It was kind of instinctual, you know because I wasn’t known for my jump shooting at Georgetown. But when I got to the league, I started expanding my game out a little bit so those mid-range shots were shots that I was very confident in taking, because I used to shoot them in practice.

So I caught it, and pretty much just let it fly. I thank the basketball gods that it went in the hole.

— SF: What was the aftermath like?

— AM: It was such an exhilarating moment. Not only was I happy I made the shot, but I was happy for the fans. You could just feel — no pun intended — but you could feel the buzz. It was just so exciting, and I’m happy to have been a part of a small part of Hornets history. ... It was an incredible ride.

I wish that was something that we could have grown because I felt like we had a nucleus of guys. All you had to do is just put more pieces around us, and some special things probably could have happened. But basketball management didn’t see it that way.

— SF: Most Hornets fans consider you the great player that got away. Was it basically that they had paid Larry Johnson so much (Johnson signed a 12-year, $84 million contract in 1993 with the Hornets that at the time was the largest contract in pro sports) that they weren’t willing to pay you enough?

— AM: They didn’t want to make the investment. Yeah. And what’s so crazy is — I’m gonna be extremely transparent to everybody out there. Listen, I was willing to take a lot less money than I received in Miami. ... But when I was told by management that I wasn’t worth what I was asking?

My agent at the time, David Falk, said, “You gotta go. For them to even say that was insulting. Don’t even consider it anymore. You’ve done enough on your part. Because you are willing to take less.”

I actually wanted to take a lot less.

— SF: Really? Why would you have done that?

...continued

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