Unknowingly, Michael Jordan, born on February 17, 1963, is 60 years old. In the pictures posted by the media wishing Jordan a happy birthday, G.O.A.T (the greatest player in history) is always so eye-catching, which used to be a title unique to Jordan, although a certain player also likes to use it recently.
If you've lived through Jordan's Bull days in your watching career, you're now middle-aged. Middle-aged people are old and young, and the enthusiasm for participating in many things is not so strong, such as which star is better to shoot bricks with each other on the Internet.
However, there are still rod scales in the heart, such as Jordan and LeBron James, who are the first people in NBA history.
I am not Jamie, but I am not black James, I believe that Old Jen is a historical superstar, and his achievements deserve the evaluation of "cross-era". The question is, why does James always tie himself to G.O.A.T and speak out himself?
I respect James' confidence and the spirit of striving to do their best, he and Jordan who are better in different fan groups, have different interpretations, but the premise is to understand Jordan's NBA career, after all, Michael last played in the NBA 20 years ago.
Unlike James, who showed Thanos' talent in his freshman season, Jordan didn't make the first team until his sophomore year of high school, because he didn't have enough height. At that time, many people felt that it was difficult for Jordan to grow taller because his family was not tall, Jordan was close to one meter eight in his second year of high school, which was nothing on the basketball team, but he was already outstanding within the family. Jordan's stubbornness is vividly reflected in the matter of growing taller, he hangs himself on the beam in the backyard for several hours every day, and the miracle really happens, he only used one spring, and his height reached one meter nine.
Years later, when Jordan had already dominated basketball, his family recalled that when he was two years old, he accidentally grabbed his father's cable to repair his car and was knocked unconscious by electricity, but woke up to find that he was not injured. Some reporters joked that it may be that the electric shock made Jordan's body change wonderfully and he had the physique of a basketball god.
Jordan averaged 29.2 points, 11.6 rebounds and 10.1 assists in his final year of high school, and helped the team reach the NCAA Finals in his first year in North Carolina. When Jordan entered the NBA Draft in 1984, when interior was king, Olajuwon was the best pick, and the Blazers with the top pick were a little hesitant, they already had Drexler, and General Manager Inman preferred to pick a center, favoring Sam Bowy from the University of Kentucky.
Inman advised NCAA coach Bobby Knight, who coached Jordan at the 1984 Olympics, and he had the following conversation with Inman: Coach, who do you think we should choose?
Knight: Pick Jordan.
Inman: Coach, do we need a centre-forward?
Knight: Then pick Jordan and let him play center.
The Blazers eventually picked up Bowy and left Jordan to the Bulls with a scouting pick, and Thorne, then the general manager of the Bulls, was still a little unhappy about getting Jordan. "It would be great if Jordan was seven feet tall, but he's not that tall and there are no very good centers to choose from, what can we do?" Thorne admitted.
What was the status of the 1984 Bulls, in the NBA, in Chicago? Jordan participated in team training for the first time, and only two text reporters were present to watch. "Who cared about the Chicago Bulls back then, everyone was a fan of the Chicago Cubs [baseball team], and the Bulls were the least favored kid in the city." Chicago TV producer Jeff Davis recalled.
The arrival of Jordan has turned the Bulls, the NBA, upside down.
In his rookie year, Jordan averaged 28+6+6 per game, bringing the Bulls back to the playoffs for the first time in three years. The next year, Jordan broke his foot, and after his comeback, he still brought the Bulls into the playoffs, and in the first round he encountered the Celtics in his heyday, and the second game of the series held the playoff single-game scoring record of 63 points that no one has broken so far, making the always proud Bird sigh "God wears Jordan jerseys". In the third year, Jordan averaged 37.1 points per game to crown the scoring leader, starting the journey to dominate the scoring list ten times this season. James is the NBA regular season and playoff all-time scoring leader, while Jordan is the NBA all-time regular season and playoff scoring king, Jordan's scoring trajectory is regular season strong, playoffs stronger, Finals strong and strengthened, regular season average 30.1 points per game, playoffs average 33.4 points per game, Finals average 33.6 points per game.
