NDRU said:

Timmy84 said:

Ah I see so they couldn't get him even if they wanted to. But yeah why Laettner. I had venom for Duke then. I was a hardcore Tarheel fan then. Still a fan lol

He was one of the top college players at that time. Hard to remember that now...but in all honesty he was probaby better than Bird at that point!

I guess he's a great example of a great college player who does not translate that well to the NBA. The Ralph Sampson Syndrome. Still CL played like a dozen seasons, he was not THAT bad!

Ralph Sampson was great in the NBA, he just got hit with the injury bug.

Cerebus said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

http://espn.go.com/nba/st...dream-team

Something tells me this story is just getting started. I look forward to Magic's first statement about it in the next couple days.

It's alreeady begun. I still don't belive Drexler said this though, so unlike Clyde.

Timmy84 said:

How was Laettner allowed to be on there but not Shaq?!

Christian Laettner was consider THE best center in college basketball at the time. He was already a 2-time NCAA champion by that time.

Graycap23 said:

NDRU said:

Said Drexler: "If we all knew Magic was going to live this long, I would've gotten the MVP of that game..."

this just seems totally unnecessary, bitter, and selfish to say

....I like honesty.

:yeahthis:

i dont thinkhe soundds bitter at all. he said things people were saying back then,while it was happening. drexler isnt a bitchy kind of guy- that's more pippen or rodman

TonyVanDam said:

Timmy84 said:

How was Laettner allowed to be on there but not Shaq?!

Christian Laettner was consider THE best center in college basketball at the time. He was already a 2-time NCAA champion by that time.

Yup he was the BEST college player in 1992, he was a great college player.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

NDRU said:

He was one of the top college players at that time. Hard to remember that now...but in all honesty he was probaby better than Bird at that point!

I guess he's a great example of a great college player who does not translate that well to the NBA. The Ralph Sampson Syndrome. Still CL played like a dozen seasons, he was not THAT bad!

Ralph Sampson was great in the NBA, he just got hit with the injury bug.

I wouldn't call Sampson great in the NBA, he was just good even before the injuries IMO.

Abdul said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Ralph Sampson was great in the NBA, he just got hit with the injury bug.

I wouldn't call Sampson great in the NBA, he was just good even before the injuries IMO.

Just good, if he would not have got injured, you're talking about an all-time great.

His first four seasons, was a four time All-Star and heloed Houston to the Finals in his 3rd season. He was 20/10 his first four seasons.

Just good is someone like Otis Thorpe. Ralph was a special talent.

What 7'4 big could run down the court with the ball after getting a rebound and finish his self ...

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Abdul said:

I wouldn't call Sampson great in the NBA, he was just good even before the injuries IMO.

Just good, if he would not have got injured, you're talking about an all-time great.

His first four seasons, was a four time All-Star and heloed Houston to the Finals in his 3rd season. He was 20/10 his first four seasons.

Just good is someone like Otis Thorpe. Ralph was a special talent.

What 7'4 big could run down the court with the ball after getting a rebound and finish his self ...

Exactly. Sampson & Olajuwon were the OG "Twin Towers".

They did Isaiah wrong.

uPtoWnNY said:

They did Isaiah wrong.

Thomas did himself wrong. Dude was a ahole.

Him, Aguirre and Eddie used to crak my up they way they carried on around Chicago.

Graycap23 said:

uPtoWnNY said:

They did Isaiah wrong.

Thomas did himself wrong. Dude was a ahole.

Him, Aguirre and Eddie used to crak my up they way they carried on around Chicago.

Jordan apparently was an asshole too, and to his own teammates at that.

Zeke was an asshole to the rest of the league, not his guys.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Graycap23 said:

Thomas did himself wrong. Dude was a ahole.

Him, Aguirre and Eddie used to crak my up they way they carried on around Chicago.

Jordan apparently was an asshole too, and to his own teammates at that.

Zeke was an asshole to the rest of the league, not his guys.

True, but they respected him as their leader, and it got em pretty far lol. Pippen didn't want Isiah on the team either.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Abdul said:

I wouldn't call Sampson great in the NBA, he was just good even before the injuries IMO.

