Dream Team documentary

I remember more than a few signs at Portland's old Memorial Coliseum during the first and second rounds of the NBA playoffs begging that Clyde be selected. I was a huuuuuuge fan of that Trailblazers team growing up. Then of course the Tournament of the Americas was held in Portland after the Finals and it was a one0week Drexler love fest.

 

Of course Drexler waits until after the documentary to drum up some controversy.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/clyde-drexler-dream-team-era-magic-johnson-everybody-194908503--nba.html

 

"If we all knew Magic was going to live this long, I would've gotten the MVP of that game, and Magic probably wouldn't have made the Olympic team." -- Clyde

Um, holyshitwhat? First off, Magic made the team before the HIV was announced and while he was a reigning first-team All-NBA selection who had just taken his team to the finals (beating Drexler's team along the way). Second, the Dream Team was as much marketing vehicle as talent-based team, and you aren't going to celebrate the growth of the NBA in the 1980s without Magic Johnson. If the selections were based on performance at the time, Bird might well have been left off, but not Magic.

And third ... WTF? Still chafing about an All-Star award? Inferiority complex much, Clyde?

 

Wow Drexler was so full of himself, he was just waiting for Magic to die.

Oh, and he thought he was better than MJ. Hey Bud, let go of Hakeem's cape.

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

Magic's one of the 5 best players of all time, and Clyde's...um....Got one of the 5 best nicknames ever.

 

It woulda' been interesting to see what Drexler would have done surrounded by actual talent. Portland went to the NBA finals twice with Kevin Duckworth at center.

 

Actual talent? Yeah, Jerome Kersey and Terry Porter sucked ass. : They also had a young Cliff Robinson and a decent enough bench. Their real weakness was interior defense and rebounding. But they had some talent on the offensive end.

And Kevin Duckworth averaged 16 points in 89-90, the first time they made the Finals. He was a perfectly cromulent center for a few years. He just fell off a cliff quick.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/duckwke01.html

 

That cracked me up. Thanks. And somehow, it accurately describes Duckworth's ability. Well done.

 

Is that really much different than an over the hill Bill Cartwright and Will Perdue in the middle? Jordan didn't exactly have ace centers either.

I don't wanna hear any whining about the Glide's supporting cast--Terry Porter, Cliff Robinson, Jerome Kersey, Buck Williams, Danny Ainge, etc.--those Blazer teams had plenty of talent. Hell, they had Drazen Petrovic buried at the end of the bench, and he turned out to be all star calibur guard the minute he got out of there and finally got some playing time.

 

Here's the latest from The Glide. Denies saying anything negative about Magic.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-400_162-57462892/clyde-drexler-denies-saying-magic-johnson-earned-spot-on-dream-team-out-of-pity-due-to-hiv/

 

Finally caught this on the DVR this afternoon. Maybe I was a little more aware of it after reading the thread on the book, but until I saw this, I had no idea how much the players disliked Isaiah Thomas. Sorry if this has already been covered, but didn't read through the whole thread. That was the biggest revelation to me.