MVN - Most Valuable Network

DC keeps the dream alive

I recently chatted with MVN’s Basketball Director – Jon Burkett – on a number of things in regards to the state of the NBA and the glory days when the Dream Team was formed. We consider if there will be another dream team and I take Kobe over LeBron. I also make it clear where I want to play. You might be surprised!

JB: Who were your favorite players growing up?

DC: I would have to say Michael Jordan, as I still watch his games to this day. He encompassed the whole game. His thought in the game gave him the ability to execute at the wire. It was poetry in motion on the court.

Also, I would say Larry Bird. He was a great clutch shooter and one of the best forwards to ever play the game.

Magic Johnson was also a great player and a team guy. He made every player around him better. I would say he was one of the best players ever in the NBA.

Those were my top three that I would love to watch. They were all great players!

JB: Man, you don’t mess around! Those are some nice choices. Those were the days when the NBA was the best. Will we ever see another Dream Team?

DC: I pray we see another dream team, but that’s going to be a hard shoe to fit. The game was different back then, but we do have the LeBron James and the Kobe Bryant’s & KG’s of the league now though. It is fun to watch them and play against them.

JB: LeBron, Kobe and KG - those have to be the top 3 candidates to win the MVP this year, no? Nash is good, but those are the three best players for my money. ‘Melo is the best in international play. The reason I have a hard time seeing a “dream team” again, even though USA was awesome in Vegas this summer, is because the foreign talent is building dream teams of their own.

Say, who do you feel is harder to guard - Kobe or LeBron?

DC: I would have to say Kobe, as I have played against him so many times before and not as much against LeBron, although he is a handful as well. Also, you’re right – the foreign teams are good nowadays too. And yes, I agree – the three guys you named can get my money too!

JB: Another question - If you didn’t end up playing in the NBA, what do you think you would have ended up doing for a career?

DC: I think I would have played soccer!

JB: That would be an interesting career move. Christie takes the money and signs with…the LA Galaxy! It’s interesting, guys I played ball with in high school are telling me that their kids are more into soccer! Good stuff Doug!

DC: Hey Jon, here is my statement of where I want to play. The media keeps asking…

All along, I have had my sights set on playing for the N.Y. Knicks again and have been waiting to see how the roster will pan out, but to play for Isiah Thomas again would be awesome! I have so much respect for him as a person and a coach. I want to see the Knicks go all the way! When I played for him in Toronto, Canada - he was the very first person to ever say to me when I joined the team after being on the Knicks to just go out there and play. Forget about worrying about mistakes, just go out and play and I did. It was fantastic and we never looked back. Playing on the Raptors teams back then was great. Zeke had a philosophy and he knows how to bring a team together. I would very much welcome going back to the Knicks!

JB: Well Doug, that’s sad news for me because I’m in Philadelphia covering and rooting for the Sixers. The Knicks make sense though with Nate [Robinson] and Jamal [Crawford] being there and you all being from Rainier [high school in Washington state]. I wish we would be like the Knicks and just ignore the salary cap and sign players that we need. I’d love to put you with Andre Miller as our guards and have Iguodala at small forward.

DC: Yes, that would be great too. I worked out for the Sixers last year privately and they wanted to sign me, but I ended up in L.A. instead. I would love to come there too!

THANK YOU! -DC

Enjoy this bonus video on YouTube from my man paydog23:

This entry was posted on Monday, October 8th, 2007 at 8:57 pm and is filed under The World of Doug Christie. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.