In his Olympic debut, Anthony Edwards is the breakthrough player for Team USA and is the epitome of progress after getting the Wolves this close to the NBA Finals. He is now regarded as the league’s future face due to his extraordinary growth since the draft. That indicates that he is being compared to Michael Jordan by fans. However, someone who has coached champions, won a few titles, and competed against Michael Jordan puts a stop to this hype-train. That’s Sam Cassell, who filled the void left by Jordan for a two-season absence.

Cassell hands down believes he wouldn’t have won his first two chips with the Rockets had Mike not retired in 1993. On The Knuckleheads Podcast, he was firm that Ant is good but not yet at His Airness levels. “Antman is a good ball-player,” Cassell started off and held his hand above his head to emphasize. “His limit, his ceiling is high, but it ain’t Michael Jordan-high.” He feels so strongly about it, he said it twice.

Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dominated the ’90s. But the Houston Rockets are the small glitch in that timeline led by a formidable Hakeem Olajuwon. Cassell was no slouch either, but he said the Magic Johnson wall was tougher to get past before Jordan entered his prime. In the ’90s, Jordan was the hurdle for any team in the playoffs, including Houston.

“When Michael Jordan shot the ball, you thought every shot he shot was going in. The man shot 50%, man, 51% in the playoffs. So his game went up even higher,” was how Cassell defined the Black Cat’s invincibility.