True Hoop’s Henry Abbott already linked to an item from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Jan Hubbard, alleging that Isiah Thomas was omitted from the 1992 USA Olympic basketball squad due to considerable animus on the part of Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Karl Malone.
However, as Hubbard points out, that wasn’t even the biggest USA Basketball diss of all time.
The next biggest snub? That’s an easy one. It also involved the 1992 team, which included one college player. USA Basketball officials selected Christian Laettner of Duke, primarily because he had played for a number of U.S. teams.
Passed over, however, was Shaquille O’Neal, who had passed on playing for several U.S. teams. Laettner was rewarded for his loyalty, but O’Neal was the No. 1 pick in the 1992 draft, and far and away the most dominant college player.
That oversight is one of the largest embarrassments in USA Basketball history.
As the first commenter on True Hoop points out, the rumor about the snub of Thomas is old hat.
I’m not really sure the snub of Shaq was an “embarassment”, let alone a historical one. The decision to include a college player was inexplicable in any case, and whether it was Shaq, Laettner, or someone else, that player was going to be relegated to mop-up duty against the likes of Angola, anyway.
I think the embarrassment was putting Xtian Death on an international stage. Much was made of Sir Charles’ remarks about the weak opposition and the American superduperstars staying in 5 star hotels, but prevailing global opinions about the U.S. (and the resulting attacks on 9/11) could well have been fashioned after limited exposure to Laettner.
To be fair, in the only head-to-head meeting between Xtian Death and the Diesel, Death got the better of everyone. Not to mention Bobby Hurley’s performance.
I hadn’t considered the Laettner Blowback theory.