Christian Laettner is 43 Years Old Today

Now a coach, Christian Laettner always instructs perfect defense. (ESPN.com)

The world is five days removed from the 2012 Summer Olympics and the hangover is starting to lift. But with all the mentions of the Dream Team's twentieth anniversary, one name has gone largely unmentioned: Christian Laettner.

The former Duke star may not have lit up the NBA, but he did put together a college career that merited him a spot on the 1992 USA Olympic team, giving Laettner the distinction of being the lone amateur on a squad rife with Hall of Famers.

Laettner, now an assistant coach for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the D-League, turns 43 today. It's not a milestone birthday, but, without question, it has been a commemorative year for the man whose famous shot is also two decades old this year.


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Anthony Davis Met Another Formidable Unibrow at the Olympics

Anthony Davis poses with his brother in 'brow. (via Kobe Bryant's Facebook)

To no one's surprise, the USA-Spain gold-medal game was tightly contested. New Orleans Hornets rookie-in-waiting Anthony Davis saw playing time late in the game after sitting for a majority of Team USA's Olympic run, and can claim some contribution to the Americans' 107-100 victory. It is not something he will soon forget.

Ever the worker of back channels, though, Kobe Bryant — Team USA's veteran of veterans — organized something else for his young counterpart. In lieu of snapping photos of his gold medal, Bryant introduced Davis to Armenian wrestler Gadzhimurad Nurmagomedov, another world-class athlete clad with one eyebrow.

Bryant allegedly spotted Nurmagomedov during Team USA's celebration and, thinking quickly, united the Armenian with Davis and uploaded the picture to his Facebook account.

Solid work by Kobe, who is going an unusual route by vying for an after-basketball job as a photographer rather than a coach or broadcaster. If he really wanted to make a name for himself, though, he would have found a way to include Mexican diver Ivan Garcia and complete the unibrow trifecta. It's not often that one can snap a flick of three eyebrows — on three faces — at once.

Kudos to Dan Devine at Ball Don't Lie and Trey Kerby at The Basketball Jones for jumping on this.


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Chris Paul: The Sometimes Overlooked - But Not Underappreciated - Heart of Team USA

Chris Paul celebrating a gold medal with the American flag. (USA Today)

It was the scene everyone expected to see, yet the fact that it was anticipated didn’t take away from the scene of watching Team USA celebrate like excited kids as the U.S. defeated Spain 107-100 to win the gold medal at the London Olympics.

Superstars of the game, who one would assume work hard on their public appearance and try to seem cool, jumped up and down, hugged their coach and celebrated just as hard as the athletes we only hear about every four years. And that’s the way it should be. Although it was expected, the team earned the right to celebrate.

You saw LeBron James hitting clutch 3’s, Kevin Durant’s monster scoring performance and Kobe exiting his last Olympic Games on top. What you might have overlooked was the nucleus of the team whose play during the tournament should not be discounted.

The excitement of playing in the Olympics seems to have a carry-over effect with the following NBA season. Playing with the best players in the world looks to help players prepare better than pick-up games and summer leagues back in the States. Theories have been documented that playing in the Olympics has helped fuel players in their next NBA season. Kobe Bryant won an NBA title, and an NBA Finals MVP award, after the 2008 Olympics. The same happened for Michael Jordan and the Bulls following the appearance of the Dream Team in 1992. The rest of the offseason will now be spent determining who will use the Olympic experience to shine in the Association this year.

Team USA’s three-headed monster of LeBron, Durant and Kobe will be obvious front runners. LeBron proved he is the best player in the world, Durant can drain shots from every spot on the floor in any country and Kobe still has that killer instinct that paralyzes opponents. They all are expected to explode in the NBA this season.

Organizing the gold-medal winners was Chris Paul; you know, that guy who made sure LeBron, Durant and Kobe had the ball where they needed to so they could put up those great performances. Paul may have flown under the radar, but was not unnoticed. Paul quietly became one of the most important pieces for the squad, coming up big when his team needed it most. The best example came when you might expect it, with 50 seconds remaining in the gold-medal game against Spain. After crossing-over a defender, Paul flipped in a layup just before the shot clock expired, all while the U.S. clung to a lead in the final minute of the game. The play was a dagger into Spain’s back that made Coach K jump in excitement — something Mike Krzyzewski rarely does — and epitomized Paul’s role and worth to the team.

