They say never meet your heroes. But for Richard Hamilton, playing one season with Michael Jordan changed the trajectory of his career. Hamilton was drafted to the Washington Wizards with the No. 7 pick in the 1999 NBA Draft, after winning a National Championship at UConn and being named most outstanding player in the Final Four. He broke out in his second season as a pro, averaging 18.1 points per game. But everything changed for his third season, when Jordan — at age 38 — decided to come out of retirement for the first of two seasons with the Wizards.
Hamilton spoke with FanSided's Sean Daley on behalf of Red Baron frozen pizza and explained what it was like receiving the brutally honest basketball opinions of Jordan, even as a rising star.
"People might think it's brutal but I looked at it as, like, all right, I'm going to go out and do that. You say that the [Jordan] Brand is for All-Stars, I'm going to go out and be an All-Star. He had a way to push buttons to inspire me personally, to be the player I ended up being."
In the one season he played with Jordan, Hamilton averaged 20.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game, and was the second-leading scorer on the team, behind Jordan. He eventually was invited to become a Jordan Brand athlete, although he was traded to the Detroit Pistons following that season, for a package built around All-Star Jerry Stackhouse. That turned out to be a blessing for Hamilton, who went on to win a ring and make three All-Star teams as member of the Pistons.
Watch the full Richard Hamilton interview here::
Jordan wasn't the only all-time great that Hamilton had the opportunity to play with in his career. He was a teammate of Hall-of-Famers Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups in Detroit, as well as Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady in the later stages of their careers. Hamilton also spent his final two NBA seasons in Chicago playing with rising star Derrick Rose, and he spoke about just what NBA fans missed because of Rose's knee injuries.
"Derrick Rose could have been a top-10 players of all-time. That's how special he was. I tell people all the time that Rasheed Wallace was the most talented player I ever played with ... until I played with Derrick Rose."
Check out the full video for more of Hamilton's thoughts on his career, LeBron's future, the pressure of March Madness and more, along with details about the promotion he's involved in with Red Baron.
America’s leading frozen pizza brand, Red Baron is paying one lucky fan and three friends $100 per hour each to hang out, eat pizza and take in all the action.