc got way worse from Jordan and Pippen and turned out fine. Maybe Laettner just wasn’t good enough.

 

I watched the 30 for 30 on Laettner and IIRC he loved his Dream Team experience, being able to observe the superstars; he didn't mind carrying their bags.

As for Isaiah, yeah he was a great player and a great champion (meaning only he won) but his walking out on the Bulls after they won was one of the worst shows of bad sportsmanship from a champion I can recall. So yeah, f**k him and his smarmy smile.

 

qt, I think that's the problem right there. Treated as Laettner was, the response of a future NBA superstar wouldn't be, "what a fine learning experience," it'd be "I'll make those miserable so and sos regret that every time I step on the court." Part of being good enough is being competitive enough, and the competitive level needed to excel at the NBA is pretty much at a sociopathic level. Maybe Laettner just didn't quite have that.

 

Laettner's ego wasn't bruised at all from fetching donuts for the Dream Team. They were among the few players he actually would defer to. His competitive nature was pretty fierce too. He carried his Duke sense of entitlement into the NBA, though, where he wasn't all that special compared to his tremendous college version. He went hard at opponents but was imperious with teammates, coaches, media and fans. Some of those might have resented Laettner's Dream Team stint as unearned but he mostly created his own problems in his chosen profession.

 

Tough crowd.

Laettner played 15 seasons, averaged 18.2 as a rookie, made the All-Star team in 1997. That's a helluva career. Was he a perennial All-Star? No. but damn its tough to make just one.

I only became a fan after that 30 for 30. He looked like an entitled kid, Duke, great looks, then discovered he was a janitor's son from Buffalo and a nice guy in retirement with no bitterness. I'm not knocking him.

 

The people he screwed out of millions of dollars in his Durham real estate deals might disagree with that part.

 

Daly should have told him to keep his street clothes on, he was never going to set foot on the floor.

Once the 50-year battle to get rid of the amateurs and bring in the pros was over, the NBA should have told the college players to go piss in the wind.

 

In Barcelona, after practices there'd be a mixed zone, and hundreds of guys around all the Dream Team. We Americans would go by and say hello to Chuck, who'd be sitting in a corner reading the International Herald Trib. Least interviewed coach in sports history, and he loved it.

 

Damn.

I suspect the rebuild is proving to be much harder than he anticipated.