A Christian Approach

Phoenix forward Grant hill was on “The Dan Patrick Show” this week, and told Patrick that ex-Duke teammate Christian Laettner was “a little bit of a jerk.”

Though Hill went on to say, “And I mean that in a nice way” — because it carried over to the court — let me just say that I always thought he was a jerk, too.

Not in a nice way.

When Laettner was with the Timberwolves, Minnesota writers would take turns leading with the first question to Laettner. That way they could spread the rude responses a bit. I remember him being about as approachable as Barry Bonds.

Not in a nice way.

Aside from his reputation as being rude, Laettner was also soft and reputed to be lazy — a classic underachiever. Or maybe he was never that good.

Whatever the case, he belongs in the history books, if for no other reason than he was the least deserving, most out-of-place player on the 1992 Olympic Dream Team.

Everyone knows Laettner was on there as a nod to amateurism; he hadn’t yet played in the NBA.

He should never have been in the Olympics.

All I know is Jerry Sloan didn’t seem to like it when Laettner would come over to talk with Dream teammate Karl Malone after NBA games. Sometimes Laettner would chat with Malone’s wife, too. All pretty chummy.

In Jerry’s world, you don’t spend much time fraternizing with the enemy.