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Deadspin and the Drexler/Magic controversy

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Dick Whitman, Jun 28, 2012.

  1. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    Another sticking point about Thomas not being on the team was supposedly he put out a rumor questioning how Magic became HIV positive.
     
  2. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Thomas shouldn't have been on the team for the simple reason that for what they were trying to do with that team Stockton was a better fit.

    The fact Thomas was - and is - a punk-ass bitch didn't help his case though.
     
  3. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    What were they trying to do with that team aside from winning the gold? Stockton was not a better player than Thomas at time. In fact, aside from the assist record, Stockton wasn't a better player than Thomas for his career. Hey, I like John Stockton, but picking him over Zeke, that was purely political in my opinion.
     
  4. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    LOL I heard that.
     
  5. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Laettner being on the team was the real obscenity. Stockton was fully deserving (he was a better player than Isiah, who was washed up, by that time).

    Once the decision was made to triumphantly shitcan the fucking idiotic bullshit specifically US-victimizing fantasy of "amateurism" with authority, the idea of college players should have been finished forever. Although Whitlock does correctly point out that if it was decided by whatever powers that be that a college player needed to be on the team, it should have been Shaq.

    Chuck Daly, once he was informed that Laettner was being forced onto his roster, should have said, "Fine. He can leave his basketball shoes in the locker room. He will never see the floor for one second of playing time, and I don't give a flying fuck if we are ahead by 200 points. If I am the coach he never sets foot on the court."
     
  6. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    Was Thomas a better player than Stockton? Yeah. Should he have been on the team instead? That's harder to say. They would have won the gold easily either way, but part of the reason that team was so special and so dominant was because despite having all those superstars and egos, they mostly put it all aside and played well together.

    Would that have been the case if they had taken a player that Jordan, Magic, et al. hated?
     
  7. Rhody31

    Rhody31 Well-Known Member

    Whitlock is such a fucking racist its ridiculous.
     
  8. Knighthawk

    Knighthawk Member

    Go back and look at the All-NBA teams. As soon as Stockton hit his prime in 1988, he made second or third team every season, and Isiah never made any All-NBA team again. Isiah could have an argument based on career achievement, but when the team was picked, Stockton was a better player.
     
  9. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    You won't find many experts who think Stockton was a better player than Isiah.

    I think Isiah's issues since retirement have made people forget a bit just how awesome he was.

    How many of the players on that team were in their prime? I would argue that Jordan, Malone, Ewing, Robinson and Barkley were... Magic wasn't. Bird wasn't. Mullin wasn't, although I remember him playing great.
     
  10. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    I find it kind of funny that they put together the best, most dominant team in the history of sports -- a group so good the very best in the rest of the world was helpless against it -- and people still argue about who should have been on the roster.
     
  11. JackS

    JackS Member

    How was Chris Mullin not in his prime? Same age as Jordan. Look at his career stats.
     
  12. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Yeah, you are correct. I just remember at the time being surprised Mullin played as well as he did in those Olympics, not because he wasn't great, but because of the other players on the roster. If memory serves, he was the third or fourth leading scorer. I seem to remember Barkley being the leading scorer, but I might be wrong.
     
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