Deadspin and the Drexler/Magic controversy

Dolph Schayes kept him off the team.

 

Only basis I have for questioning the Laettner selection is whether it was even necessary to select a token collegian--I don't believe it was.

However, IF you're gonna do that, Laettner made perfect sense and was the right choice. Have people forgotten that he'd just completed one the greatest college careers in history--one that seems downright unfathomable by today's college basketball standards? The dude had just led his team to four straight final fours, three straight national championship games,won two straight national championships, been multiple time All American, and swept all the major National Player of the Year Awards his senior year. By comparison, Shaq's college accomplishments weren't squat.

IF you've got to take a college kid, Laettner was plainly the most logical choice.

 

this was the type of reverse-racism chris withstood throughout his career, from h.s. on. i remember how shocked most observers were when his predominantly white h.s. team beat the more, ahem, athletic, alexander hamilton team for the n.y. state championship in '81. he more than held his own on 'the dream team' and, unlike laettner, was never sniped at off-the-record by bitter players who harped on about the makeup of that team. i don't recall anyone ever even hinting that he was a 'token' selection. if he wew three inches taller chris would've been the southpaw version of bird...

 

Once he stopped drinking like a fish, Mullin became an even better player than many thought he could be.

 

There was not one iota of controversy about putting Mullin on that team, nor should there have been. At that time, all the talk was about the Americans having no outside shooters to counter the countries that had caught up to our collegians and beaten us in 1988.

And who the hell was a better outside shooter at that time than Mullin?

I think some people have a tendency to forget the actual history.

 

Bullseye. There is a TON of revisionist history throughout this thread.

There was never a shred of doubt about Mullin's selection. He was First Team All NBA and a bona fide upper tier superstar at the time. And, oddly enough, one guy whose selection I DO remember hearing some questions about back then was Scottie Pippen--because he had the fewest individual honors (at the time) and was No. 2 on his own team, I do recall there being some talk that he'd gotten the nod over guys like Dominique, Worthy and Rodman only because he played for the reigning champs. But because Pippen went on in later years to win four more titles and thoroughly prove his worthiness, folks have completely forgotten about that today.

If you'd asked people in 92 who was more deserving between Mullin and Pippen, Mullin would've been the overwhelming answer. But 20 years later people now assume Pippen must've been an automatic no brainer, and instead ask why Mullin was on that team.

And the Shaq v. Laettner thing is also largely revisionist history. There was no real controversy over that selection back then--Laettner had just won every Player of the Year Award, had won two straight national titles, and Shaq had not yet won anything--Laettner seemed like the obvious choice to be the college guy at the time. It was only years later, after seeing how their respective pro careers turned out, that the notion of a Shaq v. Laettner "controversy" was manufactured.

 

As I recall, the question about Laettner centered on his making the team over qualified NBA players.

 

That had nothing to do with the question of merit. There had been an early decision to set aside one spot for a collegian as some sort of gesture to keep a connection to the amateur basketball word--which, in retrospect, seems kinda silly and unnecessary. Laettner wasn't selected "over" NBA players, because that wasn't really his competition for that spot, his fellow collegians were.

 

You're absolutely right. I do recall that being the case.

 

I seem to recall the reason for taking Pippen had more to do with his defensive skills than his scoring ability at the time.

 

Yep, the idea was Pippen as designated defensive stopper. At the time he was named to the Dream Team, Pippen had only been selected an all star one time in his career, which did raise some eyebrows when his resume was compared to Dominique and Worthy's. But that detail's forgotten now.

 

Fuck the "amateur basketball world."

The US had been playing with both hands tied behind its back for 60 years. Once the handcuffs were taken off, that shit should have been finished forever.