I hate Christian Laettner

[Delmar]

4 Final fours
3 Championship games
2 Championships
2 buzzer beaters in the NCAA tourney
Owning Mourning and O'Neal when he played them.

Who had a better college career? If you say Walton, Kareem, going back further, Russell, Robertson? Maybe.

He reminds me of Jimmy Connors. What makes them great also makes them insufferable. Some great players don't have the inner demons or whatever the psychological make up it is that draws out greatness, but some do and Laettner was one of those.

I don't hate him, but I'm glad I don't have to play the cards that he got dealt.

 

[Cowtown]

Or Shaq.

Well, Laettner made a good point when he said Shaq might not have accepted the no. 12 spot like he did. And if that's true, it wouldn't have worked out well. Especially considering Shaq became a huge star, Laettner not so much.

 

[sabach]

In a college career you can play in a maximum of 24 games in the tournament. He played in 23.

 

[Paul OLeary]

I have always liked Laettner. IMO - with hindsight being 20/20 he is the biggest backyard miss by SU recruiting as Duke was on him early.

 

[jekelish]

I was really hoping the original post would be something along the lines of the thread title, "I Hate Christian Laettner" followed by a post saying, "Oh that reminds me, I think they're doing a 30 for 30 on him soon, aren't they?"

 

[samspann1]

Well, Laettner made a good point when he said Shaq might not have accepted the no. 12 spot like he did. And if that's true, it wouldn't have worked out well. Especially considering Shaq became a huge star, Laettner not so much.

He may be right, but it's hard to imagine a kid who hasn't played a second of pro ball copping an attitude with a bunch of NBA HOFers.

 

[cto]

Well, Laettner made a good point when he said Shaq might not have accepted the no. 12 spot like he did. And if that's true, it wouldn't have worked out well. Especially considering Shaq became a huge star, Laettner not so much.

Anthony Davis was in a petentially even "more difficult" position when he was a last-minite addition to the 2012 Olympic team. He was one year out of high school and had just turned 19. He was such a star-struck kid ... with such a sweet personality ... that the NBA stars on the team sort of adopted him as a little brother. When he got into games in mop-up time at the end, they all passed to him ... and yelled at him to shoot.

 

[Cowtown]

Devo could've been epically hated if we won anything of substance when he was here. Imagine him in a Championship Game...

I couldn't even imagine facing Duke every year with a Christian Laettner who's not going pro for ANOTHER 3 YEARS

I really didn't like Devo. I thought he was an embarrassment. He sure could play, but he had the personality of a plugged toilet.

And I think you've touched on why there's such wide antipathy toward Laettner: it seemed he was always there, and for SO freaking long. I don't dislike him (because I've never met him), but I can understand the sentiment. And I also think part of that hangs on the media. They just loved cramming him onto your face, when all you really wanted was to watch some basketball.

 

[Alsacs]

I remember Laettner, Shaq O'Neal and Chris Webber being the 3 college kids considered for the 12th slot on the Dream Team. Laettner was the two time champion and NPOY so he was worthy but 20/20 hindsight it is funny he got the pick over HOFers Webber and O'Neal. Laettner is only member of the 92 Dream Team not in the HOF.

 

[MikeSU02]

Anthony Davis was in a petentially even "more difficult" position when he was a last-minite addition to the 2012 Olympic team. He was one year out of high school and had just turned 19. He was such a star-struck kid ... with such a sweet personality ... that the NBA stars on the team sort of adopted him as a little brother. When he got into games in mop-up time at the end, they all passed to him ... and yelled at him to shoot.

If I remember correctly, Barkley was one of the Dream Teamers that reached out to Laettner, creating a sort of odd couple.

Must be quite an experience for guys in that position.

 

[Cowtown]

Anthony Davis was in a petentially even "more difficult" position when he was a last-minite addition to the 2012 Olympic team. He was one year out of high school and had just turned 19. He was such a star-struck kid ... with such a sweet personality ... that the NBA stars on the team sort of adopted him as a little brother. When he got into games in mop-up time at the end, they all passed to him ... and yelled at him to shoot.

As I understand it, Davis is a really likable kid. Laettner was less so. I'm not sure how I'd have handled being arguably the most succcessful player in NCAA history. Not well, I suspect. Part of me can't fault part of him for that.

 

[longislandcuse]

I also think this reopens the race discussion. Why is one of the 5 hate-able things "being white" lol? It's true, it's just so strange.

In regards to Devo, he wouldn't be as hated by some if he was black. It's just the truth.

 

[longislandcuse]

As I understand it, Davis is a really likable kid. Laettner was less so. I'm not sure how I'd have handled being the most succcesful player in NCAA history. Not well, I suspect. Part of me can't fault part of him for that.

I know how I acted being the best player in a small private school league on Long Island. If I acted like that in a league with zero college talent in maximum occupancy of 500 people gyms, I can't imagine being Laettner in college.

