Ron Harper was extremely confident in his abilities when he joined the Chicago Bulls in 1994.
Averaging over 19 points a game with the Cleveland Cavaliers and LA Clippers, the ‘Ohio Flyer’ arrived as a free agent following Michael Jordan‘s retirement.
MJ returned from his spell in MLB in March 1985 and immediately set up some workouts, which left a lasting impression on Harper.
“He didn’t ask me. He told me, ‘We gonna start training.’ I’m like, ‘OK, cool.’ We training 6:30am, I thought it was 6:30 in the afternoon,” he told the Gimme the Hot Sauce podcast.
“I’m like, ‘Something wrong with this kid. I’m in third dream at that time.’
“I go downstairs, I see Tim (Grover) over there. I’m yawning, sleep in my eyes. MJ walked down with a cup of coffee and a cigar in his mouth. I said, ‘Who smoke at 6:30am?’”
In mid-season form, Harper thought he could lay down a marker.
But Jordan hadn’t missed a beat despite his baseball adventures.
“I thought I worked pretty hard but when I watch some of the stuff he’s doing and how strong he was, I had to step my game up,” Harper added.
“He said, ‘You got two to three weeks to catch up to me.’ So now he challenged me.”
MJ threw down the gauntlet, and Harper was happy to oblige.
He worked on his craft and ended up winning three-successive NBA Championships with the Bulls.
Jordan was known for his love of cigars[/caption]
Two more followed after he moved to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he decided to retire in 2001 with his legacy secured.
But Harper’s impact on the NBA is set to continue as son Dylan tears it up in college.
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard scored 36 points in a win over Notre Dame – the most by a freshman this season.
He is projected to go behind Cooper Flagg as the second pick in next year’s NBA Draft.
At 6ft 6ins, Dylan has a similar frame to Jordan.
And Harper Sr. thinks MJ’s physicality is what sets him apart from any other player, although he believes Kobe Bryant comes close.
“He’s probably as close as anyone else to ever gonna be competing with MJ,” he told Stacey King.
“He was a very competitive competitor. He patterned his game, walked and talked like MJ, and be like MJ.
“And them two became special close at the end of my career. When you watch MJ, you see him, it’s the same thing.
“What I tell people separates Kobe from MJ, MJ was about 230 pounds, and Kobe was about 210. The physicality that MJ played with on the offensive and defensive end.
“But as far as athletic-wise, the same fadeaway, the jump shot, the midrange game, Kobe had all of that and will compete until the end of the day, like MJ.”
