For most NBA fans, Michael Jordan was the perfect basketball player. The scoring, the defense, the shot making, the playoff elevation, the aura he carried himself with — MJ remains the benchmark against which greatness is still measured to this day.
Little do people acknowledge, though, that Jordan didn’t walk into the NBA as a flawless product. In fact, Jordan had significant deficiencies during his college career while trying to establish himself at the University of North Carolina.
Coach Dean Smith initially saw Jordan as an elite-level athlete who had defensive upside, mainly because he didn’t see the offensive potential that MJ had buried deep within. It wasn’t just coach Smith who saw the shortcomings in His Airness; former college teammate Kenny “The Jet” Smith was another prominent basketball figure who vividly remembers Jordan as the raw prospect he once was.
Kenny particularly recalls Michael having a poor handle, to the point that he had the upper hand during their one-on-one matchups. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t last long, as MJ made it his personal mission to work on his weaknesses.
When looking back, Smith is most impressed with how Jordan turned his greatest flaw into his biggest strength, and he wants the world to know that he was the only superstar who has ever done so. That not even LeBron James or Kevin Durant could turn their weaknesses into dominance.
Kenny discusses UNC
It may feel like a lifetime ago, but Kenny remembers the 1993/1984 UNC team like it was yesterday. It’s hard to forget a team that had Jordan, even before he was in his final form, but nevertheless, those moments live long in the memory.
To most people’s surprise, despite putting together a fruitful college career, Smith says Jordan wasn’t the best player on that team.
“Sam Perkins was the best player my freshman year. Sam was the best player, Michael was the most dynamic. He used to say, ‘Oh, you think you can guard me?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, ’cause your handle’s whack.’ Michael was like, ‘My handle; I’ve been working on it! He’s the only guy that I know that the weaknesses that he had, at the end of his career, was his strengths. LeBron’s not like that, KD…nobody! His handle was crazy, and his jump shot was pure,” Kenny said.
For those who don’t know, Sam Perkins may not have made the NBA Hall of Fame, but he was no slouch either. At the end of Smith’s freshman season, Perkins was selected by the Dallas Mavericks with the fourth overall pick. After being a two-time consensus first-team All-American, he went on to be named All-Rookie First Team in his inaugural campaign.
Perkins never reached the heights that many anticipated at the professional level. However, his pedigree was genuine, and he still managed to carve out an incredibly impressive 17-season career in the league, amassing over 15,000 points in the process.
Jordan’s improvement
Still, Perkins was clearly not on Jordan’s level in the grand scheme of things. Understandably, he was better than MJ during that stage of his career, given that he was in his senior year of college. However, not many people anticipated that MJ would ascend the way he did once he stepped onto the NBA hardwood either.
There is something to be said about the six-time champion improving his handle to the point that it became arguably his biggest strength, as Kenny states. Still, it’s important to acknowledge that his claims are also incredibly disingenuous.
To claim that neither James nor Durant ever turned one of their weaknesses into one of their biggest strengths is simply not true — and they’re playing in an era where we have access to footage that easily brings the facts to light.
In this way, James becomes the clearest example of how quickly he has disproved Smith’s claims, given his significant evolution as a shooter over the course of his career.
