Aaron Watkins decided to dish on Michael Jordan’s weaknesses when the legend had pulled up to the local gym for pick up basketball.
Advertisement
By the time 1993 had rolled around, a mere 9 years after getting drafted, Michael Jordan had already cemented himself as one of the greatest of all time. He had captured 3 championships in a row, along with 3 Finals MVPs.
However, after the untimely death of his father, Jordan decided to quit the NBA entirely. This was to fulfil his father’s wish of wanting Jordan to play professional baseball.
During his hiatus from professional basketball, MJ would keep himself in basketball shape by hitting the local gyms in Illinois. One of these pick-up basketball sessions was filmed and turned into an interview for the locals in that gym.
Aaron Watkins talks about how to stop Jordan from scoring
The short 90 second clip of Jordan demolishing these ‘average Joes’ at the Athletic Club in Chicago, was aired on TV. After ‘His Airness’ had finished his pick-up game, the random gym locals were asked about Jordan’s game.
The first interviewee said, “He’s going at only 30% only because he wants to. He could go to 100% just like that. He could easily go back to the NBA tomorrow and be the best.”
The second interviewee, Aaron Watkins, was much more confident in his abilities to stop the then 3x MVP. He said, “Michael’s weakness is his shot. You just keep him around the perimeter and when he palms the ball, brings it around; don’t fall for that.”
He continued on by saying, “Just wait for the rebound, throw up some kind of lucky shot, and win.”
Michael Jordan saw this and dropped 70 on Aaron Watkins’ head next time they matched up (via @Howsito) pic.twitter.com/c261t90Tfe
— The Wooderboys Podcast (@wooderboys) May 12, 2020
Would this tactic actually work to stop MJ?
The main issue with this ‘tactic’ is in its first sentence. It is extremely difficult to ‘keep Michael around the perimeter’. The explosiveness in his first step, along with his footwork, is what made Jordan who he is.
Also, though MJ’s biggest asset wasn’t his shooting, he did display an ability to turn it up from deep when he wanted to.
Prior to the 1992 Finals against the Trailblazers, they were trash talking Jordan’s shot. Jordan then decided to splash 6 threes in one half. This remained a Finals record for quite a long time, giving us viewers the iconic ‘MJ shrug’.
Watkins found out the hard way that it’s always a mistake to trashtalk or challenge Michael Jordan.
