Even though he came into the league a couple years later, Dennis Rodman once called Ron Harper “Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan”, that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but at the same the comparison was accurate. Ron Harper was an incredible athlete coming off a stellar four career at the University of Miami (OH). He was drafted in an era dominated by big men and along with Brad Daugherty and Mark Price, made one of the greatest hauls in Cleveland Cavaliers and NBA history. The team would eventually add Larry Nance and became a force in the Eastern Conference, but then when it believed that Harper was running with the wrong crowd, the Cavs shipped him to the LA Clippers where it was hoped he would pair with Danny Manning, but just a handful into his Clippers career, he would tear his ACL. He would come back from it and play well, but he still wasn’t quite the player he had been prior to the injury. After growing unhappy in Los Angeles, he would sign with the Chicago Bulls to replace Michael Jordan alongside Scottie Pippen, yet once he got to Chicago, he was a shell of his former self, and saw the one of the biggest one season drop-offs in NBA history; then Jordan returned and it looked like his career would be over soon. But instead he would re-invent himself as the Bulls point guard and one of many defensive specialists alongside Jordan, Pippen and Dennis Rodman. And with Harper at the 1, the Bulls would accomplish their second threepeat, which included their 72-10 ’96 season. He would play one more year in Chicago after the team was broken up, before winning two more rings alongside the Shaq and Kobe Los Angeles Lakers. He had all the tools, to be an elite swingman when he came in the league, but his unfortunate knee injury looked to quickly be stealing his career from him, but in the last minute, he would embrace a role that saw him leave the game as one of it’s best winners and most respected players; yet one that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough.
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