What do Penny Hardaway, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade all have in common?
Well, among other things, they’ve all been dubbed “The Next Michael Jordan.” In fact, since Michael decided to hang up the sneaks the first time in 1993, no fewer than a half-dozen players have been crowned the Air Apparent. Looking back on it, the knighting of Hardaway, Grant Hill and Vince Carter seems, at the very least, silly. But for some reason, sportswriters just love to talk about the next No. 23. Just think, in a span of five years, Penny, Grant Hill, Kobe, T-Mac and Vince Carter were all supposed to be the next Best Player of All Time. It was almost as though any time a shooting guard was 6-6, really athletic and had a few silky moves, he was automatically going to morph into what most agree is the best player of all time. And all the while, we don’t fully appreciate these guys for their own unique talents because we’re too busy finding flaws and comparing them to the incomparable. How does this tie into golf? Well unfortunately, golf has a “Next Michael Jordan” problem, too.
