Why was Christian Laettner chosen over Shaquille O'neal?

[beau_boy04]

The title says it all! WHY was Christian Laettner Chosen over Shaq "The Diesel" O'neal for the last spot in the original 1992 Dream Team. I know they initially had 10 players selected and the last 2 spots there was Clyde Drexler and Isiah Thomas battling out of it. We all know Drexler was later chosen for the 11th spot and then Christian Laettner was chosen for the 12th and last spot. Rumor is that Michael Jordan told committee to count him in as long as Isiah Thomas was not part of the team. Anyways, why was Christian chosen over Shaq? was he a better college player than Shaq at that point? coz I remenber in the 1992 Nba Draft Shaq was chosen first and Christian third. So what happened here?

I believe the 1992 Dream Team could have dominated the opposition even more with Shaq on board.

Another question is: had Hakeem Olajuwon become a US citizen sooner and thus being eligible for the 1992 US Dream Team... would he be the other center besides David Robinson of the 1992 squad? or was Patrick Ewing better than him at that point?

Thanks for your thoughts and opinions in advance.

[Derivative]

because they needed a few white guys on that team.

next thread

[Whoah10115]

Laettner just won his 2nd straight title with Duke, hitting that last second shot.


He was the college player of the year...Shaq (I almost can't believe this) even said during the last Open Court episode that Laettner had everything and was the best. And he's always said Laettner deserved it.


Drafting O'Neal (as well as Alonzo) was based on them clearly being the better talents going forward.



What more could that team have done in the Olympics? Hakeem was probably the best but was coming off a couple downer type years (for his standards). Don't know what happens.

[miller-time]

Laettner

2

[EnoughSaid]

The title says it all! WHY was Christian Laettner Chosen over Shaq "The Diesel" O'neal for the last spot in the original 1992 Dream Team. I know they initially had 10 players selected and the last 2 spots there was Clyde Drexler and Isiah Thomas battling out of it. We all know Drexler was later chosen for the 11th spot and then Christian Laettner was chosen for the 12th and last spot. Rumor is that Michael Jordan told committee to count him in as long as Isiah Thomas was not part of the team. Anyways, why was Christian chosen over Shaq? was he a better college player than Shaq at that point? coz I remenber in the 1992 Nba Draft Shaq was chosen first and Christian third. So what happened here?

I believe the 1992 Dream Team could have dominated the opposition even more with Shaq on board.

Another question is: had Hakeem Olajuwon become a US citizen sooner and thus being eligible for the 1992 US Dream Team... would he be the other center besides David Robinson of the 1992 squad? or was Patrick Ewing better than him at that point?

Thanks for your thoughts and opinions in advance.

Laettner was primarily chosen because he was the best player on the best team that ended up winning it all. Top scorer in the tournament that year as well. Shaq's team, LSU, lost in the second round and weren't that impressive. Success is valued more than anything, so that's why Laettner was chosen.

Hakeem had a pretty disappointing 2 year stretch through 90-91 and 91-92 so it would have been highly unlikely for him to make it over Ewing and Robinson.

[beau_boy04]

Let's take a look at their statistics for the '91-'92 season.
Laettner 21.5 pts 7.8 rebs 2.0 asst 1.6 stl 0.9 blk 57.5% fg 81.5% ft
O'Neal 24.1 pts 14.0 rebs 1.5 asst 1.0 stl 5.2 blk 61.5% fg 52.8% ft

If Laettner was so obvious the better player out of the two, then he would've been the prohibitive top pick in that year's draft. He was 3rd. Shaq was the 1st.

[Xiao Yao You]

Hakeem wasn't a citizen yet. At the time they said Laettner was picked because they already had Ewing and Robinson at center and didn't need another.

[KG215]

Laettner just won his 2nd straight title with Duke, hitting that last second shot.


He was the college player of the year...Shaq (I almost can't believe this) even said during the last Open Court episode that Laettner had everything and was the best. And he's always said Laettner deserved it.


Drafting O'Neal (as well as Alonzo) was based on them clearly being the better talents going forward.



What more could that team have done in the Olympics? Hakeem was probably the best but was coming off a couple downer type years (for his standards). Don't know what happens.

Was Hakeem even a U.S. citizen in 1992? Thought that didn't happen until later and is why he didn't play for the USA until 1996.

[Legends66NBA7]

Was Hakeem even a U.S. citizen in 1992? Thought that didn't happen until later an is why he didn't play for the USA until 1996.

Yeah, Hakeem wasn't a U.S. citizen at the time, so he was ineligible to make the 92 team.

[RedBlackAttack]

It made absolutely no difference. Laettner had no role on that team and Shaq would have been in the same boat. It was an honorary thing more than anything else.

[TheBigVeto]

Laettner's college career is like Michael Jordan's NBA career.
He deserved to be in the Dream Team AND in the basketball HOF (racism kept him from it).

[ThaRegul8r]

Their success didn't depend on whether or not Shaq was on the team. What difference does it make? They were in no danger of losing anyway. Shaq wasn't needed.

[Eric Cartman]

He Was White.