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View Full Version : Laettner & Davis Reenact The Stomp



KYtotheCore
07-30-2012, 08:53 PM
Pics

:p

http://sports.yahoo.com/kentucky/blog/wildcats/post/anthony-davis-christian-laettner-meet-up?urn=college,wp1229

Newton_14
07-30-2012, 09:21 PM
This is a first! A "reenactment" of an "act" that never happened! Impressive.

subzero02
07-30-2012, 09:51 PM
Didn't Laettner step backwards...

Dukehky
07-30-2012, 10:24 PM
He is trying really hard to get his a hole persona away from him because he wants be taken seriously as a viable coaching so badly option in the future. All the best in everything have a little bit of that in them though (Phelps, Jordan, K, Knight, Bonds, etc.) hope he doesn't leave it behind completely. Even in McCallum's Dream Team book, in the interviews Laettner did recently for the book, the author doesn't completely believe the amazingly PC answers he gives, and I think actually says outright that Chris is trying to "grow up" so that he can be a bigger part of hoops in today's game.

Those pictures are hilarious though, it's hard to dislike AD.

sagegrouse
07-31-2012, 12:46 AM
What is Laettner doing in London? Vacationing? On assignment? Advising the US team's coaching staff?

Please tell me I didn't miss some lengthy thread on "Laettner in London."

sage

MCFinARL
07-31-2012, 11:30 AM
What is Laettner doing in London? Vacationing? On assignment? Advising the US team's coaching staff?

Please tell me I didn't miss some lengthy thread on "Laettner in London."

sage

He is the basketball analyst for foxsports.com. http://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/basketball/story/team-usa-kevin-durant-lebron-james-kobe-bryant-beats-france-in-opener-072912

The Gordog
07-31-2012, 12:57 PM
He is the basketball analyst for foxsports.com. http://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/basketball/story/team-usa-kevin-durant-lebron-james-kobe-bryant-beats-france-in-opener-072912

"Christian Laettner and Anthony Davis -- who are two of the three players to be named to Team USA straight from college since 1992 -- chatted"

Trivia contest: Does anyone know who was the third?

hurleyfor3
07-31-2012, 02:34 PM
"Christian Laettner and Anthony Davis -- who are two of the three players to be named to Team USA straight from college since 1992 -- chatted"

Trivia contest: Does anyone know who was the third?

Okafor?

Billy Dat
07-31-2012, 02:39 PM
Okafor?

I know Jason Williams was on the all time worst NBA-players-playing 2002 World Championship team.

OldPhiKap
07-31-2012, 02:45 PM
Okafor?

I wanna say that Laettner was one of two collegians on the 92 team. Maybe Mashburn?

flyingdutchdevil
07-31-2012, 02:59 PM
I wanna say that Laettner was one of two collegians on the 92 team. Maybe Mashburn?

Okafor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball_at_the_2004_Summer_Olympics

Steven43
07-31-2012, 03:23 PM
I really like Christian Laettner's persona. He's intelligent, funny and charismatic, not to mention the fact that he was one of the greatest college basketball players of all time. I also think he was a good player in the NBA, though for some reason many people denigrate his professional accomplishments. I think he would be a great addition to Duke's staff. Does anyone know if Coach K and Christian have ever discussed this option? I really hope it happens one day soon.

alteran
07-31-2012, 03:31 PM
I wanna say that Laettner was one of two collegians on the 92 team. Maybe Mashburn?

Laettner was the only non-pro on the 92 Dream Team, FWIW.

MCFinARL
07-31-2012, 04:00 PM
I really like Christian Laettner's persona. He's intelligent, funny and charismatic, not to mention the fact that he was one of the greatest college basketball players of all time. I also think he was a good player in the NBA, though for some reason many people denigrate his professional accomplishments. I think he would be a great addition to Duke's staff. Does anyone know if Coach K and Christian have ever discussed this option? I really hope it happens one day soon.


Laettner was the only non-pro on the 92 Dream Team, FWIW.

I actually think that fact--that he was the only non-pro on the dream team--may have a lot to do with why his pro contributions have been undervalued. It may lead people to compare him to the other players on that team, all of whom were all-time superstars. He also probably suffers because he was such a fantastic college player and his pro career didn't reach the same level.

As for Laettner on Duke's staff, would his NBA drug suspension be an obstacle? It's pretty clear it didn't involve "performance enhancing" drugs, so it's not an issue of cheating, but it isn't exactly a desirable resume line.

Billy Dat
07-31-2012, 05:09 PM
When you peel back the onion a bit, there is a pretty rich history, if inconsistent history, of college players, since 1992, joining the USA Senior National Team. In fact, Duke players are all over that history.

