How filthy is inspired to take a look at some recent players at their finest hour in the NBA. Too often I tend to remember athletes as the aged veteran or wounded star. How Filthy? will focus on the prime cut of meat from a players career. Like Larry Bird said in 1986, "All I know is people tend to forget how great the older great players were. It'll happen that way with me, too." Let's not let that happen. Let's remember just how filthy these players were.Harold Miner was dubbed "Baby Jordan" for his outstanding dunking abilities. The 6'5" guard jumped to the NBA after posting a 23.5 scoring average (and getting named 1st team all-american) through his 3 years at USC. With the "Baby Jordan" nickname, a high college scoring average, and being selected 12th overall by the Miami Heat in 1992, expectations were high.
Unfortunately, Miner could never fulfill those expectations. Statistically speaking, Miner was an NBA no show. He only lasted 4 years in the league and topped out at 10.5 points per game in his second year. He didn't care to much for rebounding or passing, and had limited range on his jumper, attempting only 15 3-pointers in his first 2,700+ minutes of NBA action. This is a problem when playing the position of "shooting" guard.
Miner is most well-known for winning the dunk contest in both 1993 and 1995. Here is a condensed video of the '95 contest
Observations from that video:
-Tony Dumas choked in the moment. If I remember correctly (I was 9 so I could definitely be wrong), Dumas kept pumping up his super-secret dunk he was going to pull off in the finals to win the contest. So it became a slight problem when he couldn't even land a dunk in the first round, effectively eliminating himself
-Miner had some legit hops. Maybe his nickname would have suited him better if it solely focused on Jordan's dunking ability and disqualified the title from any other part of Jordan or Miner's games. Harold "Dunks like Jordan, plays like Jon Koncak" Miner - it doesn't really roll off the tongue but you get the point
-Alonzo Mourning's suit should be outlawed
-Isaiah Rider is probably high... right now
Anyway, Miner was traded from the Heat to the Cavs, and was cut by the Cavs after seeing limited minutes. He attempted to sign with the Raptors in 1996 but didn't make the cut. Since his retirement Miner has given very few interviews and stays far removed from the spotlight.
Here is a 10 minute mix of Miner, just in case you can't fall asleep
So how filthy was Harold Miner? Miner avoids 0 trash cans and 1/2 a trash can by impressing me in the dunk contest. 1 whole trash can out of 5 of filth!
PS. Harold could not even get a full bar of dunk rating in NBA Jam... Haters