 

[Cowtown]

I also think this reopens the race discussion. Why is one of the 5 hate-able things "being white" lol? It's true, it's just so strange.

In regards to Devo, he wouldn't be as hated by some if he was black. It's just the truth.

I think that since Laettner came along with Larry Bird in the autumn of his NBA career, some hoped/thought/perhaps even feared (?) he would be the next Great White Hope. When he didn't become that player, it cemented in some more of the resentment.

 

[Cowtown]

I remember Laettner, Shaq O'Neal and Chris Webber being the 3 college kids considered for the 12th slot on the Dream Team. Laettner was the two time champion and NPOY so he was worthy but 20/20 hindsight it is funny he got the pick over HOFers Webber and O'Neal. Laettner is only member of the 92 Dream Team not in the HOF.

He's also the only one from that team with 2 NCAA rings (B2B at that), and he scored more points in Tournament play than any of them. And anyway, you can't hold that against him (non-HOF) because he didn't really belong there, and was only on the team because some meddling PC busybodies who didn't understand about basketball and team chemistry thought it would be a "nice idea."

 

[CaptainJ]

Sometimes I just need to remind myself of this:

 

[Cowtown]

He may be right, but it's hard to imagine a kid who hasn't played a second of pro ball copping an attitude with a bunch of NBA HOFers.

Agree, which is in large part why it was a bone-headed decision to plop him arbitrarily on that team at the expense of another of "theirs."

 

[orangecuse]

I have always liked Laettner. IMO - with hindsight being 20/20 he is the biggest backyard miss by SU recruiting as Duke was on him early.

We missed out on several back yard blue chipper types back then. I was a junior at Buffalo and remember Laettner committing to Duke, we didn't even make his final list. We got Owens though, as he was the #2 recruit in the nation behind Mourning. Laettner I believe was ranked 10th.

I recall while I was in Buffalo then, most of the Buffalo-eans hated Boeheim and SU, I caught a game at the old Buffalo Aud when SU played Canisius and SU may as well of been the Boston Bruins. Some of Buffalo's best high school players around that time were going elsewhere, Laettner, Curtis Aiken (Pitt), Cliff Robinson (UConn). Woodard from McQuaid in Rochester went to 'Nova, Perkins and Koubek from the Albany area went to UNC and Duke respectively. King Rice from Binghampton to UNC as well...

 

[Cowtown]

We missed out on several back yard blue chipper types back then. I was a junior at Buffalo and remember Laettner committing to Duke, we didn't even make his final list. We got Owens though, as he was the #2 recruit in the nation behind Mourning. Laettner I believe was ranked 10th.

I recall while I was in Buffalo then, most of the Buffalo-eans hated Boeheim and SU, caught a game at the old Buffalo Aud when SU played Canisius and SU may as well of been the Boston Bruins. Some of Buffalo's best high school players around that time were going elsewhere, Laettner, Curtis Aiken (Pitt), Cliff Robinson (UConn). Woodard from McQuaid in Rochester went to 'Nova, Perkins and Koubek from the Albany area went to UNC and Duke respectively. King Rice from Binghampton to NC as well...

Good points. I wonder if some of 'em just wanted the hell out of NY and its winters.

 

[Paul OLeary]

I love how people that hate him, have to reach and and say his sucked in the NBA. If he sucked how did he manage to play 14 seasons and earn $61.4mm. Did he live up to a #3 overall pick in that draft? IMO, no. But, if you played 14 years in the NBA and get named to an All-Star game (who is going vote him in) you don't suck. People don't employ for 14 years if you suck.

 

[Orange46R]

I went to the '91 and '92 Final Fours. First one Duke was the darling everyone was pulling for the upset over UNLV. The next year 95%of the Metrodome was going for the Fab 5. Michigan section was chanting 'Laettner Swallows' the entire night. Funny how things changed in the year after they won a title.

Love him or hate him (or Duke for that matter)...sure made things interesting...

 

[samspann1]

I love how people that hate him, have to reach and and say his sucked in the NBA.

Who said that he "sucked" in the NBA?

 

[Paul OLeary]

Who said that he "sucked" in the NBA?

Whatever dude. Just reading your posts here you a hater.

 

[samspann1]

Whatever dude. Just reading your posts here you a hater.

'Sup, Strawman?

 

[longislandcuse]

I went to the '91 and '92 Final Fours. First one Duke was the darling everyone was pulling for the upset over UNLV. The next year 95%of the Metrodome was going for the Fab 5. Michigan section was chanting 'Laettner Swallows' the entire night. Funny how things changed in the year after they won a title.

Love him or hate him (or Duke for that matter)...sure made things interesting...

Those chants they showed during the 30 for 30 were brutal. Wow. Amazing how far we've come when that was actually considered acceptable.