Chicago Bulls: Ray Allen was ‘scared to death’ to play Michael Jordan

Back during his peak with the Chicago Bulls, legendary guard Michael Jordan was frequently dominating a number of opposing NBA stars.

The player that is likely the best to ever to it in the history of the NBA spent most of his career right here with the Chicago Bulls. Legendary Bulls shooting guard and Hall-of-Famer Michael Jordan made a lot of his opponents fear what he had to bring to the table back in his hay-day during the dynasty years of the 1990’s in Chicago.

There’s a few players in particular, though, that had some really poor fortunes against Jordan and the Bulls back during his playing days. One of those recently opened up on his thoughts on this subject.

In a recent episode of the “James Posey Podcast”, former Boston Celtics and Seattle SuperSonics superstar shooting guard/wing Ray Allen stated what he and a lot of other NBA players felt about having to face Jordan back in the day.

Here’s more on what Allen had to say on this matter (monologue courtesy of Essentially Sports).

"My second game of my rookie year preseason, we played against the Bulls in 1997. So, Imagine that as a 21-year-old kid, you are playing against MJ. I was scared to death and in 97′, imagine hearing that theme song when he run down the floor and people they’re ready and waiting to watch the game.“I’m on the floor stretching and he runs down the floor and I had to look up. It was like this is so surreal to me that I’m sitting on this court right now and I have watched this for the last 10 years of my life. So, I am like I am rooting for you against me."

Allen is a really likable player, and definitely deserved Hall-of-Fame honors. He just didn’t find the most success against Jordan and the Bulls at that point of his career.

During his playing days in the NBA, Allen was an absolute stud. He started out his NBA career during the 1996-97 season with the Milwaukee Bucks. Allen would wind up being a 10-time NBA All-Star selection, two-time All-NBA Team selection, two-time champion, and is now inducted into the Hall-of-Fame.

Allen was a lethal shooter, and widely considered to be one of the best in NBA history. He was especially lethal from downtown, shooting 40.0 percent from beyond the arc in his pro career.

Jordan wasn’t a lethal shooter from deep throughout most of his career, but he could be when he was motivated to. The five-time NBA MVP, six-time Finals MVP, and six-time champion has a legacy that is well-respected by a ton of his peers, apparently including Allen.