Paul scored 11 points, dished out two assists and added three steals in the gold-medal game, which are numbers that won’t make your jaw drop to the floor. But sometimes what you see when watching the game doesn’t show up on the stat line. Paul made big plays at big moments throughout the Olympics, but also knew how to best use the Goliaths of basketball playing with him in USA jerseys. His 11 points came on only nine shots, meaning Paul was two things you love to see in true point guards. He was consistent and effective, taking good shots when he had them and making plays for his teammates when he didn’t. Paul didn’t need to score 25 points per game for Team USA to sweep the competition, and his understanding of his role and how to play within that role made that team better.

So while Durant and LeBron will come back to their respective teams and light up the competition, don’t be surprised if you see great play out of Chris Paul this NBA season. The transition period should be complete after a full season with the Clippers, and Paul will look to make the same type of plays with high-flyer Blake Griffin as he did with his Olympic teammates.

Don’t let the stats fool you. Paul may not lead the league in scoring, but that doesn’t take away from the quality of his performance. The rewards he is reaping from a successful stint as Team USA’s floor general can only be a positive when he returns to Los Angeles. Paul will have more confidence, experience and a better understanding of how his international counterparts in the NBA play the game.

It’s amazing what a little gold can do for a player’s motivation.


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Don't Confuse Team USA's Great Performance with Running Up the Score

Team USA was accused of running up the score in a 156-73 win against Nigeria (Bleacher Report)

Lopsided was an understatement.

It was domination, a clinic or whatever colorful phrase you wish to call it.

The USA basketball team defeated Nigeria 156-73 in the fourth game of pool play, which some called unsportsmanlike. Team USA was accused of running up the score, embarrassing their opponent. When the U.S. began to run away from Argentina, ultimately winning 126-97 in the final game of pool play, Argentina showed their anger in the form of cheap fouls.

This topic is popular mainly in high school and college sports. Overmatched teams getting overrun until the final whistle saves them from the torture.

But in the Olympics?

These are the world’s best athletes who have earned the rights to be there. For some it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and for a lucky few, they will return with multiple chances for gold.

The Olympics ask for the best of the athletes competing. This competition isn’t for those who don’t give their full effort. Olympic and world records hang over athletes like pinatas, waiting to be broken. With the 156-73 stomping of Nigeria, Team USA broke the Olympic record for points in a game, win margin, 3-point shots made in a game and, individually, Carmelo Anthony scored the most points in an Olympic game by an American. Yes, it was a night to forget for Nigeria, but isn’t that the kind of performance we want to see from Team USA?

This wasn’t running up the score. It was a just a good game where every player was on. Team USA wasn’t running a full-court press, trying to steal every pass and get easy fast-break points. They were shooting 3s and long 2-point shots, which were supposed to be lower-percentage shots, but they just happened to go in. Was Anthony Davis just not supposed to dunk when he was on the receiving end of multiple wide-open alley-oops? Was Anthony supposed to aim his open 3s at side of the backboard? The Americans shot 71 percent from the field and 63 percent from 3-point range. It was just their night.  

Michael Phelps doesn’t slow down from world-record pace just because the swimmer in second is 50m behind. Usain Bolt doesn’t care how far back his fellow racers are, and has even been known to turn around before the finish line to taunt his competition. That’s what we love. We love watching great athletes do great things.

The opposite end of the topic includes the news of the Olympic badminton scandal, where teams were losing on purpose to get a better seeding. Kids are taught to do their best and try their hardest, and it is disappointing to the fans and opposing team to know a team won only because the competition blew the game on purpose. So couldn’t this be worse? Should we be worried about a team breaking an Olympic record when teams are showing much less sportsmanship and class by throwing matches?

I understand the Olympics continue to push sportsmanship and integrity in the sporting events, which it should. But sportsmanship wasn’t in question with Team USA. Maybe the USA was running up the score if Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Durant would have played the entire game, but LeBron and Kobe played just 11 minutes a piece, a no starter played more than Chris Paul's 22 minutes.

Why wouldn’t this team want to break an Olympic record when given the chance, not knowing if that opportunity will again become available? Team USA wasn’t taunting or keeping starters in the game. The USA didn’t pressure on defense or try to draw fouls. They simply made shots, which they should not be faulted for.

Team USA just happened to have a great game where every shot was going in. Let’s not blame them for this as if it is a bad thing, because I know viewers around the world enjoyed watching the performance, and instead appreciate the spectacle that no other team in Olympic history has accomplished.


