Michael Jordan terrorized the NBA with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, winning six championships in the decade. Jordan was the most unstoppable force in the league in those days, but former NBA player Kendall Gill didn’t find him the hardest to guard.
Gill, whom the Charlotte Hornets selected with the fifth pick in the 1990 NBA Draft, was asked to name his top five toughest players to guard in the 1990s during a recent appearance on Nets Pod.
“No. 5, from what I can remember, was, I believe, it was Vince Carter,” Gill began. “The reason why is because Vince was a freak athlete. Not only did he have a 40-something-inch vertical jump, he had very long arms, which made it twice as hard to guard him. And he could shoot the basketball from anywhere, and he had a lot of skill with his play.
“No. 4 was Reggie Miller, believe it or not,” Gill said. “And a lot of people say, ‘Well, Reggie didn’t have all this stuff.’ I used to have to take Advil before the game because I knew I was going to be sore. You know why? Because Reggie ran through so many picks. And when you got the Davis boys and Rik Smits and all those guys setting picks for him, I mean, [it was hard].
“And Reggie just could run all day,” Gill stated. “I mean, one of the guys who I think possibly could have been a fighter because of his endurance… He could run all day, and he would run through all these picks and everything. It was just so hard to guard him. I would be sore after the game.
“[No. 3 was] Grant Hill,” Gill continued. “… If Grant Hill had not hurt his ankle, we’re talking about a guy that could possibly be a top-five guy of all time. At 6’8”, it was his dribble. And the thing is that people, they understand this now because guards understand now that if you’re able to handle the basketball, you can go wherever you want to go on the floor.
“Grant could do that at 6’8″, and he could post you up, and he had mid-range,” Gill added. “Didn’t really have a three-point shot. I mean, he could hit it every once in a while, but his thing was his crossover dribble, his mid-range, and posting you up at 6’8”, and he’s running the point guard position.
“No. 2, Michael Jordan,” Gill said. “… He was better than the game. He was. And just fundamentally sound. Had no weaknesses at all. And he was so fast… He was strong man, and also his competitive drive.”
Gill stated he never talked trash to Jordan on the court, but didn’t back down from him either. He also added that they are friends off the court, so anyone thinking he was trying to throw shade in any way would be mistaken. But with that said, who is this guy who was harder to guard for Gill than Jordan, who won a record 10 scoring titles?
“Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf,” Gill stated. “Former Chris Jackson. He was the hardest person I’ve ever had to guard… MJ is 6’6″, I’m 6’5”. I could somewhat stay with MJ. Even though he had sometimes big scoring games against me. But Mahmoud, I couldn’t like get him with this form, which was one of the major things that I used.
“I could never get him, where I could harness whatever he was doing,” Gill continued. “I could slide with MJ, I could slide with Kobe [Bryant] and Grant and those guys, and I could steal the ball and maybe block their shot every once in a while. But with Mahmoud, I couldn’t touch him. He was too quick.
“To use a boxing analogy, he was sort of like Manny Pacquiao,” Gill added. “Manny Pacquiao throws a lot of punches and everything, so you can’t see his punches coming. Mahmoud, you couldn’t see his offense coming.”
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf played nine seasons in the NBA and averaged 14.6 points, 1.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game. His numbers pale in comparison to Jordan’s, but he still managed to give Gill more trouble.
