Let's me start a thread of the "pre-school teachers" & "plumbers" MJ went against in the 90s https://twitter.com/Gietz24/status/1245509282268876802

I'd like to start with Rodman since many Bron fans try to use older Rodman to prove MJ had soo much help. From 90-92 in DET, Rodman was a 2x DPOY, 2x rebounding champ, 2x allstar. He's one of the most athletic & versatile players in NBA HISTORY. Outrebounding guys twice his size

Another underrated athletic ball handling shooter from that era is Hersey Hawkins. He was an allstar & Barkley's num2 on the 1990 76ers tm that the Bulls eliminated. He was also the 4th option (averaging 16ppg) on the 1996 Sonics team that had allstars Kemp, Payton & Detlef

Hawkins was a combo guard that was very similar to Joe Dumars. Hawkins averaged nearly 2spg for his career & was a career 40% 3pt shooter

One of the most underrated STARS of the late 80s & early 90s is Kevin "KJ" Johnson. 3x allstar, 5x allnba & one of the quickest most explosive PGs in NBA history. KJ if underrated because he played at the same time as HOFers Magic, Thomas & Stockton but statically KJ held his own

KJ has career averages of 18ppg & 9apg. He had 4 straight 20ppg & 10+apg SZNs from 89-92 yet ONLY made the allstar tm 2x during that span. B4 Barkley's arrival the 92 Suns won 53 gms with KJ, Jeff Hornacek & Marjerle (allstar Hornacek was included in the trade to acquire Barkley)

While he wasn't a star player, Sam Perkins was a solid NBA player. The early version of a stretch 4/5 big that could pull dominant PF & C away from the basketball becuz if they didn't guard Sam his smooth shooting touch from distance was a problem tms normally didn't account for

Sam Perkins best scoring SZN came in 1991 with the Lakers when Magic led LA to the Finals (LA lost in 5 to the Bulls that year). Perkins, as the LA's 4th option, had his best scoring SZN in 91 averaging nearly 17ppg & hitting a GW shot for the Lakers in gm 1 of the 91 NBA Finals

Cliff Robinson was another really good shooting stretch 4/5. He was a versatile, defensive minded wing/big that was a former allstar & 2x All NBA defensive team. At 6'10 he was an accurate 3 point shooter & solid post scorer that could guard SG, SF, PF & Cs.

During his best SZN in POR he was an allstar, all nba defensive player that averaged 21ppg on 37% shooting from 3. KG said he learned many of his defensive skills & tricks from OGs like Cliff Robinson who early in his career was a very difficult matchup for him

Now let's talk about HOFer, dream teamer & MVP Charles Barkley. An undersized PF that DOMINATED the bigs of his era. He didn't care if you were a 7'0 allstar he would get his 20+ pts & 10+ rebs. Barkley would take the reb & go coast to coast becuz he was big & super athletic

Barkley's Suns teams were defeated in 3 straight seasons by the eventual NBA champions (93 Bulls, 94-94 Rockets). He was an amazing player that has career averages of 22ppg, 11rpg 1.5spg, 1bpg on 56% eFG%. Fun fact, Barkley led the original dream tm in ppg & was 3rd in rpg & spg