Top 5 90s Ballers

Things have changed. 

I can remember a time when my brother and I would set the VHS to record the monthly edition of NBA Action. Fast forward a few years: I can remember racing to our dining table, when we lived in Kuala Lumpur, to check the NBA scores printed in the New Straits Times. 

A few weeks ago, the missus and I visited some mates in Putney. When we strolled through the living room, I noticed two young boys off to the side sitting in front of a TV waiting for the NBA game to start on League Pass.

Times have changed.

Before analytics-and-stats-driven millennials throw shade at me and this post, let me make this clear: I'm making a case for my Top 5 Ballers from the 1990s.

*Shout out to SLAM for keeping this 90s kid in touch with everything that mattered in the game. 


5. Penny Hardaway / Allen Iverson

I still wonder what a healthy Penny (and Grant Hill) could've done...

AI's SLAM covers blew this white kid's mind.

I want to come clean... my brother was the original Penny and Iverson fan in the family home. In fact, he still cheers for the Magic and 76ers. 

I guess I didn't consider myself cool enough to join the fan club. I mean, Penny had 'Lil Penny; AI had Bubba Chuck swagger. (Shout out to Grandmama!) Penny had everything you wanted in a post-Stockton 90s point guard, while AI blew the league away with his "killer crossover". (Stop bitching, Tim Hardaway.)

And then there are the kicks. I remember when I first laid eyes on the Penny IIs in 1 Utama - Kuala Lumpur, as it was the first time I contemplated stealing something from a store. I still can't believe that I owned and wore a pair of AI's Answer IV! A chubby, unathletic (JV) kid has no right wearing those bad boys. 

Fellas like Penny and AI made the 90s about more than wins and losses. They gave us something to "ooh" and "ahh" at, on and off the court. 

PS. What would've happened if the Magic had won in '94 and the 76ers in '01? 

My brother rocking his '96 Penny Hardaway Dream Team jersey. Yeah, I'm eating carpet.

That was my Magic hat.

4. Charles Barkley

My magazine of choice before SLAM.

Guess what my JV coach nicknamed me? 

"THE ROUND MOUND OF REBOUND."

I hated it. 

But I didn't hate Sir Charles. Sure, he rubbed rubs folks the wrong way, but he was a dynamo on the court. I could watch him - and Shawn 'The Reign Man' Kemp! - attack the basket all day long! Then there was the eye-popping fact that Charles - an undersized power-forward - would grab rebounds as if he was first in line at a buffet (career rebound average: 11.7). 

Has anyone this millennium make you want to learn about the fundamentals/importance of rebounding? Does anyone even box out these days?

Catching highlights of Charles vs. Jordan (1993) was thrilling. It still grinds me that I didn't manage to get my hands on one of those '93 Finals cards! I'm sure there are still fans wondering how that stacked Phoenix team didn't get the job done. Charles was statistically outrageous! Check out his 92-93 averages: 25, 12, 5, 1, 1 / 52% from the field and 76% from the line. 

What's my advice for Charles going forward? 

You do you. Just don't throw anyone else through a glass window.  

3. Shaquille O'Neal

I was on Team Shaq

I always wonder how it is that I could hate the Lakers but own the Shaq jersey above. All I can come up with is that I couldn't take my eyes off of the Big Diesel. 

- Blue Chips & Kazaam

I still rate Blue Chips.

My poor parents had to sit through Kazaam multiple times.

- The Magic Years

THE SHOES.

- The 3-peat

At this point, I was cheering for Portland.

- 2006 Heat

Who was Batman?

I laughed when Kevin Durant recently said that Shaq was just 'big and strong'. What rubbish!

Shaq was larger than life in every way. When he came into the league, he was dribbling and finishing with style. Then he muscled up, improved defensively and perfected the fly swatting game. Folks seem to forget that he averaged over two blocks per game for his career. It's also perplexing how people downplay what became known as "hack-a-Shaq". Teams couldn't stop him in the paint so they resorted to tackling him. Shaq would literally CARRY opposing players to the hoop. 

