Kenny says Jordan turned all of his weaknesses into strengths.
If you were to describe the perfect basketball player, the real person close to the description would probably be Michael Jordan. MJ had it all and could do it all. He proved that by winning six championships and five MVP awards.
But Jordan wasn’t always like that. According to his college teammate Kenny Smith, Michael was an ultra-athletic college player but did not know how to handle the basketball.
“Sam Perkins was the best player during my freshman year,” said Smith on the ‘All the Smoke’ podcast. “Because Sam was a four-time All-American. That wouldn’t happen today. Michael was the most dynamic, but he didn’t have a handle. He couldn’t handle the rock, like in college. Even at times, I’d be like, when we play pick up, ‘I got Mike’. Because I knew I was like, ‘I’mma get up under you.’ Like, ‘You can’t handle the rock.'”
Kenny Smith used to pick on college MJ. 😭
That dynamic didn’t last long.
Watch episode 138 of All The Smoke with @TheJetOnTNT on our YouTube. pic.twitter.com/bavrc0XHvd
— All the Smoke Productions (@allthesmokeprod) March 19, 2024
Mike turned his weaknesses into strengths
While Jordan became famous for hitting ‘The Shot’ which won the 1982 NCAA title for the Tar Heels, he was known for his athleticism, scoring, and defense during his college career. Although Michael showed flashes of his ball-handling ability every now and then, overall, he had a terrible handle, according to The Jet.
However, Jordan was known as a hard worker who did not stop until he attained perfection. Through dedication, hard work, and constant practice, MJ developed his handle and ended up as one of the most reliable ball-handlers in the NBA.
“He’s the only guy that I know that his weaknesses that he had, at the end of his career was his strengths,” added Smith. “I used to say, it’s like, ‘You think you could guard me?’ I said, ‘Yeah, because your handle is whack.’ I used to say, ‘Your handle is whack, I could guard you’. We doing that, he goes to the Olympics, comes back, goes to the league, comes back for the summer cause all the players, we all come back to play. And he’s like, ‘My handle, been working on it.'”
Jordan had no weaknesses
Once Michael fixed his weaknesses and the Chicago management gave him a team that could compete, he turned the Bulls into a dynasty, winning six championships in eight years from 1991 to 1998. At his peak, Jordan’s game had no weakness, according to former Knicks and Pacers star Mark Jackson.
“Michael Jeffrey Jordan had zero flaws on the basketball court. He can go right, he can go left, he can shoot the mid-range, he can shoot the three, he can finish at the rim, he can finish in traffic. If you try to beat him up, he’s going to get up and respond. He was an elite defender. He had no flaws as a basketball player,” declared Jackson.
During their championship runs, Jordan was virtually unstoppable and the ultimate killer on the basketball court. MJ is considered by most to be the greatest basketball player of all time, but as Kenny said, it wasn’t always that way.
