Michael Jordan broke the mold of the Magic Johnson/Larry Bird era - he came in and he had a gold chain, he wore longer shorts and his sneakers were a different style.
Magic Johnson didn't play the style that Larry Bird did, and Michael Jordan sure didn't play the style that Magic or Bird played.
Charles Barkley played in an era where he was never the guy. He always had to take a back seat to Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Isaiah Thomas, because what did they have that he never got? A championship.
When I started playing, my mom said there were three players she wanted me to watch - Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan.
One of my dear friends became Michael Jordan. That gave me a lot of access there. But I had access to everybody from Larry Bird to Magic Johnson to all of the other guys.
Doug Christie, what skill, what strenght, what power, what quickness. The visionof Magic Johnson, the athletisicm of Michael Jordan, the toughness of larry Bird. Dough Christie has it all
I always found it a great challenge playing against Michael Jordan, to play against Magic Johnson, to play against Larry Bird, to play against all those good players because it's something that you can take away from it.
Michael Jordan always wore his Carolina shorts under his Bulls' uniform.
A lot of people say Michael Jordan and all of that. But Magic Johnson and my dad were my role models.
Every generation has their own great players. Who's to say that anyone's better than Cheryl Miller or Nancy Lieberman? Whose anyone to say Michael Jordan is better than Oscar Robertson or Magic Johnson or Larry Bird? Every generation has its great player. There's never going to be one player that's so above and beyond anyone else.
People say that, but I think the NBA was bigger than Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
You know, I've always told him (Larry Brown) I wanted the relationship that Michael Jackson... Michael Jordan, I'm sorry. ... I wanted the same relationship with him like Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan had.
I always watched Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, and I said I could be playing on the court with them.
In the old days Michael Jordan and Larry Bird worked for everything they got. They worked hard on their game.
I think the greatest player I've ever played against was Magic Johnson. Next, was Larry Bird. Then, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
'E.T.' and 'Star Wars' were cult movies then and opened up a brand new world of adventure and mystery. But as much as I would have loved to be friends with E.T., I realized that following in the footsteps of Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan was more realistic.
Obviously you look at "Magic" (Ervin Johnson) and Michael (Jordan) and you learn from them growing up, but I think you are just born with it from day one.