Anonymous
Years ago

The Dream Team, with Shaq?

Just came across the following on Wikipedia:

"Clyde Drexler of the Portland Trail Blazers was added to the team on May 12, 1992, along with Christian Laettner of Duke University. Laettner was the only player selected for the national team without any professional experience, and beat out Louisiana State University's Shaquille O'Neal for the final spot on the roster."

By going to the following address you see an article that confirms this. Imagine The Dream Team with Shaq instead of Laettner!

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=I7UxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OuIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5497,8535804&dq=drexler-laettner-join&hl=en

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Fizzle
Years ago

At the time, Laettner was College Basketballs golden child and projected to be a superstar in the NBA. Plus im pretty sure, with Robinson and Ewing already in, the worry was to be to top heavy. Wouldnt surprise me if guys like Bird and Magic were questioned about who deserved the 'free gold medal' spot, and they wouldnt have liked Shaq's personality, compared to Laettners clean cut image....conspiracy theory on that though.

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Anonymous
Years ago

Fizzle, remembers correctly and supposedly the reason Isiah Thomas wasn't there was because Jordan, Magic and a few others didn't want him on the team.

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Big Marty
Years ago

Remember that the reason Laettner even got the spot in the first place was because it was made mandatory that the whole team couldn't be NBA players.

Keep in mind to that while Shaq was dominant, Laettner was a brilliant scorer and still holds the NCAA records for most points scored.

Essentially agree with Fizzle about the team being Top-Heavy.

The average size of players on that team was about 6'7"-6'8". Tall ass team.

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Camel 31
Years ago

I noticed Shaq who at 7ft 1 won sports tonite play of the day, conducting the orchestra.

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dud
Years ago

bobby hurley actually came very close to geting that spot. I think he made it to the last few until he got cut. Makes you think how good he would of been if he didnt that that car accident that nearly killed him.

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Anonymous
Years ago

fizzle is spot on i think.
shaq missed out due to presence of ewing & robinson.

the isiah thomas comment from anon are true too i beleive.

big marty - what ncaa scoring records does laetner hold?

hes not even the leading all time scorer at duke.

what do u mean?

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The Dream Team, with Shaq?

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