Jamal Mashburn on What Michael Jordan Once Shared With Him During a One-on-One Game 🤯

Jamal Mashburn on What Michael Jordan Once Shared With Him During a One-on-One Game 🤯

Jamal I I find this really interesting you came into the NBA you get drafted uh about four months later MJ retires you play a full season no MJ in the league comes back the following year in March and then the Bulls Dynasty the last three uh championships what was it like to play

In the league without Jordan what was it like to play in the league with Jordan obviously you also did a couple other years where he was in the league and then he came back with Washington yeah um so I would say I think I played against Jordan in 93 as well um I

Remember that with K coach Pitman and then my my second year there was no Michael Jordan and um that was that Infamous time I think when Scotty Pitman was trying to get him back and he held up the shoe shoe or something come back or whatever you know what I recall about

That particular instance was that everybody was trying to find the next Michael Jordan it went from arol Miner was a candidate Grant Hill was the face to the NBA everybody was searching for it who knew that years later that would be LeBron James coming you know at the

End of the day um but everybody was searching for that next one Penny Hardaway had it attached to him as well I will say this Michael Jordan to me um I wasn’t a huge fan growing up because there was as a basketball player there were certain things that I didn’t identify

With because I couldn’t do them and I wasn’t able to jump and have my arm over the rim that wasn’t who I was so I was kind of yeah Michael Jordan’s Grace a highligh and all these different things um phenomenal player but I really follow Larry uh Magic and and aim aajan because

They were more close to me just like kids follow Steph Curry essentially nowadays because you know 63 he’s he’s identifiable they can relate Michael Jordan and I will say transition to NBA the same way that magic and bird did on the coattails of them because the media

Started to get more involved and they were looking for somebody and Michael Jordan was the obvious case I mean he wore a suit he was phenomenal in the air he was doing things that people haven’t seen before well they have seen before if you were a a dedicated NBA person

From day to time Thomson all those other people but from the common fan I think Michael brought more people in to watch his style of play and boom the NBA takes off and then I think it was 92 that I played against the first Dream Team with myself Grant Hill um Chris

Weber I think that dream team and Michael Jordan being a focal point of that really globalized and mushroomed what the popularity of the NBA is um because it now is a global thing and people will were responding to it more even to the point where years

Later I want to say it’s probably about 15 years ago I was about 15 years ago I went over to China in Beijing I was in Beijing Shanghai and I had people coming up to me on the street hey you’re Jamal mashford I was like I haven’t played and

I’m retired they like no you have to recall that when we got NBA games during that Michael Jordan era we just didn’t follow Michael Jordan we followed everybody else around Michael Jordan that competed against him and also with him so you became popular just as well so for me

Michael Jordan has commercialized the the the globalized the game in a big way the NBA had a lot to do with that sponsors and different things like that and it needs to continue to go that route but as a player I had the fortune to play against

Michael Jordan in his last All-Star game um when he was a wizard and Mariah Cary Sayang and all these different things she was wearing a Wizard’s dress and everything like that but I got a chance to spend time with Michael Jordan and we play one-on-one you know how you’re uh

Before the layup line and different things like that and I always knew Michael Jordan was great but when I chatted with him and he was able to break down my game analytically Jamal you like to go left 80% of the time pull up with the right hand and different things like that but

Then he gave me a solution go right two or three times in the game and then gave me a a story he said Dr J and Larry Bird pass something down to me to play the game within the game and I said well what are you what are you

Referencing he was like well in the game sometimes I’m not just going to score it’s how I’m going to score so Jamal if you go right two a three times in the game and you make a pullup jump shot or right hand layup or whatever it is you’re balancing out your game you’re

Keeping the defense off balance and this man went through every allar and chatted about what their strength and weaknesses off the top of his head and I sat there and I was like I thought I knew a lot about that basketball but he’s on a different level

From how he looks at it Scouts it observes it implements it and that I want to say probably six or seven games after the All-Star break I implemented that scored 50 on the Memphis Christmas just by turning the other way and he was like and we saw him again playing the

Wizards and I think he had 40 or something and I had 39 and he was like damn I gave you some some some stuff to think about and you implemented I was like yeah I really appreciate it but just his insight and knowledge of the

Game I see Lebron in that same regard of being able to pass along information and being the student of it but also being able to communicate it and teach it to others and just not preach it if that makes sense so Michael Jordan to me is

Always GNA be one of my favorites that’s a phenomenal story and it’s so interesting couple things there it’s so interesting that you lived through an era where everybody was talking about the next Jordan and we’re in that era right now where it’s already like who’s

The next face of the league uh Steph and LeBron have a lot left in the tank but certainly the latter few Innings of their career uh and then the other thing is like it’s it’s so striking to me playing in the NBA for 15 years the best players are the smartest players the

Best players are the savants the best players are the ones that can manipulate the game using their mind and not just their body and man that that Jordan story was sick man it was sick I appreciate that oh any time man I mean I think I think also too and thank you for

Saying that about the smartest players because I don’t think there’s that conversation has been talked about enough I think the education within the industry that some of these uh great players or even good players and how smart they are and how they go about their craft is not uh uh it’s been

Marginalized in a lot of ways you know of uh that we’re not thinking people or thinking human beings we’re more physical you know but as you know JJ as you go up the ladder it becomes less about the physicality I mean obviously there’s o’neals of world and different

Things like that that just are imposing uh the another guy I put in that category Baron Davis at the point guard position there was not much physically that he couldn’t do but still smart and still bright you know what I mean about the game and how they go about that

Craft they try to perfect it and the ins and outs of it and then also reading other guys and how they can manipulate the game based upon other guys now they play against them yeah it’s facts you know it’s interesting too because you know I I talk about this all the time

Like I was not a I was not a great athlete relative to the NBA right I’m a great athlete relative to the average human you know if you were to like look at a like a graph and it’s like with some anomalies and some outliers in terms of athleticism you know it’s a

Pretty straight line if you were to sort of like put a put a plot on every on every NBA player it’s a very different looking graph if you were to plot basketball intelligence and the and the way certain people think the game and manipulate the game and when those great

Athletes are also great thinkers well then you get some of the greatest players ever and by the way you don’t have to be a a great athlete relative to NBA standards to be a great Nico yic is not a great athlete in the traditional sense but he’s incredibly bright and he

He anticipates and thinks the game and all that stuff

We’re really excited to welcome NBA veteran and All-Star Jamal Mashburn (Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat, Charlotte Hornets) to The Old Man and the Three this week! In this teaser clip, Mash shares what Michael Jordan told him during a one-on-one at the All-Star game that helped his game and made Mash realize MJ is truly great.

Subscribe to The Old Man and The Three podcast w/ JJ Redick (ESPN / First Take) and Tommy Alter YouTube channel today for more NBA analysis, player interviews and highlights.