re: ESPN just released the trailer for the 30 for 30 "I hate Christian Laettner!"

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One thing most people don't know about Laettner is that he wasn't some rich blue blooded prep (which would be the logical assumption, let's be honest)..he apparently grew up on a farm in rural New York or something and was kind of poor.

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This. I believe his parents took out a second mortgage to send him to private HS, and he had to work there, as well.

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Olympic Champion and contributing member of the original Dream Team.

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Shaq should have gone over him

I don't dispute any of that. I'm just being an LSU homer.

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(4) Final Fours
(3) Championship Games
(2) Titles
All Time Tourney scorer
Game Winning shot vs. UK
10-10 from the field and 10-10 from the FT line against UK
oh, and 1992 US Olympian

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Added: NBA All Star.

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Should have been thrown out immediately for kicking the KY player.

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He didnt kick anyone

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Laettner was easily the more decorated player at the time. It was basically a career achievement award. Plus Laettner was viewed as more fundamentally polished

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Plus they needed another white guy.

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Can someone explain how he didn't do squat in the nba

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I don't know if you're being serious but he made an All Star team in 96-97. He was a very good player his first few years (I think 16 ppg as a rookie) and always a contributor after that. Career 13 ppg, which is fine but not spectacular. Honestly, after being such a winner in college, playing for a perpetually losing franchise like the Wolves really ate away at him and made him say frick it. There's a story that he went around the TWolves locker room once after another loss and pointed out a bunch of players and called them losers.

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Olympic Champion and contributing member of the original Dream Team.

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I enjoyed those Duke teams and never really had an issue with Laettner...but despite the fact that he was a great college player, his inclusion on the Dream Team goes down as the second biggest Olympic basketball selection snub to Steve fricking Alford being chosen by Bobby Knight as a TRUE FRESHMAN over Senior Charles Barkley for the 1984 team. frick Knight for selecting his own point guard so that he could gain international experience over a far more deserving player in Barkley.

Had Shaq been included on the Dream Team, EVERY MEMBER of it would eventually have been a HOFer. And, Shaq would have actually played more and made more of an impact.

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Laettner was 10X more polished as a college player.

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Not denying he was a more complete player...but let's not pretend Shaq was some unknown quantity. He was the AP & Rupp National Player of the Year the previous year as a Sophomore. His junior year we went 24pts and 14 boards a game.

There's no doubt a case could have been made for Laetner...but it's not like anyone but Dukies would have been stunned by the inclusion of Shaq on that team. After all, Shaq was the #1 overall pick a month prior to the start of the 1992 Olympics. That's not looking back using their respective NBA careers as a judge...that's looking at where they were right then and there.