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our ffth year in existence as the Hornets, and we were able to propel and make it to the playoffs. Then, once we got accustomed to making it to the playoffs, then contracts started to come into play. We didn't re-sign Alonzo (Eds. note: He was traded to Miami after three years in Charlotte). Then LJ got his back hurt. We lost in the second round. We didn't go any further than the second round. When those things happen, and with guys getting hurt at the wrong times, Chicago was having their run at that time, so they prevented a lot of teams from moving on. Dime: A lot of that fan interest came from you, and you being the smallest guy in the league. Did that ever piss you off with so many people concentrating on your height? MB: Nah. With me being the smallest, that had nothing to do with it. One thing about the NBA, ain't no novelty stuff going on with that. You either can play or you can't. They're not paying folks money just to have something that they think will draw fans to a team. Those days are over with. You don't see those incidents anymore. It's all about service. What type of service can you bring to my organization? And I always understood that. At one point with Washington, you probably thought that it possibly could've been a novelty act with the tallest and the shortest on the team, but I played 79 out of the 82 games there. It was more or less a different mixture. You had a lot of older guys at the tail end of their career with Bernard King, Moses Malone, Terry Catledge, Jeff Malone, a lot of those guys, and bringing in a young guy like myself who wanted to get it up and down the foor… Then they changed coaches with Kevin Loughery and bringing in Wes Unseld, and he wanted to stay with the walk-itup game. It didn't make sense for me staying in Washington. I was fortunate enough that the Hornets wanted me and I came to Charlotte. That's where my career propelled even though Dick Harter was there our frst year. We were able to still propel after that. Dime: I was going to ask you about the Washington team. They never wanted to get up and down the court. Is that the main reason you ended up in Charlotte? MB: Oh, absolutely. When you have a vision – they thought they would change and be committed to getting up and down the foor – but then when they changed coaches, fring Kevin Loughery who was there as my coach – and when they changed that, Wes (Unseld) had a different vision. He had a different style of play with the older guys. So it was perfect (that I went to Charlotte). I'm thinking that Washington took me. I got a chance to play in my backyard, where I grew up at. But I was also blessed that I was able to go on and do some bigger and better things in Carolina where I went to school, an hour away in the city of Charlotte. It was perfect, just perfect. You couldn't write a better script. Dime: You excelled playing up-tempo with Allan Bristow in Charlotte. That style catches some fack from people because they say you can't win a championship like that. What do you think of that? MB: Well that was the Denver days where you try to outscore guys and you don't play defense. But we had a different style. We were more defensive players as well as up-tempo. We had more of a counter of that. Even though we played up and down, played the fast game, but we had guys that loved to play defense. Kendall Gill, myself, Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning, Johnny Newman. So we had guys who played defense, and we were one of the best defensive teams out there. It was more like we get caught at the wrong time in different eras with Chicago, and we wasn't able to get past New York as well. Dime: You used to call that your Heaven, right? Being in the open court with the basketball? MB: Absolutely. That was great because you had all of your options. You felt like you was about to make something special happen, having the vision to see it all, you got fve players, everybody moving, you see 46 the picture before it even develops. Dime: It was interesting that you played with Larry Johnson and Vince Carter, two guys that people say they underachieved for different reasons. When they were healthy and in their prime, who was better? MB: Two amazing gentlemen. Two amazing, amazing young men that I was grateful to play with. They were both younger than me and I took them under my wing when they both came into the league – when Larry came in and even when I went to Toronto with Vince. He was in his second year and he felt that gravitation in terms of the wisdom that I had, and he really relished in it. But LJ, from day one, he and I had it, and I just wanted to make sure he got everything out of it that he was supposed to as a professional. That's what Moses did for me. Playing when you're young, having that type of wisdom around you and telling you the true essence of the NBA, and playing with those guys early in their career was amazing. They were so aggressive. Larry as a rookie, he demanded respect and got the respect from the Charles Barkleys, the Karl Malones from day one.