I have no insight as to the dynamics of the men's Olympic basketball team. I also don't know who coached the team and how similar they were to VanDerveer's style of coaching. So I can't really comment on your question. And I also never said the players were ripping into Lobo, so whether players ripped into Laetner is of no consequence.
And how does Laetner's spot on the team and his benefit to an NBA team have any place in this discussion of whether Lobo deserved to be treated the same way as her Olympic teammates by VanDerveer?
Don't take this the wrong way. And after this post - I'm done the Tara back-in-the-day argument. You can have final word. If you want to PM me - okay we can go back and forth. The points I make below I am not bashing you.
1--- It was my feeling that I expressed that I felt tara went over-the-top with Rebecca AT THAT TIME (and to elaborate for anyone reading this the 1st time no way am I suggesting even close here is there any grudge now by Tara or recent or close to recent.) . I use the men and women as a comparison though- that's why I bring them up. I do follow men and women and I do like to compare. As an example, I have gotten into a recent dispute with two posters on this board that I've found the women's college game more appealling than the men's because the men's truly great players leave early. The point is- not whether I'm right or wrong as to what is more appealling (it's preference anyways) but the point is is I do compare - and at least two posters felt a compulsion to compare as well and disagree with what I was saying. They felt the men was "more."
2-- You avoided the question regarding the men or you have no idea or no interest on how they conducted themselves.
3-- If you don't know how Laetner was treated I'll tell you how he was in my opinion. It was nothing like what you say a coach should do. Never heard Laetner getting thrown out- is totally unneccesary unless there is some extreme reason. I don't believe there was an extreme reason to throw out Rebecca. Apparently if you don't even know who the coach was, then I don't feel you're either equipped to respond or I don't buy what you say as what is meaningful for a coach to be in
this situation. So on one side we have the men- they didn't rip into Laetner such as by kicking him out of practices and on the women we had Tara - just shortly removed from getting clobbered by Rebecca and UCONN- chucking her out and making her cry.
4--- Last night on NBA TV they had on the men's Dream Team Olympics of that year and they highlighted how the coach Chuck Daley had a tough task of managing eleven egos. Not twelve but eleven. Thus your point of all players needed to be treated the same doesn't hold water with me. Remember it is my point that I was (I highlight WAS. No longer --been many, many, many year ago - this is water under the bridge. I wish her and Stanford well for a long time now.) ripping mad at Tara. Because I am comparing the two coaches of which it seems like you can't do because maybe you didn't even follow the men? Don't take this as a slam. You told me you don't even know the coach's name was. And you didn't even bother to google it. If you just forgot his name - fine. But you or anyone else show me Daley kicked out Laetner in practice like Tara did - I'll say I was wrong about Daley.
In regard to the players - your comment of
And I also never said the players were ripping into Lobo, so whether players ripped into Laetner is of no consequence.
This was a repsonse to your irrelevant point of
If the rest of the team thought Lobo didn't deserve a spot because she wasn't as talented, it would hurt team chemistry if they saw Lobo was being treated differently by the coaching staff.
My point was you brought up how team chemistry would be affected. Men players ripping into Laenter would be as one example that could affect team chemistry. I was trying to be cordial by giving an example.
5----- Bottomline is- if you don't think the men and women can be compared in this manner then we look at things differently. I look at this NBA finals as the San Antonio Spurs playing the game like the old teams of the past. A pleasure to watch them. IMO they play like UCONN in which all are good passers. I loved Shea Ralph because even as she lost her athleticism she was still an amazing passer. Overall the beauty of a backdoor cut and lay in is better for me than a dunk. The dunking contests (and for that matter unrelated but even the Home Run hitting contests in baseball) are boring to me. These are comparisons I make. Just like comparisons to men and women's game and coaching overall and refs men game vs women's. etc. I compared in this instance how Daly and Tara coached, and what I felt was appropriate which I why I expressed at that time - personal for me that Tara went over-the-top.