1992 - Laettner is part of the Dream Team

USA Basketball moved away from the concept for the 1994 Worlds and the 1996 Olympics. It picked up again, though, for the 1998 Worlds, by necessity. The NBA lock-out precluded an assemblage of NBA All Stars so the US sent a team cobbled together from Americans playing overseas and in the CBA. That team miraculously won the bronze and is a favorite of everyone associated with USA Basketball for their grit. The lone collegians on that team...Trajan Langdon and Brad Miller.
http://www.usabasketball.com/mens/national/mwc_1998.html

Because they failed to win Gold, the US had to play in the 1999 Tournament of the Americas to qualify for the Olympics. That squad featured a plethora of All Star NBA talent, but also included 3 collegians - Elton Brand, Rip Hamilton and Wally Szczerbiak.
http://www.usabasketball.com/mens/national/mtoa_1999.html

The 2000 Olympic team had no collegians. That collection of NBA talent came a Sarunas Jasikevicius (Lithuanian by way of College Park) missed 3 pointer at the buzzer from being the first collection of NBA All Stars to lose a FIBA game.

Come 2002, when USA Basketball hit its nadir, they came back around to the idea of including collegians, perhaps because no one wanted to play for Team USA anymore. Our beloved Jason Williams had the misfortune of being part of that team.
http://www.usabasketball.com/mens/national/mwc_2002.html

Again, Team USA had to head for the Tournament of the Americas to qualify for the Olympics. Because of the disgrace of 2002, the NBA stars came back in droves and we walked to the title. Nick Collison, coming of a stellar year with KU, was the lone collegian on the squad.
http://www.usabasketball.com/mens/national/mtoa_2003.html

As others have mentioned, Emeka Okafor got the nod to join the Olympic team in 2004. The loss and eventual upheaval of leadership and philosophy ended the inclusion of the collegians. While he may have been the best player in college, Anthony Davis was not chosen as a token. He earned his way onto the team, despite any objections that Boogie Cousins or Greg Monroe might offer.

So, if you do the math, of the 8 collegians chosen to be part of USA Basketball Teams since the pros took over in 1992, half have been Duke players. Maybe Wojo can use that for one of his #dukefacts tweets.

sagegrouse
07-31-2012, 05:20 PM
I really like Christian Laettner's persona. He's intelligent, funny and charismatic, not to mention the fact that he was one of the greatest college basketball players of all time. I also think he was a good player in the NBA, though for some reason many people denigrate his professional accomplishments. I think he would be a great addition to Duke's staff. Does anyone know if Coach K and Christian have ever discussed this option? I really hope it happens one day soon.

Here are the ordianl rankings of the first 15 players taken in the 1992 draft. Christian is 4th in points, rebounds, and assists (5th in minutes played). The only player below him in the draft who arguably was better was Jimmy Jackson, the #4 pick. Christian performed pretty much as he was drafted.




Ordinal Rankings for 1992 Draft
Pick # Mins. Pts. RBs Assists 1992 Draft Picks
1 1 1 1 1 Shaquille O'Neal (C)
2 5 2 2 11 Alonzo Mourning (C)
3 6 4 4 4 Christian Laettner (PF)
4 2 3 7 2 Jimmy Jackson (SG)
5 10 10 8 10 LaPhonso Ellis (PF)
6 7 6 5 5 Tom Gugliotta (PF)
7 9 7 9 7 Walt Williams (SF)
8 12 11 13 13 Todd Day (SG)
9 3 5 3 8 C. Weathersp'n (PF)
10 14 14 10 14 Adam Keefe (PF)
11 4 9 6 3 Robert Horry (SF)
12 15 15 15 15 Harold Miner (SG)
13 11 12 12 9 Bryant Stith (SG)
14 13 13 14 12 Malik Sealy (SF)
15 8 8 11 6 Anthony Peeler (SG)



Here are the ordinals on the #3 picks, beginning with Michael Jordan in 1984 and extending to Raef LaFrentz in 1997. (Just Christian's luck to get compared to Shaq and MJ in two tables.) He appears to have been above-average as a #3 pick, eclipsed by MJ and Grant and edged by Billups and Stackhouse.




Ordinal Ranking for #3 Draft Picks, 1984-1998
Pick # Mins. Pts. RBs Assists Player
1984 1 1 1 1 Michael Jordan
1985 7 5 4 10 Xavier McDaniel
1986 15 15 15 15 Chris Washburn
1987 14 14 14 14 Dennis Hopson
1988 11 11 8 12 Charles Smith
1989 8 9 9 9 Sean Elliott
1990 12 10 13 8 Chris Jackson
1991 10 12 6 11 Bill Owens
1992 6 7 3 6 Christian Laettner
1993 9 8 10 4 Penny Hardaway
1994 4 4 5 3 Grant Hill
1995 3 2 11 5 Jerry Stackhouse
1996 2 3 2 7 Shareef Abdur-Rahim
1997 5 6 12 2 Chauncey Billups
1998 13 13 7 13 Raef Lafrentz



Overall: Christian had a good career.

sagegrouse
'The Hill and Billups data are obsolete since they continue in the league. I did this two years ago'

mapei
07-31-2012, 05:53 PM
Am I correct in surmising that those numbers favor players with long careers? Not saying that's invalid, BTW.