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NBA, Players Need To Put Greed Aside And Stay With Olympics

(ibtimes.com)

By far the most popular athletes on the most popular team in the 2012 Olympics may not be back in four years.


It would be another example of greed and money ruling sports, and it would be a shame.


Pride has been restored to the USA Olympic Basketball team, where the game’s biggest superstars now care about winning gold again and are so dominant the task looks relatively easy. But Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban wonders why the NBA is letting the Olympics make a huge profit while using its athletes. Instead, Cuban suggested making Team USA a 23-and-under club again for the Olympics, while the NBA makes more money forming a “World Cup”-caliber tournament with their best players representing the U.S.


Cuban’s idea is based on the notion that this new “Basketball World Cup” will be wildly successful, because, after all, this is about money. Soccer’s World Cup is much more popular than Olympic soccer, but it also is a sport much older and established than basketball, with the most fans worldwide. This wouldn’t happen with a basketball tournament overnight. It would take years before the tournament built up enough viewership and credibility to make it worthwhile, even with the world’s greatest player. Plus, it would probably be a tournament held every four years, yet you wouldn’t want to compete in Olympic or soccer’s World Cup years, when the audience already has a love affair on TV.


Just look at the 2010 FIBA World Championships. Team USA consisted of NBA giants* Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose, Kevin Love, Andre Iguodala and so on, yet that worldwide basketball tournament is miles behind the coverage and attention of Olympic basketball this year. I haven’t heard players pass on the chance for an Olympic gold medal to rest and possibly win a FIBA World Championship trophy. It just doesn’t compare.


Having Team USA comprised of NBA stars is good for the Olympics and it is good for the sport. As I mentioned in a previous column on the Dream Team, having the best players at the Olympics can only strengthen the game internationally as more people watch how great the sport can be.


You already have the spotlight on the world’s biggest sporting stage, so why leave? For a little more cash? The NBA already has a stigma as being a greedy league, so instead take one month of every four years to put pride in your country and your sport ahead of your love of money.

* Giants now, not necessarily then. 


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Land of the Free & Home of the Hoops

The biggest feather-rumpling incident in basketball this week concerned Kobe Bryant asserting that he and the rest of Team USA 2012 would beat the team fielded by the States in 1992 – the famed Dream Team that *ahem* united the first year NBA players were allowed to compete in the Olympic games then proceeded to decimate any and all challengers by an average margin of 43.8 points en route to winning the gold medal.

Kobe Bryant's playoff beard grew late this year. (NBCOlympics.com)

Various members of the ’92 squad have weighed in on the discussion – largely doubting Bryant’s claim – and Kobe, in his usual fashion, refuses to stand down. While there’s never going to be a definite answer about who would win this hypothetical rivalry, one conclusion is safe to draw:

No other country plays basketball like the United States.

Sure, that statement reeks of jingoism. It’s a chest-beating, chain-rattling declaration of dominance. But it’s not a lie.

Since basketball was introduced on the Olympic level in 1936, Team USA has 16 medals total. Thirteen of those are gold, one is silver and two are bronze. Only at the 1980 games in Moscow has Team USA finished outside of the top three.

Everyone knows how good the Dream Team was, even opponents from 1992. Everyone knows LeBron James and Bryant brought home the top prize with the Redeem Team in 2008. However, less than half of these medals were won after professional athletes filled the national team’s roster. College athletes and amateur ballers residing stateside beat out pros from other countries routinely before ‘92.

The USA women’s team is no joke, either, having medalled eight times, claiming a bronze and a silver to accompany six first-place finishes.

There are plenty of stones to throw about the United States’ connection to basketball, the heaviest being that the game was invented in America. So, what? A sport’s origin and history is mostly meaningless during competition, especially in the modern era. Basketball is now one of the most popular sports worldwide, and seems to be trending upward given the popularity of international superstars such as Bryant, Marc and Pau Gasol, and upstart Jeremy Lin, not to mention the now-retired Yao Ming.

The 2012 version of Team USA already lacked size in the post, and Blake Griffin tore the meniscus in his left knee yesterday. But it still has the world’s best basketball player in LeBron, and Bryant is one of the fiercest competitors in sporting history.

No one knows for sure if this year’s group could beat the Dream Team, but after absolutely crushing the Dominican Republic by 54 points in an exhibition yesterday, it wouldn’t be wise to discount Team USA against anyone they may face in the 2012 Olympics.


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