A great dunker, but not a great player
03/27/2002
Codding Home / Sports Channel / Bullz-Eye Home
Maybe it happened the day he retired. The first time. Or perhaps it was the second retirement. The first championship? The last? One of the four in between? "Space Jam"? I don't know.
Then again, it could have all started with one slogan: "Like Mike. If I could be like Mike."
We may not be able to pinpoint its exact origin, but we're all familiar with the three-word phrase that's immediately chained to the ankle of every explosive shooting guard or small forward with a knack for scoring, a penchant for dunking and a hunger for the spotlight:
The Next Jordan.
Those three words, when lined up in that order, may carry as much weight as any other words in the English language. Aside from "I love you" and "That's my beer," of course.
The Next Jordan.
Those three simple words, stapled to the baggy shorts of a young basketball player with undeniable skill, don't just signify greatness. A player stamped with that three-word classification is supposedly blessed with a quality that his peers lack, an attribute that distinguishes him from even the game's elite players.
Because, by definition, The Next Jordan isn't merely "elite," a word that suggests a certain degree of mortality. On the basketball court, Michael Jordan was immortal.
No, The Next Jordan is not simply elite. He's Jordan-esque. (You know you're special, by the way, when your name can be used as an adjective -- everybody knows what "Jordan-esque" represents. But what the hell does "Codding-esque" mean?)
The Next Jordan.
Unfortunately, with that three-word glorification also comes plenty of pressure -- pressure to live up to the significance of such a label in general, and to MJ's immense reputation in particular. And over the past few years, we've seen several players fall short on both counts.
I've actually lost track of just how many young stars have been hyped as The Next Jordan at one point during their careers. I believe Grant Hill may have been the first prototype. And I seem to remember the phrase carelessly being thrown in Penny Hardaway's general direction while he was with Orlando. Harold Miner was even referred to as "Baby Jordan" for a while, and now high school junior LeBron James is actually being compared to Mike.
Then, of course, there's Vince Carter. And Kobe Bryant. And Tracy McGrady.
Just as Jordan had done in 1984, Carter left North Carolina a couple years early in 1998. Everybody knew he was good, but just to be sure the 6-6 shooting guard scored 18 points a game during his rookie season with plenty of highlight reel jams and a magnetic personality that Gatorade, responsible for the aforementioned "Like Mike" jingle, just couldn't resist. Hmm... he's about the same size as Jordan, they both played college ball at UNC, they can both jump out of the arena, they plug the same sports drink... . Carter seemed like the perfect target for The Next Jordan tag, especially after being crowned the 2000 Slam Dunk champion.
What about Kobe? Coming out of high school, the brash and, at the time, bald shooting guard was an instant fan favorite, winning the Slam Dunk contest during his rookie season (ding ding!) while also earning his fair share of SportsCenter exposure. At 6-7 and right around 200 pounds, Kobe certainly fit the physical prerequisites for The Next Jordan designation, especially with that shaved dome. Of course, he didn't start putting up MJ-caliber numbers until the 1997-98 season, but once that started happening Bryant officially became an heir to the throne.
McGrady, who's actually related to Carter, took a little longer in staking his claim. Playing for Toronto in his cousin's shadow for his first three years in the league, T-Mac, who like Bryant skipped college and entered the draft after high school, is just now generating The Next Jordan rumblings. A fiery player with triple-double skills, McGrady's game features athleticism, plenty of thunderous dunks and even a little three-point range.
All three have impressive credentials. All three have, at least for brief moments during their short careers, looked "like Mike" on the court. All three are prolific scorers and monster dunkers.
But someone in this trio seems to be missing that certain something. Maybe he's not as motivated as the other two, doesn't have that same competitive drive. Maybe he cares more about stats than about winning.
Or perhaps he's simply not as good as the other two, and all those impressive dunks have over-inflated an already lofty reputation.
Say what you want about Kobe and his perceived selfishness, just be sure you don't include his two championship rings as part of your argument. You'll lose. And yes, I'm well aware of the fact that he plays with the NBA's most physically dominating player, but Shaq's presence just means we may still see the best Bryant has to offer in the coming years.
And don't look now, but McGrady's Magic currently hold the fourth seed in the East at 38-32. On the surface, that may not seem overly impressive, I know. But consider that Grant Hill, who is supposed to be Orlando's go-to guy, played in exactly 14 games this year while the team's second-leading scorer, Mike Miller, has been out since March 8 with an ankle problem, leaving McGrady to battle the likes of Philadelphia, Washington, Milwaukee, Phoenix and Toronto on his own. No problem -- the Magic won six-straight after Miller's injury and overall have gone 7-2 in his absence, led by McGrady's average of 30 points, eight boards and six assists during that stretch.
Aside from their numbers, Kobe and T-Mac also appear to possess the championship ambition that helped make Jordan the legendary figure he is today.
But then there's Carter. His 24.7 ppg average compares favorably with McGrady's 25.4 and Bryant's 25.2, which verifies that he too is an extremely dangerous offensive player. But while McGrady's shooting 44.5% from the floor and Kobe's at 47.3%, Carter's been off-target all year, hitting just 42.8% of his attempts. And while he certainly has the all-round skills to be a consistent triple-double threat, his 5.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game fall short of T-Mac's 7.7/5.2 and Bryant's 5.5/5.7.
Of course, Vince really lags in the standings. Now, obviously, one player cannot be blamed entirely for his team's overall performance, but surely someone who many consider to be one of the game's best players -- and perhaps The Next Jordan -- should accept a healthy chunk of the responsibility for the Raptors' disappointing season.
On the year, Toronto now stands at 32-38, three games behind the Pacers for the final playoff spot in the East. While it's true that Carter has missed the last two games (both wins) and will be out for the rest of the season after undergoing knee surgery, he had every opportunity to save the day when he was on the court. Instead, the Raptors lost 14 of the final 20 games Carter played this year, including 10 of 11 from February 24 through March 19.
I realize he'd been playing hurt during that stretch, which perhaps he deserves some credit for, but the fact remains that Toronto has one of the more talented rosters in the East, with veterans like Antonio Davis, Hakeem Olajuwon, Chris Childs and Jerome Williams playing alongside youngsters Morris Peterson, Keon Clark, Alvin Williams and Carter. There's absolutely no reason that this team, coached by Lenny Wilkens and with that kind of ability, should be out of the playoff picture in March.
But that's just where they are -- behind Jordan's Wizards, incidentally, who stand a half a game above the Raptors despite having a far less-talented team. Toronto's meltdown speaks volumes for Carter's ability (or inability) to be a team leader and a superstar in this league. High-flying dunks and million-dollar endorsement deals may get you on TV, but it takes much more than excitement and flair to move into the immortal class.
So who exactly is The Next Jordan? Let's just finally accept the fact that there likely will never be one. Instead, the league is now filled with some talented players who are making their own names for themselves. Kobe, McGrady and Carter all fit that description, and years from now they'll be remembered for their own accomplishments, not how they stacked up against the all-time greats.
But while Bryant and T-Mac seem to have at least a little bit of Jordan in their games, it now looks like the only things Carter and MJ have in common are a cranky knee, a shaved head and their powder-blue bloodlines.
In the Bullz-Eye
Former Florida Marlins closer Antonio Alfonseca. Acquired by the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday to fill in for the injured Tom Gordon, the 12-fingered Alfonseca will be counted on to save some very important games in the Windy City this season. Armed with a team that seems ready for contention, manager Don Baylor won't accept anything less than perfection from his new stopper, although I'm still not sure if Alfonseca is really much better than the hard-throwing Kyle Farnsworth, who struck out 107 batters in 82 relief innings last season.