Dream Team documentary

[Piotr Rasputin]

And if they had to have a college guy on the team there were better choices there too. Starting with Chris Webber.

Coming off his freshman year? With the fab Five's trash-talking rep?

No chance.

Still preposterous that the fraud Laettner was selected to that team. There were 100 NBA players more deserving, starting with Isiah Thomas.

If I were Chuck Daly after the roster was selected, I would have announced publicly that Laettner was never going to set foot on the court -- not one second.

Of course, Daly was about the worst possible choice to coach that team, too.

While I enjoy your constant hatef%$#ing of all things Detroit sports, Isiah had no shot, and Daly was a fine choice. Looking back, it's a shame Riley or Jackson never got the chance, but oh well.

Laettner was one of the great college players of all time. They chose a Duke guy, with Duke coming off consecutive titles.

If they had to have a college kid, he was a good selection. Especially to make Coach K happy.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Piotr:

That trash-talk rep really didn' take hold til their sophomore year. Webber was a better fit for that team as a basketball player than Laettner was.

Here's the roster for the select team that beat the Dream Team:

http://www.usabasketball.com/mens/mdev_1992.html

If they had to have a college guy on the roster at least three of those guys- Webber, Jamal Mashburn & Grant Hill would have been better choices than Laettner.

Looking at that select roster, that probably would have been the Olympic team (with Laettner and maybe Jim Jackson & a couple others to round it out) had the pros not been playing.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

Piotr:

That trash-talk rep really didn' take hold til their sophomore year. Webber was a better fit for that team as a basketball player than Laettner was.

Here's the roster for the select team that beat the Dream Team:

http://www.usabasketball.com/mens/mdev_1992.html

If they had to have a college guy on the roster at least three of those guys- Webber, Jamal Mashburn & Grant Hill would have been better choices than Laettner.

Looking at that select roster, that probably would have been the Olympic team (with Laettner and maybe Jim Jackson & a couple others to round it out) had the pros not been playing.

I think ultimately they wanted a senior. Laettner was the Wooden Award winner. His accepted narrative was that he was a good kid (I know, I know). Duke was the flavor of the week at the time. Coach K was an assistant with the Dream Team.

It really was a no-brainer, based on circumstances.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Piotr:

That trash-talk rep really didn' take hold til their sophomore year. Webber was a better fit for that team as a basketball player than Laettner was.

Here's the roster for the select team that beat the Dream Team:

http://www.usabasketball.com/mens/mdev_1992.html

If they had to have a college guy on the roster at least three of those guys- Webber, Jamal Mashburn & Grant Hill would have been better choices than Laettner.

Looking at that select roster, that probably would have been the Olympic team (with Laettner and maybe Jim Jackson & a couple others to round it out) had the pros not been playing.

I think ultimately they wanted a senior. Laettner was the Wooden Award winner. His accepted narrative was that he was a good kid (I know, I know). Duke was the flavor of the week at the time. Coach K was an assistant with the Dream Team.

It really was a no-brainer, based on circumstances.

I don't disagree. My point is that they didn't pick the best player. They picked the best player that fit the profile they were looking for.

 

[LongTimeListener]

You guys are forked in the head if you think there was a better college basketball player than Christian Laettner in 1992. Don't let his NBA mediocrity fool you -- he is in the all-time top 10, maybe top five, of NCAA resumes. The maximum number of tournament games a team can play in four years is 24, and Laettner's Duke teams played in 23. For its era, that might be as impressive as UCLA's dynasty. And he was their tournament hero and savior in every one of those years.

 

[JC]

Still preposterous that the fraud Laettner was selected to that team. There were 100 NBA players more deserving, starting with Isiah Thomas.

If I were Chuck Daly after the roster was selected, I would have announced publicly that Laettner was never going to set foot on the court -- not one second.

Of course, Daly was about the worst possible choice to coach that team, too.

And if they had to have a college guy on the team there were better choices there too. Starting with Chris Webber.

Why would Webber have been a better choice? At the time the team was picked the only other player that would have been considered should have been Shaq. Webber would have been down the list.

Edit: LTL said it much better than I did.

 

[LongTimeListener]

I should also add that in the specific case of Webber, Laettner ate his lunch twice, including in the championship game.

 

[imjustagirl]

Jamal Mashburn?

Seriously?

Someone threw Jamal Mashburn out there?

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

LTL,

As I was reading the thread, was going to defend the Laettner selection for the same reasons you did. But I couldn't have done it anywhere near as eloquently.

 

[Starman]

1) They did not need a college player; once the amateurism bullshirt was flushed down the shirtbowl of history where it belonged all along, no college player should have ever have been allowed within miles of an Olympic team, except maybe to fetch towels.

1a) If for whatever self-flagellating bullshirt reason it was deemed necessary to have a college player, it should have been Shaq.

2) The best choice to coach that team would have been Paul Westhead.

3) The "select team" didn't beat the Dream Team. They outscored them by 10 points over a 10-minute stretch, after which the Dream Team ran off about a 50-15 run.

 

[Armchair_QB]

shirt, I forgot Shaq was still in college then. He would have been the best choice.

 

[LongTimeListener]

LTL,

As I was reading the thread, was going to defend the Laettner selection for the same reasons you did. But I couldn't have done it anywhere near as eloquently.

Thanks. It's weird -- due to a combination of Duke-hate (of which I have my share), Grant Hill getting so much better and other college contemporaries (Shaq, Webber) far surpassing him as pros, a lack of appreciation for Laettner's career has developed. He has become thought of as a product of the system mostly, a perception that grows with each successive overrated white Dookie. But the guy was just nails when it counted. I'm a little too young to have seen Walton in college, but in the post-UCLA era I don't think there is anyone within 10 feet of Laettner as a college player.

Of course, as it related to the Dream Team, they could have put me on the team without upsetting the competitive balance. But I didn't mind that little nod to ceremony and tradition.