Rockets Legend Confesses Being Intimidated by Michael Jordan in College

Seeing Michael Jordan play would have a sight to watch. But for an NBA player, unless he’s on your team, it would surely have been intimidating. And one Houston Rockets Legend says that he felt that way when he saw Jordan practice in college in North Carolina.

Kenny Smith is a Houston Rockets legend who won back-to-back championships with them. He was nicknamed ‘The Jet’ and he was known for his three-point shooting. After retiring, he joined the NBA on TNT show where he has been an analyst since 1998. He also went to the same college as Michael Jordan, North Carolina. And when he saw Jordan play for the first time, he was quite intimated.

Smith says he was not good enough to play in NC after seeing Michael Jordan play

Kenny was recently on the All the Smoke podcast and he was talking about how he chose college. He said, “I always wanted to play in the ACC at the time. To me ACC had the best conference. I want to play against the best. But I chose North Carolina cause when I went to their practice and I saw Sam Perkins, Brad Doherty, Michael Jordan, I looked at and said I don’t know if I can play here.”

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“I was a little nervous. I had never seen 7-footers like had, they had 10 McDonald’s All American on the team. Damn, I don’t know if I can play here. I know I could go to Duke and play. I got to go here cause I can’t be there thinking they’re better than me. So I wounded up going.”

Jordan was already a superstar in college and he was named Naismith player of the year. He was considered one of the best college players ever and he was the same way in the NBA.

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MJ got drafted by the Bulls and he won six championships with them. He is regarded by many as ‘The Greatest Player of All Time’. So it’s normal was Kenny to be intimated by His Airness, as were so many other players in the NBA.