The Last Dance: In Praise of One Lone Gold Hoop Earring

he went from college superstar to nba role player and didnt seem to mind

he did start to do some drugs about it

laettner was a #3 draft pick, but he was never good enough to justify going that high. if he had insisted on being paid like an nba star he would have ended up playing somewhere in Europe, because he was only suited to be a role player and the league knew that after two or three seasons of trying to elevate him to a star.

i completely forgot laettner got suspended for weed late in his career
anytime i think of that guy i think of him sticking his tongue out at the crowd and throwing up devil horns; how come i can't readily find a gif of that

I don't like Laetner but he was better than a role player. That 1992 draft class was 2 hall of famers and a handful of regular contributors, including Laetner. Maybe he wouldn't be #3 in a re-do, but he's in the top 5 or 6 in that class. He's just not a player you build a team around.

no yr right he was solid

laettner def hotter

Always assumed that was big reason he was hated

read an interview w him where he didnt come off like he had some big ego or smth he said he always embraced the scrappy side of life

finally watching this. is the story that this footage was just sitting around for 20 years??

how does magic look EXACTLY THE SAME????

99.99999% of people who play basketball aren't good enough to be NBA role players, Laettner wasn't that bad

but EZ otm he was resented for being cocky like a star and drafted 3 but only being a role player

the 30 for 30 on him is good. funny always assumed he was a rich kid but he was working class

also he was drafted by the timberwolves which is a good way to ruin your career

laettner was a great troll. i think there's a lot of ways he could have had a better career. just got unlucky.

timberwolves first round picks being busts is the ultimate nature vs nurture debate

anything is possible

yeah, Laettner might yet surprise us

there was really no way jordan wasnt good enough to make his high school team ever right i mean some coach just hated him or something

I dunno. jordan growing half a foot and growing his game exponentially every offseason is a theme.

at some point his dad mocked him about not knowing how to use a jigsaw, so he grew himself and began dunking.

its doesnt matter hes still good enough to make a high school team

maybe he asked to run more lines at the end of practice to make the team better and everyone hated him

idk if anyones heard that story in more detail ive only ever seen it like how it was in the doc michael didnt make the team and was sad for one day but then after that he was determined and became amazing at basketball, like who made the team ahead of him what was the whole deal how good was he then

the timeline is weird like he didnt make the sophmore team, and then at some point between then and college north carolina came to the conclusion he was the best player in high school basketball, what was the interval between not making the team and being the best in the whole damn country, i mean i get that he grew but six one is plenty tall enough to play high school basketball, theres are tons of 6-1 guys in the pros

i don't remember the specifics well enough but i did read roland lazenby's michael book and the vibe was definitely that he was never some sort of incredible prospect but more someone who gradually built his game over time.

i'll try to skim it soon and see if there are some good details.

im calling bullshit i think there was a coverup something weird happened

you tell its not a real jordan story cause he doesnt talk about someone he has generated an intense petty resentment for, like hes mad at his dad for shit talking him abt his poor handyman skills, hes mat at clyde drexler for just existing, but theres no one hes mad at for getting snubbed from his hs team

He made hs team. Just was the last cut for varsity as a sophomore.

He played in small city in NC. Wasn't recruited outside of NC really. Didn't get invited to all tge elite national camps. Then when he finally did get invited to one of the most prestigious camps he balled out and basically overnight became a top prospect.

He played in small city in NC. Wasn't recruited outside of NC really. Didn't get invited to all tge elite national camps.

all of this points to that his hs team was prob not that hard to make! why didnt he make it

i mean it was prob something dumb like there were upperclassmen the coach just liked and felt loyal too ahead of him, but still its a reason, i mean no one ever even really tries to say he wasnt good enough to make the team they just say he didnt make it

Jordan's HS coach could have had a fetish for seniors and a poor sense of his players' potentials. Or he could have hated MJ's style as not old-school enough. Or he could have been blind and daft. Or racist. You never know the whole story on this stuff.

it's 100% the small southern town deference to upperclassman thing and i've always assumed as much

cldnt even find one spot for ol mikey jordan, shameful

“do you have a gambling problem?”

“nooooo” - man in sunglasses indoors pic.twitter.com/uMf9w9CkrV

— mike taddow (@taddmike) May 4, 2020

this big city slicker lagoon will ask why holding hands meant something baby next

well...

whatre the chances jordan was the best player trying out for the team the year he didnt make it its like 99%

im tired so tired of success wins marketing

like no one is trying to say jordan didnt work extremely hard to be the best but i feel like trying to shoehorn another overcoming adversity struggle into making the high school team is just browbeating us

Deference to upper classmen yes, and the dude who made the team instead of him was 6"8"

I think it's misleading to say he didn't make the team. Didn't make varsity as underclassman.

idk if anyones heard that story in more detail ive only ever seen it like how it was in the doc michael didnt make the team and was sad for one day but then after that he was determined and became amazing at basketball, like who made the team ahead of him what was the whole deal how good was he then

― lag∞n, Sunday, May 3, 2020 9:58 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

you tell its not a real jordan story cause he doesnt talk about someone he has generated an intense petty resentment for, like hes mad at his dad for shit talking him abt his poor handyman skills, hes mat at clyde drexler for just existing, but theres no one hes mad at for getting snubbed from his hs team

― lag∞n, Sunday, May 3, 2020 10:17 PM (forty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the guy who beat him out for the (varsity) team was this guy (jordan played JV that year) and actually the legend goes jordan would “envision him” during workouts and later check into hotels under the name “leroy smith”!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvest_Smith

theres no "guy" who beat him out you guys a basketball team has 12 spots! wake up sheeple!

He was always pretty good friends with Leroy Smith. Don't think there was animosity there.

ha ok so it literally was just some coach who only picked upperclassmen

Smith and Michael Jordan were childhood friends who played together on their ninth-grade basketball squad. In 1978, during their second year at Emsley A. Laney High School, both tried out for the lone sophomore opening on the varsity basketball team.

and yet

In 1991, Jordan acknowledged the impact of the event, "It all started when Coach Herring cut me. What it did was instill some values in me. It was a lesson to me to dig within myself."

the coach was dumb doesnt have the same ring there is no life lesson

In 1991 Jordan knew what to say when talking to interviewers.

jordan is very good at knowing what to say i give him credit he is a very smooth individual at basketball and handling the media

and having excellent sneakers

was thinking abt how jordans have been the premiere sneaker basically since they launched, pretty wild