Julius Erving explained why Horace Grant never became a superstar: 'In terms of improving his game, he wasn't hearing it'

The '90s Chicago Bulls were known for having the best duo of all time with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. But if you looked closely at that team, you could make an argument that they had a Big Three with Horace Grant as the third player in the trinity.

That wasn't the case, however, as Grant was more known as a member of the supporting cast that helped MJ and Pip complete their first three-peat from 1991 to 1993. Horace ended up leaving Chicago for Orlando in 1993, and it was while there when Sixers legend and Hall of Famer Julius Erving found out what was holding Grant back from breaking out into a superstar.

"When I was with the Magic, I used to try to get Horace Grant to work on putting the ball on the floor, but he wasn't hearing it," revealed Erving. "No way. He just wanted to pump iron and stick with what he was doing. And he was a valuable, valuable role guy at every stop. But in terms of improving his game, he wasn't hearing it."

"Dr. J" tried to help Grant go to the next level

Erving joined the Magic as executive vice president in 1997. Doc's main job was to help the new head coach, Chuck Daly, strategize the team's game plan. But he was also brought there to evaluate talent and help players develop their games.

Julius identified Horace as one of the players who still had the opportunity to blossom into a star even if he was already 32 at that time. But Grant wasn't interested. He was content with being a complimentary player who was playing behind Penny Hardaway, Nick Anderson, Rony Seikaly and Derek Armstrong.

In seven seasons with the Magic, Grant averaged 11.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. Those numbers are very good, but considering he was producing slightly better averages in Chicago, it's safe to say he did not grow as a player while he was in Orlando.

Horace was better when he wanted to

Perhaps you would say that maybe we already saw Horace's ceiling in Chicago, so he just plateaued in Orlando. However, remember that during the 1995 playoffs when the Magic faced the Jordan-less Bulls in the second round, Phil Jackson dared Grant to beat them with the midrange jumper, and a ticked-off Horace obliged.

In that series, a motivated Grant averaged 18.0 points and 11.0 rebounds while shooting 64.7% from the floor. Horace put up 24 points on 13-13 shooting in the crucial Game 5 where his Magic won and took a 3-2 series lead. However, in the Eastern Conference Finals, Grant went back to his passive ways and averaged only 10.4 points and 8.9 rebounds per game against the Pacers.

Looking back at Horace's career, there was no doubt that he had the potential to be an NBA star. However, as "Dr. J" said, Grant refused to leave his comfort zone and was content with being a complimentary player.