Check out skinny Shaq!

What we also are quick to forget about was Shaq's vision and passing ability. The Big Aristotle perfected Phil's L.A. triangle, in part because he was able to pass out of double teams with ease. In other words, Shaq made role players look legit. Go back and watch some of Shaq's assists - big fella was versatile. 

The last word goes to Shaq breaking my Pacers-shaped heart in 2000. He destroyed our Dunking Dutchman - I hope Rik's health insurance is top-notch - and made it impossible for Reggie, Jackson and an emerging Jalen Rose to seize control.

Where's Rik? Oh dear!

2. Michael Jordan

Before I had the opportunity to watch a live NBA game, I watched MJ's Come Fly with Me and Playground. I wonder what the local Video Ezy clerk thought when I'd come in every Saturday and rent the same Jordan documentaries. I can still hear MJ's practised documentary voice and the 80s keyboards... 

After my brother and I had watched - and rewatched - the Jordan documentaries, we would scramble out the back door and reenact what we had seen on the dinky ring Dad stuck to the laundry door. We'd take turns being 'Jordan and the Bulls', while the other sucker had to be 'Bird and the Celtics' or 'Magic and the Lakers'. If you were Jordan, you won - no questions asked. We were such purists that we recreated the exact results. (Years later an ex-NBA player who went on to coach the Malaysian national team would call us "basketball junkies".) 

What does one wear to Christmas? Jordan jersey and hoodie!

I owe my passion for basketball to MJ. I have no doubt that rugby would've eclipsed and eventually worn down the round ball game if it weren't for #23. 

Then there was the exhilaration of opening a pack of basketball cards and finding a JORDAN in the deck. I'd slowly stroll home, casually close my bedroom door, and then F-R-E-A-K O-U-T! Last I counted, my brother and I collected and preserved 53 Jordan cards. Some people say we should sell them.

I still get the itch. 

You can't sell His Airness.


1. Reggie Miller

Reg wasn't always easy to love. What kind of cover is this?!

Last weekend - May 7 - we celebrated Mum's 65th birthday. Thankfully, it was a gorgeous autumn day. May 7 also marks the day when the Indiana Pacers went from being a team I enjoyed watching to a team that I wanted to rep. If you don't know what happened on that magical day in 1995, then do yourself a favour and watch this.

This DOESN'T happen. And when you are the visiting team in Madison Square Garden, it DEFINITELY doesn't happen. 

It was just after Reggie sunk those free-throws that I knew it was time to get rid of my Jordan paraphernalia and take on the Pacers' cause. 

It wasn't easy moving from the Bulls to the Pacers. Indiana was less spectacular. Games felt more like a grind. Emotions were always running high. It also didn't help that MJ always played well against us. At the same time, though, I didn't want it any other way. We may be "small market" (yes, 'we'), but we are...

No one epitomised this Midwest battler complex more than Reggie Miller. He was dorky looking, sounded a bit off, celebrity row hated him, players bitched about him, but no one could shake his killer mentality. Yes, I'm talking about Reggie's dagger 3! You can't tell me that Reggie wasn't clutch. 

No foul. 

The most ironic part about all this for young Cam was that I couldn't shoot the three for my life. In fact, I was told to focus on using my fat ass to box fellas out.

When I was at home, though, I'd watch the 3-point king go to work. After the games were over, I'd head off to try and replicate Reggie's clutch moves. (My brother would block 97.3% of my shots!)

When I heard fans chant "Cheryl" it made me appreciate Reg more. The Cheryl moment somehow made it easier for me to accept that my brother was ten times the player I was. (I was only ever going to play JV.) I guess what I'm trying to say is that I projected myself on #31. 

I know people still hate Reggie. Does anyone else keep picturing Spike Lee? But at least I supported someone other than #23.  

Believe it or not, what happened in Madison Square Garden in 1995 is no longer my favourite Miller moment. Reggie's Hall of Fame induction speech has taken the gong.


Thank you, champ.