Just good, if he would not have got injured, you're talking about an all-time great.

His first four seasons, was a four time All-Star and heloed Houston to the Finals in his 3rd season. He was 20/10 his first four seasons.

Just good is someone like Otis Thorpe. Ralph was a special talent.

What 7'4 big could run down the court with the ball after getting a rebound and finish his self ...

If, woulda coulda shoulda! The fact is his injuries didn't allow him to be an all time great IMO, it's telling when they stuck him at PF once Hakeem got drafted.

[Edited 6/30/12 22:06pm]

Abdul said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Just good, if he would not have got injured, you're talking about an all-time great.

His first four seasons, was a four time All-Star and heloed Houston to the Finals in his 3rd season. He was 20/10 his first four seasons.

Just good is someone like Otis Thorpe. Ralph was a special talent.

What 7'4 big could run down the court with the ball after getting a rebound and finish his self ...

If, woulda coulda shoulda! The fact is his injuries didn't allow him to be an all time great IMO, it's telling when they stuck him at PF once Hakeem got drafted.

[Edited 6/30/12 22:06pm]

Injuries is differnt from a guy not living up to his potential.

They put him at PF because he ran the floor better than Akeem and Akeem was also bigger even with Ralph's 5 inch sixe advanage on him.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Abdul said:

If, woulda coulda shoulda! The fact is his injuries didn't allow him to be an all time great IMO, it's telling when they stuck him at PF once Hakeem got drafted.

[Edited 6/30/12 22:06pm]

Injuries is differnt from a guy not living up to his potential.

They put him at PF because he ran the floor better than Akeem and Akeem was also bigger even with Ralph's 5 inch sixe advanage on him.

They put him at PF because he was soft as hell

[Edited 7/1/12 1:20am]

Graycap23 said:

Dream Team: Clyde Drexler thought Magic was going to die

By Reid Cherner, USA TODAY

Updated 1h ago

CAPTION

By Frank Becerra, USA TODAY

The 20th anniversary of the Dream Team has many of us believing that the Olympics was all about great basketball players jelling and then singing Kumbaya.

But the 12 players were hyper-competitive and held grudges.

Clyde Drexler tells writer Jack McCallum in the new book "Dream Team" that he begrudged Magic Johnson getting a spot and Michael Jordan keeping Isiah Thomas off.

CHARLES BARKLEY: Hall of Famer talks to author about his legacy

He also thought that everyone thought Magic would die.

Drexler, one of the few players to support Johnson after an incident in which was bleeding on the court after his AIDs diagnosis, "I have no problem playing against him" wasn't as charitable in the summer of 1992.

"He couldn't play much by that time. He couldn't guard his shadow...but you have to have to understand what was going on then. Everybody kept waiting for Magic to die. Every time he'd run up the court everybody would feel sorry for the guy, and he'd get all that benefit of the doubt."

Johnson (25 points, 9 assists) was the 1992 All-Star Game MVP in a game in which Drexler had 22 points, 9 ...ix assists.

Said Drexler: "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."

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2012/06/dream-team-clyde-drexler-thought-magic-was-going-to-die/1#.T-nrMJHYSSM

That's stupid. It's not like it was grossly inconceivable that Magic get MVP - Drexler had 22 pts, 9 rebounds, 6 assists; Magic had 25 pts, 9 assists. It was pretty close, and as everyone knows big names/stars get the benefit of the doubt, whether it's on ref's calls or on things like this. Sure, I believe sympathy might have been involved too, but even if people didn't think "he was gonna die," it's possible he still would've gotten it.

Same with Olympic team spot. Magic was a huge star, and known outside the U.S. - certainly more than Clyde. There's no way he wouldn't have gotten a spot on that team. Doesn't matter if he "couldn't guard his own shadow" - he was legendary enough to have a spot on a team called "Dream Team" and they were gonna win the Gold even if he just stood there, so it's a no brainer.

I watched Magic's response posted in Reply #31 - he's right, why is Drexler talking about this 20 yrs later? He's also right that he's been denied lots of things that he might also think he should've gotten - happens to everybody. He cares more about the team winning, and about championships, than getting MVP. Magic's taking the high road.