Christian Laettner, the Luckiest Player of All Time

 Christian Laettner, with his NBA career averages of 12.8 ppg and 6.7 rpg at 6'10", is in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Keith Van Horn & Antoine Walker put up better numbers than Laettner. Walker won a championship with the Miami Heat in 2006 and Van Horn went to the NBA Finals twice with the New Jersey Nets. Neither player has a shot of making the Hall of Fame as players. Miraculously, Christian Laettner is in. 

 Laettner got in because of a pact with the Devil. The Blue Devil that is. He was an excellent college basketball player at Duke under Coach Mike Krzyzewski. Together they won two NCAA championships. Laettner is the only college player to start in four Final 4s. He won just about every major award in NCAA and ACC basketball as a senior in 1992.

 The summer after Laettner left Duke, U.S.A. basketball put together its first team of professionals to compete in the Olympics in Barcelona. They also wanted to include a player coming out of college. 

 Despite dominant, NBA-ready performances by Shaquille O'Neal in two years at LSU, USA basketball picked Laettner to play with Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, & Larry Bird against the world. They also picked his college coach Krzyzewski as an assistant to head coach Chuck Daly.

 

 It's not like Charles Barkley, Magic and Larry needed any help, but they must have wondered what this soft, lanky Dookie was doing playing with them in Spain while LSU's 7'1" wonder child Shaquille O'Neal was back at home. Laettner averaged 4.8 ppg and 2.5 rpg in Barcelona. There is no way in hell that Shaq's numbers would've been that low.

 NBA scouts weren't bound by pacts with the Blue Devil and Shaq was the first pick in the 1992 draft. As a rookie, Shaq averaged 23.4 ppg, 13.9 rpg and 3.5 bpg in 38 minutes while Laettner averaged 18.8 ppg, 9.0 rpg and 1.1 bpg in 35 minutes. 

 Shaq helped improve the Magic's record by twenty games in his first season, finishing at 41-41. Laettner helped the Timberwolves to win four more games, finishing at 19-63.

 Alonzo Mourning was drafted second in 1992. He averaged 21.0 ppg, 10.3 rpg and 3.5 bpg in 34 minutes while helping the Hornets achieve a thirteen game jump to a 44-38 record.

 Their NBA rookie stats indicate that O'Neal & Mourning were both much more deserving of a spot on the Dream Team than Laettner, who was drafted third in '92. Their bodies were more NBA ready and their games were much more physical and dominant. But the powers in charge of NBA basketball had their sights set on giving a Dookie an easy path to a gold medal with the greatest team ever assembled. 

 Now Laettner is now in the Hall of Fame as a member of the 1992 Dream Team. In Magic Johnson's acceptance speech, he gave us a window into Laettner's first experience with the greatest players on the planet. 

 After mentioning just about every other player on the roster, Magic said, "And Christian Laettner, I didn't forget about you. You thought I forgot about you didn't you? I remember your first day of practice brotha and Charles Barkley hit you so hard and you went down to your knees and he said 'Welcome to the NBA young fella.'"

 Now, welcome to the Hall of Fame, you lucky Blue Devil. 

Magic, Malone & Pippen: NBA Hall of Fame Speeches 2010

 Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone and the 1992 Dream Team were among the greats inducted into the Hall of Fame on August 13, 2010. Particularly powerful moments from the ceremonies included Malone paying respect to his mother who passed away exactly 7 years before his enshrinement and Scottie thanking Michael Jordan for their relationship onstage. 

 Cynthia Cooper, the 1960 U.S. Olympic Basketball team, Dr. Jerry Buss, Dennis Johnson, Gus Johnson and Bob Hurley rounded out the class of 2010. Cooper also made a strong emotional statement in honor of her family, telling us that her mother sits with Jesus watching all that her talented daughter does on a HD flat screen TV in heaven, because that's how God rolls. 

 Charles Barkley played the best, the games were all blowouts and the 1992 The Dream Team was the greatest basketball team ever assembled. Christian Laettner is also the luckiest player in the history of basketball, even luckier than Adam Morrison and Jack Haley.

 Magic revisits all in his speech. 

 Since most opponents of the Chicago Bulls were too in awe of Michael Jordan to step to him face-to-face, Scottie Pippen wore the Bull's eye. The Pistons' Dennis Rodman launched Scottie into the stands giving him 6 stitches in his chin. Knick bulldog John Starks barked hate on Scottie in heated playoff battles. But Pippen's cool demeanor kept him above distractions on the way to six rings. 

 Scottie was the same icy cool cat in his acceptance speech. 

 

 Here's Karl Malone delivering a kick to Tim Duncan's face. In another battle, he knocked David Robinson unconscious with an elbow to the jaw. His masterpiece was a vicious elbow leading to 40 stitches and plastic surgery for Isiah Thomas. 

 Malone is the opposite of all that in his HOF acceptance speech. He was a humble, tearful gentleman.

 Scottie Pippen enjoying the good life with a good wife, Larsa. Winner.