Reggie Miller, drafted as the 11th overall pick in 1987 by the Indiana Pacers, had the misfortune of facing Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls as Eastern Conference rivals throughout his career. Therefore, he was well aware of the devastation Jordan was capable of causing on the basketball court. In a November 2011 episode of the popular show Open Court, Miller picked Michael Jordan over greats like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the NBA all-time Draft to start his team.
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This epic moment from the show recently resurfaced on X (now Twitter), after the handle The Jordan Rules posted a clip of the same on their timeline. Though Miller admitted to being ‘raised’ by Magic Johnson, growing up in LA, he still chose Jordan as the first pick for his team, given the level of competition that he had faced from the 6x NBA champion.
The Indiana Pacers legend even snubbed Larry Bird despite basing his game on the latter. Providing the reasoning behind his choice, Miller attributed MJ to be the ‘Shaq of the shooting guards.’ He said during the show:
“If I’m starting the team, it’s [the 1st pick is] Michael Jordan…We had to guard him 35 to 40 minutes a game and he was the Shaq of shooting guards. Because there was no way you were going to move him off the post, he was cat quick. And on top of that, he was going to embarrass you in front of your family and friends.”
Miller added that Michael Jordan’s skill level was far ahead of everyone else in the league, including that of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Besides MJ’s allure and stardom would also be an audience magnet for the financial side of his hypothetical franchise.
Reggie Miller has a 17-32 record against Michael Jordan, 3-4 in the postseason. Jordan averaged 29.8 points, 6 rebounds and 5.2 assists in these games against the Pacers led by Miller. On the other hand, Miller could only manage an average of 18.9 points per game. That shows why the former Pacers star was quick to pick MJ over other legends.
Miller’s choice of Jordan as the first pick for his franchise was indeed smart, as it later had Charles Barkley and others scrambling to find good enough picks to match with Miller.
Charles Barkley and Kevin McHale fumbled the bag over Reggie Miller’s pick
The NBA legends were asked to assemble the greatest team with their draft picks in this 2011 segment of the Open Court episode. Reggie Miller received the third pick and immediately chose Michael Jordan, which had Charles Barkley and Kevin McHale scratching their heads. Barkley had missed out on picking Jordan with his first pick, as he went on to pick Allen Iverson.
On the other hand, Kevin McHale chose Larry Bird, his teammate and one of the greatest players ever. Chuck confidently picking Allen Iverson was one of the funniest moments of the segment, which still amuses fans to this day. In the end, the Chuckster did end up with a decent team consisting of AI, Kevin Durant, and fellow panelist Reggie Miller.
