Deadspin and the Drexler/Magic controversy

In Jack McCallum's forthcoming book on the "Dream Team," he is attributed with the following quote:

"He couldn't play much by that time. He couldn't guard his shadow," Drexler is quoted as saying in the book. "But you have to understand what was going on then. Everybody kept waiting for Magic to die. Every time he'd run up the court everybody would feel sorry for the guy, and he'd get all that benefit of the doubt."

But as it turns out, both Drexler (who actually denies the quote entirely) and McCallum (who says it was taken out of context by Deadspin) are basically disavowing the Deadspin piece. McCallum says that Drexler wasn't giving his own opinion, but rather the opinion of the NBA at large at that time:

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8105359/clyde-drexler-denies-negative-hiv-statements-magic-johnson-book-dream-team

Here is the Deadspin piece, in which Drexler sure sounds like he's giving his own opinion. I'm so confused.

http://deadspin.com/5921227/clyde-drexler-on-the-dream-team-everybody-kept-waiting-for-magic-to-die?tag=dream-team

 

I recall the Magic HIV Dream Team thing pretty well. I don't recall Drexler saying much if anything negative. I don't doubt McCallum's claim. It's one man's word against another.
And right now, what difference does it make? Magic is alive and making perhaps more money away from the game than he did while playing.
It's a big non story in my opinion.

 

It's a dead issue. Literally!

 

Jack posted a little transcript from the interview on his site. He said Deadspin missed some very important context from what I assume is an advance copy of the book, but also that Drexler is trying to weasel his way out of what he said.

http://www.jackmccallum.net/2012/06/28/more-on-clyde-and-no-this-isnt-fun/#.T-yKMfXYGCc

It's not just Deadspin that does stuff like this, but I see it in newspaper reviews all the time. Sweetness reviews had same problems.

 

I think McCallum is telling the truth but again, it's a non-story. Magic is alive and doing quite well. If its true, Drexler was not alone in his thinking.
It's been so long ago, no one really gives a damn, except for Jack who's trying to make a buck.

 

Drip and Whitlock know the real reason Isiah was snubbed and Drexler had to wait -- needed more tighty whities.

http://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/basketball/story/whitlock-dream-team-isiah-thomas-shaquille-oneal-snubbed-for-john-stockton-chris-mullin-because-of-race-062712

 

I seem to recall Karl Malone not wanting to be on the court with Magic at the All-Star Game because he was worried about catching HIV.

His deal was something to the effect of "If he gets cut and starts bleeding I don't want to get any of his blood on me."

 

a) And I'm surprised about this from Whitlock because?

b) It's been 20 years, Isaiah. Get over it ... or find another minor league you can run into oblivion.

 

May be some truth in it. Thomas definitely deserved to be on there before Stockton. Reportedly, Jordan was the reason why he wasn't on the team.

 

I think if a player said something like that today, it would be hugely controversial, but we know a hell of a lot more now than we did then.

When Magic announced he had HIV more than 20 years ago, not too many people knew the difference between that a full-blown AIDS and the only other celebs who had AIDS died within months of it being announced.

Karl Malone is not a very smart man, but I think he was just being honest at the time.

As far as what Drexler said, I remember a lot of people having the sentiment back in 1992, "Oh, how nice Magic can play in the Olympics before he dies."

Thankfully, a lot has changed since then.

 

After reading the excerpt from Magic's book that I think (coincidentally) Zeke posted here a month or so ago, it was clear Jordan wasn't the only one who kept Isiah off the team.

I thought I remember hearing that the reason they went with Laettner over Shaq was because Laettner had graduated from college.

Should they have taken Thomas and Shaq over Stockton and Laettner? Absolutely...

 

Drexler's quote doesn't need clarification. It was the context of the time.

It's certainly not mean-spirited. AIDS was pretty much considered a "time bomb" back then. In fact, Magic's situation brought about much greater sympathies, attention and medical progress, so it was a giant catalyst for breakthroughs that make AIDS a treatable -- and survivable -- disease today.