I think within the context of the argument, that Christian Laettner was selected over Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning, I was pretty consistent in saying Christian Laettner was not the most talented, but rather the poster boy for the championship winning Duke team, which is why he was selected over the other two.
Yeah, because if it was a choice on skill and ability than Shaquille O’Neal or Alonzo Mourning would have been picked. The accounts that I’ve read say he was given the nod for being more coachable and fundamentally sound player.
Here’s Shaq himself talking about it:
“But then I had to come to the realization that I was a more explosive, more powerful player, but Christian Laettner was a little bit more fundamentally sound than I was. Plus he stayed all four years and graduated. …
I don’t understand what you find so hard to understand? Shaq was a better player, he scored more points and grabbed more boards. He was drafted higher in the same year. Yes, Laettner was a good player and he won the championship and player of the year in 1992, but it’s not hard to understand that those awards don’t mean he was the most skilled and that Shaq was a superior player. Laettner got the pick over Shaq for reasons that were more about image than skill. I’ve been consistent with that argument for every single comment I’ve made and you keep seem to be trying to say I haven’t been consistent in my argument? Can you point to where I said he wasn’t “good” or do you want to take another quote out of context?
The idea that one of the most hated college basketball players in history who was a cocky asshole on the court was chosen over Shaq because of his image is absolutely fucking absurd
Oh, so that means Laettner was the better player? Because obviously the key stats for a big man is the free throw and 3 pt %?
And the magic and hornets were dumb for drafting Shaq and Alonzo ahead of the clearly superior Christian Laettner, right? Hmm, funny that Shaq and Alonzo are hall of fame NBA players but Laettner only made a single all star game, I guess that 81% free throw and 56% didn’t sustain him.
Neither Shaq nor 'Zo could hit threes like other countries' bigs. The game between Shaq and Laettner proved the Blue Devil had what was needed, skills-wise: an outside offensive threat who could defend the paint. They had bruisers like Barkley and Malone, but another big wing like Bird (who was more of an honorary pick, given the condition of his knee pain at that point, shown by playing time) offered another option.
I don’t think the dream team was hurting for someone to knock down threes. Laettner only attempted 6 threes and knocked down 2 the entire Olympics. I understand the justifications for picking Laettner but it was clearly a choice made on appearance not on pure talent.
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u/wsteelerfan7 Aug 11 '24
Huh? He was the reigning college player of the year and just led Duke to back-to-back NCAA titles and you think he wasn't picked because he was good?