Deadspin and the Drexler/Magic controversy

IIRC, after the Olympics, Barkley seemed to be the best player on the planet using international rules. He was unstoppable.

 

Magic's announcement also was the catalyst for college & high school leagues requiring players with visible blood being required to come out of a game, and requiring them to replace blood-soaked uniforms. When I coached, I always kept 2 extra uniforms on the bench in case we needed to send a player to change.

A policy that's become pretty accepted and ingrained came from the same sentiment as Karl Malone's.

 

I agree with this. I just looked up their stats from the 1991-92 season.

Isiah averaged 18.5 points, 7.2 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. He took 16.2 shots a game and was a 44.6 percent shooter (29.1 percent from 3-point range).

Stockton -- only one year younger, incidentally -- averaged 15.8 points, 13.7 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game. (He led the league in both assists and steals.) He shot 48.2 percent from the field, including 40.7 percent from 3-point range. And he only took 11.5 shots a game.

Also, the first-team all-NBA guards that year were Drexler and Jordan. Stockton made the second team, along with Tim Hardaway. Isiah didn't even make third team; Joe Dumars and Mark Price did.

 

Well, I've never heard anybody seriously argue that Laettner should have been there on playing ability.

Maybe they also should have picked the grittiest, guttiest high school player in the nation to be on the team too.

 

No, but if there was going to be a token college kid, who really gives a shit which one it was? And maybe Shaq was left off for similar reasons to Thomas. Maybe his brashness wouldn't have mixed with all the veteran egos.

 

I've argued and will always argue that Laettner should have been there on playing ability, and especially on achievements to date. He was a better college player than Shaq, just as Tebow was a better college player than Matthew Stafford.

 

That presumes the necessity of a college player, though. Certainly, you're not going to tell me Laettner was better than David Robinson or Dominique Wilkins. The best fit would have been Dennis Rodman, who was at his absolute best in 1992 and wouldn't have asked to touch the ball aside from rebounds.

 

Well, yeah, I thought that was the terms of the discussion. It was always pretty clear they were going to take one.

 

Just clarifying. Christian Laettner wasn't a better player than Shaquille O'Neal, though. He was just put in a better position to succeed.

Laettner as a senior: 21.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 0.8 blocks a game while shooting 57.5 percent.
O'Neal as a junior: 24.0 points, 14.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 5.2 blocks a game while shooting 61.5 percent.

And Shaq had been better, statistically, as a sophomore.

 

Oh Lord.

Check out their tournament performances. Check out their teams' styles of play. Jesus, the thing I hate most about sabermetrics is that people think they can make objective statements about other sports that aren't individual-based.

Laettner against Kentucky:

10-10 10-10 31

What you are "clarifying" is that you weren't watching.

 

You really believe that Christian Laettner in 1992 was a better basketball player than Shaquille O'Neal? Are you serious? Your proof is that, when given the best passer and best swingman in the country, he won titles?

Laettner accomplished a hell of a lot more, but he was never actually a better basketball player.

 

Well, Laettner was in a much better conference and he was Duke's go-to guy. The choice was slam-dunk wrong only in retrospect. At the time, perfectly fine choice, given that one college player was gonna make the team as a sop to the old-schoolers.