Back In The Day NBA

`Poor Man's Michael Jordan' Challenges Anthony Edwards, Gilbert Arenas Criticism Of 1990s Era

Shandel Richardson

December 17, 1996; Chicago, IL; Chicago's Ron Harper(9), middle, goes for the basket in the first half. At left is LA' s Kobe Bryant(8) and at right is LA's Jerome Kersey (12). Mandatory Credit: Annie Ryan/USA TODAY-USA TODAY NETWORK
December 17, 1996; Chicago, IL; Chicago's Ron Harper(9), middle, goes for the basket in the first half. At left is LA' s Kobe Bryant(8) and at right is LA's Jerome Kersey (12). Mandatory Credit: Annie Ryan/USA TODAY-USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY-USA TODAY NETWORK

The NBA stars of the past refuse to go away without a fight.

Add NBA champion Ron Harper to the list of grumpy players from the 1980s and `90s who have had it with today's players discrediting their era. On Tuesday night, Harper responded to the likes of Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards and retired NBA player Gilbert Arenas.


He posted on X, "I know I could play with anyone before I tore my ACL and after I tore my ACL!!!"

Harper, who won five titles with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, was known as a "Poor Man's Michael Jordan" before his career was slowed by knee injuries. He was still an effective player even after he recovered.

He was at his peak early in his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Clippers. He averaged at least 20 points four times from 1986-93, including a career-high 23 in 1990.

The response comes after Arenas seconded Edwards' comments about the old days not having many athletic players outside of Jordan.


"I didn’t watch it back in the day so I can’t speak on it,"Edwards told Wall Street Journal. "They say it was tougher back then than it is now, but I don’t think anybody had skill back then. (Michael Jordan) was the only one that really had skill, you know what I mean?"

A few days later, Arenas chimed in.


“All of Jordan's competition in that era did not even have the physical tools to keep up with him," Arenas. "So he was basically a Bugatti, and everybody else was a Honda Civic.”

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day Hoops. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

Follow our coverage on Facebook

X: @BackInTheDayNBA

Published |Modified
Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.  TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com