BP: Christian, how does it feel to be back at Duke and what do you miss most about not being here every day?
Christian Laettner: Well, I love it more than anything. I love coming back here. There’s, as you can imagine, just incredible memories for me here at Duke. And if I didn’t have just the best life going and the most amazing family, I’d be around here more. But I love coming back for the K Academy. It’s a very special situation where the older guys get to be around us and we get to coach, “hob-nob” a little bit, and just mingle with people that love Duke Basketball. It means a lot to me. The four years that I spent here were just absolutely incredible.
BP: You played in a lot of gyms in your career. What stands out most about Cameron? What goes through your mind when you think about Cameron Indoor Stadium?
Christian: When I think of Cameron Indoor Stadium, the first thing I think of is Duke Basketball and the powerhouse that Duke basketball is, and now it’s Coach K’s Court. Cameron was one of the reasons that I came to Duke. The Cameron Crazies and the atmosphere they create in our gym is just unbeatable. When you combine the Duke Basketball team and the Duke program with Cameron and the Cameron Crazies, it’s just a force that is tough to beat. That’s why all the Duke teams have been so good over the last twenty years, especially on their home court, they’re a very tough team to beat.
BP: What is the single most rewarding part about being a member of the Duke basketball family?
Christian: The most rewarding part for me was that I was able to be a part of it and able to experience the success that Duke Basketball has enjoyed for the last twenty years. It was successful before I came and I wanted to be a part of it so that it could take me to a higher level and to win championships, and that’s what happened. I couldn’t have done it by myself. You have to be part of a great team, and when you come to Duke you know you’re going to be part of a great team.
BP: What is your best memory of playing for Coach K? What has he meant to you as a mentor?
Christian: He has meant everything to me as a mentor. I had a great coach when I was younger in my father, I had a great high school coach, and Coach K just tops it off. He is the best college coach in the game, maybe one of the best college coaches in history. It means everything to play for him and that’s why I love coming back.
BP: As maybe the best player ever at Duke, what do you think about when you watch a game today or see the D-U-K-E on a jersey? What values do you think of? What are you feeling?
Christian: Well, the first thing I feel is how lucky I was to be a part of the program. Coming out of high school you can choose to go wherever you want and from a distance when I was 18 I could tell I wanted to be there. I made a great decision because I loved every second, every minute, that I was here on campus and around Coach K and around his program. That’s what it means to me. It means being a part of the best program that you could possibly play for.
BP: What aspects of your Duke experience and with Coach K help prepare you for life after basketball?
Christian: Well, you learn a lot of things through Coach K — character, leadership, determination, class, using your brain, and surrounding yourself with good people. I know Coach K always tries to do that. He tries to recruit good kids and tries to hire good people to be on his staff. I try to do the same thing in my life. I found a wonderful woman in my wife and that’s working out great. I have some business things going. You have to have the right guys on your team, and that is something that I learned from Coach K.
BP: Talk about being a part of a place like Duke, graduating from here and being someone that people think of when they think of Duke.
Christian: Well that means everything in the world to me. It’s a blessing if people think of me being synonymous with Duke. I hope people think of me in the same way they think of Duke because Duke is a great institution. It’s a top notch, classy, hardworking, committed place that has been around for a long time. Those are all good qualities to have in your character.
BP: Discuss your memory of Coach K’s attention to detail and what it meant to you as a player and afterwards.
Christian: The way that it impacted me the most was the fact that I wanted to play on a basketball team that has a very tightly-run ship. When people say “attention to detail,” I think of a coach who is going to cover every base, even the little things, and make sure that you are doing everything the right way. So that’s the attention to detail. And those are the things that you can’t forget about. You can’t forget about the little details because they make all the difference in the world. And it just shows you that he’s doing things the right way. I was saying it in 1992, he just has an incredible recipe — the perfect formula — to be successful on the basketball court every year. It would take a few days to explain it, but part of it is attention to detail, part of it is hard work, and part of it is the family feel. All those things he incorporates into his team and into his program is just unbeatable and that’s why he’s been so good for over 20 years.
BP: You played in some of the biggest games in college basketball history. Duke is known as a place where the games are going to be on national TV and every game is going to be an event. What did that mean to you as a player and how did that exposure to those types of environments, night in and night out, help you?
Christian: Well, that right there is the biggest reason that I came to Duke. I came to Duke because I wanted to be a part of the biggest games. That’s the most exciting part about Duke Basketball. Whenever you’re playing in Cameron, it’s a huge game. Playing on the road, everyone hates you and wants you to lose. I wanted 30 games a year that were going to be the highest quality of game on ESPN or CBS where everyone is watching and all the pressure and all the stress is there. That’s what I wanted because that’s what I thrive on and that’s what I look forward to. That’s when you get a chance to do great things.
BP: How did those types of pressure environments help you going forward in the NBA and on a day-to-day basis as a person?
Christian: They help me tremendously in life. I think if you can handle stressful situations, if you can handle high-intensity situations, then I think you go through life more prepared as a man, as a father, as an adult, as a husband. You definitely need it to be married. You need to know how to be a team player and how to remain calm in stressful situations. So, the environment at Duke helped me tremendously.
BP: What do you remember best about Coach K and his coaching style in general and offensively and defensively specifically?
Christian: What I love about Coach K the most is that, like we already said, he covers all the bases. He pays attention to the big things and he pays attention to the details. In terms of basketball, the thing I like the most is that he stressed defense first. And on offense, it was a motion offense and I’m a very skilled player so I don’t need to just be on the post and inside all the time. I want to do a little outside, a little inside, do some running and passing and shooting. I knew that was my game going into college and I wanted to be involved in a motion offense. That’s the way I think basketball should be played. I think it should be defense first and motion offense on the offensive end. That’s what he does and that’s why I came to play for him.
