"They realized that I can take an elbow from Patrick Ewing and not cry about it" - Christian Laettner explains why he felt accepted by the stars on the Dream Team

christian-laettner

Team USA’s squad for the 1992 Summer Olympics, popularly known as the Dream Team, is regarded as the greatest basketball team ever assembled. It featured a dominant cast of NBA stars and, unsurprisingly, coasted to a gold medal in the Olympics.

If there was an outlier on the team, it was Christian Laettner. He hadn’t even played his first NBA game yet and is the only guy in the group who isn’t a Hall of Famer. Despite that, Laettner recalled feeling accepted by the squad, even though he wasn’t a proven player in the league yet.

Christian on why he felt accepted in the Team

The Minnesota Timberwolves had just drafted Laettner with the third overall pick of the 1992 NBA Draft, and he had a pedigree of dominating in college. Laettner led Duke to two straight NCAA championships and was surrounded by a lot of hype out of college.

Even then, some people viewed him as an outcast on the loaded Dream Team, and it’s not hard to see why. That wasn’t how the former Blue Devil saw it, though, as he recalled how he proved during the first practice that he could hold his own on the team.

“They were totally awesome after the first practice,” Christian said on Pardon My Take. “Once they realized that I wasn’t too much of a prima donna, and once they realized that I can take an elbow from Patrick Ewing and not cry about it, they were awesome to me.”

“Pro athletes like for rookies to act like rookies, get their cigars, carry their laundry, get them orange juice if they want orange juice, and I was very willing to do that. Once they saw that I was willing to act and behave like a rookie, they accepted me, and they were all awesome to me,” Laettner added.

Laettner held his own on the greatest team ever

Given the talent around him, Laettner wasn’t exactly the star of the Dream Team, but he held his own when he was on the floor. Laettner played in all eight games during the Olympics and put up some decent numbers during his limited action (4.8 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 0.4 APG, 45 FG%).

At the time, it seemed like Laettner had everything he needed to become a superstar in the NBA. He was a standout player in college, and if he was good enough even to be a part of the Dream Team, many fans believed that meant he was good enough to excel in the league.

While Laettner wasn’t a bad NBA player, he failed to reach his full potential. He earned one All-Star appearance throughout his career, which saw him play for six different teams over 13 seasons. That’s not exactly what you are looking for from the third overall pick of any draft.

Even with that being said, Laettner was a solid player for quite some time. Of course, he got to be part of arguably the greatest basketball team ever. He may not have hit the heights expected of him, but if he earned the respect of the Dream Team, it’s clear he was doing something right.