If they did not choose to put a college player on the squad (Christian Laettner), who would have been the 12th player selected? Obviously Isiah Thomas would be mentioned but not included. So for me to would come down to two guys:
Dominique Wilkins
James Worthy
Wilkins probably the better player, Worthy the more accomplished. My vote would have went to Dominique.
Reggie Miller
Dennis Rodman
And if they were set in the college player, a Shaq selection holds up better to the test of time than Laettner, but obviously Laettner was a highly decorated college player at that time.
You had Lakers and Celtics rivaling dynasties. The Bad Boys Pistons and Bulls/Jordan storylines. The Dream Team. An era of dominant big men in Ewing, Hakeem, Shaq, Zo, Smits, Admiral, Dikembe. The rivalries in the Eastern Conference between Bulls-Heats-Knicks-Pacers. Stockton and Malone. The arrival of Kobe and Duncan. The list goes on and on.
Laettner was a better college player, his teams had more success, and he was more decorated.
Looking back now (and maybe predictable at the time) Shaq was obviously a much better pro, it's not even close, but at the time if they blocked off one slot for a college player, Laettner over Shaq is completely rational.
If that slot would go to anyone, I was thinking Tim Hardaway may have made sense. Just to add some PG depth.
That's the greatest team ever to take the court together in a real competition (non All-Star game), so debating the 12th player on a 12 man roster is fun, but really inconsequential.
What was the closest margin of victory that team had, 35 points? even in exhibitions?
Apparently Daly sat Jordan in the first scrimmage and the young guys ran the pros off the court as Daly wanted to prove a point that they were beatable (which of course wasn't true) but he wanted their attention.
There was also the epic split squad scrimmage, with one side captained by Jordan and the other Magic. Battles between Robinson-Ewing, Malone-Barkley, etc. To be a fly on the wall in that gym.
Link - ( New Window )
As for the whole 'MJ was the reason Isiah didn't make it' argument...bunk. Bird, Magic, & Pippen all hated Thomas too. I'm sure Jordan's hatred carried extra weight, but Thomas wasn't a beloved peer. & he deserved to make it...Zeke was an incredible baller.
As for the whole 'MJ was the reason Isiah didn't make it' argument...bunk. Bird, Magic, & Pippen all hated Thomas too. I'm sure Jordan's hatred carried extra weight, but Thomas wasn't a beloved peer. & he deserved to make it...Zeke was an incredible baller.
But, but, Isiah was just misunderstood, he was a really lovable guy once you got to know him when he became the Knicks GM. ;-)
Seriously, I just want to throw in two things that I heard about why Christian was select. While it is true that he was the more accomplished college player, it was obvious from the try-outs that Shaq was more deserving of the spot. I clearly remember this being stated in media reports at the time. No one made a big deal about it since the team was so loaded.
Second, I recently read that part of reason Christian was awarded the final spot was because he participated in the Team USA select games which Shaq did not.
There was also the whispered reason that the higher-ups wanted another caucasian to help balance the Dream team since this was still a big deal in the early nineties.
As for the whole 'MJ was the reason Isiah didn't make it' argument...bunk. Bird, Magic, & Pippen all hated Thomas too. I'm sure Jordan's hatred carried extra weight, but Thomas wasn't a beloved peer. & he deserved to make it...Zeke was an incredible baller.
On top of the other players, I think the last thing Chuck Daly needed was the spend the summer with Isiah after a full NBA season.
Isaiah did himself no favors with that stunt and it was just as the committee was putting the team together.