But I think one of the reasons CL's career may be unappreciated is that he was never one of the best players viewed on a season-by-season basis. I'm not even sure in how many of his seasons he was a starter. I happen to think he was THE best college player ever, but I have a hard time thinking of him as one of the best pros.

subzero02
07-31-2012, 06:21 PM
A ruptured achilles kept Christian from ranking higher on those lists... Prior to that injury he was an all star iirc.

sagegrouse
07-31-2012, 06:43 PM
Am I correct in surmising that those numbers favor players with long careers? Not saying that's invalid, BTW.

But I think one of the reasons CL's career may be unappreciated is that he was never one of the best players viewed on a season-by-season basis. I'm not even sure in how many of his seasons he was a starter. I happen to think he was THE best college player ever, but I have a hard time thinking of him as one of the best pros.

You can be sure now. Christian played 13 seasons. He was almost always a starter. The exceptions: his return from injury in Detroit in the season he played only 16 games. His last two years -- In Washington and Miami. Christian started 80 percent of all the games he played.

Never one of the best players on a season-by-season basis? Who on the list of 28 players in my two tables was a better player than Christian: Shaq, Alonzo, Grant Hill, Jordan -- for sure. Sean Elliott and Penny Hardaway were brilliant players with short-lived careers. Stackhouse? Not my kind of player, but there's an argument. Abdur-Rahim: don't remember him well, but, like Christian, he made one all-star team but only made the playoffs once (vs six times for Laettner).

"Favor players with long careers?" Probably. It is an old argument in sports: Gale Sayers (short, brilliant career) vs. Tony Dorsett (long productive career).

Actually, if I had to use a single statistic to value an NBA player it would probably be total minutes played: I mean, there's a reason he's out there.




Season Age Tm G GS Pct.
1992-93 23 MIN 81 81 100.0%
1993-94 24 MIN 70 67 95.7%
1994-95 25 MIN 81 80 98.8%
1995-96 26 TOT 74 71 95.9%
1995-96 26 MIN 44 44 100.0%
1995-96 26 ATL 30 27 90.0%
1996-97 27 ATL 82 82 100.0%
1997-98 28 ATL 74 49 66.2%
1998-99 29 DET 16 0 0.0%
1999-00 30 DET 82 82 100.0%
2000-01 31 TOT 78 48 61.5%
2000-01 31 DAL 53 35 66.0%
2000-01 31 WAS 25 13 52.0%
2001-02 32 WAS 57 48 84.2%
2002-03 33 WAS 76 66 86.8%
2003-04 34 WAS 48 18 37.5%
2004-05 35 MIA 49 0 0.0%
Career 868 692 79.7%



sagegrouse

-jk
07-31-2012, 07:07 PM
Am I correct in surmising that those numbers favor players with long careers? Not saying that's invalid, BTW.

But I think one of the reasons CL's career may be unappreciated is that he was never one of the best players viewed on a season-by-season basis. I'm not even sure in how many of his seasons he was a starter. I happen to think he was THE best college player ever, but I have a hard time thinking of him as one of the best pros.

Your youth is showing. Christian isn't even the ACC's "best player ever". But I'd give him second.

-jk

OZZIE4DUKE
07-31-2012, 09:04 PM
Your youth is showing. Christian isn't even the ACC's "best player ever". But I'd give him second.

-jk

You are correct sir. He trails only DT.

mapei
07-31-2012, 10:03 PM
Your youth is showing. Christian isn't even the ACC's "best player ever". But I'd give him second. -jk

David Thompson? Len Bias? Dick Groat? Art Heyman? I'm still picking CL for his on-the-court performance over a college career. I might pick Thompson for one game.

Ralph Sampson? Tyler Hansbrough? ;)

And I still maintain CL was nowhere near as great compared to his peers in the NBA as he was in college, and I think most non-Dukies would agree. He was a good player who, IIRC, made one or two all-star teams. That's not a bad career, but also not a great one and not even close to matching what he did as a collegian. But this sort of debate is what makes bar conversations fun.

flyingdutchdevil
08-01-2012, 09:21 AM
David Thompson? Len Bias? Dick Groat? Art Heyman? I'm still picking CL for his on-the-court performance over a college career. I might pick Thompson for one game.

Ralph Sampson? Tyler Hansbrough? ;)

And I still maintain CL was nowhere near as great compared to his peers in the NBA as he was in college, and I think most non-Dukies would agree. He was a good player who, IIRC, made one or two all-star teams. That's not a bad career, but also not a great one and not even close to matching what he did as a collegian. But this sort of debate is what makes bar conversations fun.

Hansbrough gets the same treatment. After a phenomenal college career, many consider his NBA career to be a bust (or inconsequential at the very least) thus far. But he's been averaging 10 points and 5 rebounds a game as the first big man off the bench. He's obviously never going to be an All-Star, but a lot of teams need a player like that. It's all about expectations - Laettner was the 3rd pick of the draft and arguably a top 3 college basketball player ever. The expectations were through the roof for him. He had a fine NBA career (minus the recreational drugs) and, as you said, made an All-Star or two, but given his pedigree and resume at Duke, I think people expected more from him. Fair or unfair, that's professional sports.