Mitch Richmond recently was on All The Smoke podcast, where he appreciated the love Michael Jordan had shown to him. Before Kobe Bryant blew him away, MJ found the 6x NBA All-Star closest to himself. Pod host Matt Barnes brought out the two-way nature of Mitch’s game and the highly appreciative comments given to him by Jordan. Jordan had called him a “mirror image” of himself and the former Warriors superstar found such comments “special”.
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“It was very special, very special to hear from my peers in Sacramento at the time,” Richmond told Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes
The 1989 Rookie of the Year used to give everything Michael Jordan to handle on both ends of the floor. As a quick-footed perimeter defender and lane interceptor, Richmond could hold more than his own on that end. His offensive game was well-polished too, having both the range and finesse inside. His ability to get to the free-throw line made him extra lethal.
In 17 games against MJ, the former Kings SG put up 20.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1 steal per game on a more-than-decent 44.8% shooting from the field, per Statmuse. Alluding to his play, the Bulls legend once gave a lot of compliments to the perennial two-way threat. Sportscasting’s Martin Fenn covered Michael Jordan’s throwback comments about the former Kings superstar.
“Mitch is certainly one of the best players in this game. I’ve always admired his game, and he’s always gonna be a challenge, no matter how you look at it, and I respect that,” Jordan said about Richmond
Such acknowledgement from arguably the best two-way Shooting Guard of all time is a huge deal. Despite his huge talent, the former Warriors guard lost 13 out of 17 match-ups against the 6x NBA Finals MVP. That sums up the complete dominance of the 1988 DPOY.
Mitch Richmond had trouble containing Michael Jordan
In the 17 matches against Mitch Richmond, Michael Jordan scooped up 28.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.9 steals per game on an astounding 53.1% shooting from the floor. Therefore, the former Kings guard knew what MJ was all about.
In 2021, during an interview with the “Getcha Popcorn Ready” pod with Terrell Owens and Matthew Hatchettein, Richmond told the duo that he had to make MJ work for everything. However, even that wasn’t a guarantee of stalling him.
“You know, you have some guys saying man is too tired to play defense. But the whole idea is to stop the other guy, stop the other guy and trying to stop him and make him work. And if you didn’t make Michael work, he was gonna embarrass you,” Richmond stated
These words are barely surprising. The 10x NBA Scoring Champion had every move in the book. When he stepped on the court, defenses were at his mercy. Despite being a terrific defender, Richmond had no answer for him. However, he did make a heavy impression on Air Jordan.