Jordan won the scoring title, but also won the best defensive player and steal king, he is already the NBA's strongest offensive and defensive comprehensive individual, but he was hindered by strong opponents in the breakthrough process of the team's achievements. The Bulls were eliminated by the Pistons in the playoffs for three consecutive years, and in the 1990 Eastern Conference Finals they grabbed seven, Pippen, who was called the top three small forwards in history by some fans, had an inexplicable migraine, and turned over a report card of 10 shots, and another Horris Grant, who was called the best three by some fans, was 3 of 17, Jordan played 31 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists to lose, so angry that Jordan cried on the team bus after the game.
At that time, there was news that Jordan might leave the Bulls to find a better helper, and Jordan held a special press conference for this and gave a direct response, he said this-
"I will definitely lead the team over the hill of Detroit, and if anyone is not willing to be in the same boat, they can leave now, but I will not go." Jordan then founded the famous "Breakfast Club," a team that didn't mean eating together in the morning, but practicing together early on. The specific training content was never made public, but the intensity was amazing, and Barkley chose to quit after participating a few times, and he couldn't stand it.
"I used to envy Michael's talent, but I don't think like that now, the hard work he endured in training is impossible for ordinary people to imagine." Barkley said.
In the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, Jordan, who had trained hard to make himself stronger, led the team to sweep the Pistons, and the Bulls dynasty has erupted since then. The highlight of that dynastic period was the 1993 Finals, where Barkley averaged 27 points, 13 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game, an absolute MVP-level performance, but Jordan averaged 41 points, 8.5 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game, shooting 51% from the field.
"I'm the best player on the planet, and as for Jordan, he's an alien." Barkley said so.
Because his father was killed, Jordan retired to play baseball for a year and a half in order to fulfill his father's early desire to play baseball, and returned in the second half of the 1994-95 season before his body was adjusted and lost to the Magic in the Eastern Conference semifinals. On the night of the elimination, Jordan and trainer Grover sat in the arena until dawn, and Grover still remembers what Jordan said to him.
"Do you know why I shook hands with every Magic player after the game to congratulate me? Because I want them to know that I cherish this opportunity to celebrate, because there won't be again. Then came the summer of 1995, when Jordan made Space Slam Dunk and built a makeshift court, ready to train, and then the basketball god returned to his place, and the second triple-in-a-row championship arrived, including 72 championships.
In 2016, Jordan, who was already the owner of the Hornets, chatted with Warriors owner Lacob about the Warriors' 73 wins, Jordan said: "There is no championship, 73 wins are X ah!" "The NBA uses three consecutive championships as a dynasty symbol, and Jordan led the team to play two consecutive triple championships as an absolute core, which is two basketball dynasty history. These six championship seasons have a common feature, that is, Jordan is the scoring king, the season team and the defense team are all-inclusive, which means that Jordan plays a dominant performance on the offensive end, but also on the defensive end, the offense does not spread hands, the defense does not cross the waist, and the two ends suppress the opponent together.
During the six-time championship, Jordan won six Finals MVPs and four regular-season MVPs, and in the two seasons he didn't win, Jordan managed to beat regular-season MVPs in the Finals, such as Karl Malone.
Jordan and Malone played twice in the Finals, the toughest in 1998, when the Bulls had been consumed by injuries and infighting to the point of collapse, and everyone on the team knew that the season would break up. The 35-year-old turned the tide and played a total of 103 games in 1997-98, playing all the regular season and playoffs, winning the scoring title, All-NBA First Team, All-Defense First Team, Regular Season MVP, All-Star MVP and Finals MVP, dragging the Bulls into the Finals.
In Game 6 of that championship series, Pippen's back cramped and coach Phil Jackson asked Jordan before the game if he could play the full 48 minutes, and Jordan said he would stay the course whenever the team needed him. Jordan only had a 4-minute break in that game, with the Bulls scoring 87 points and Jordan himself scoring 45 points.
When the game reached the final minute, Jordan's fitness was overdrawn, and Winter, then assistant coach of the Bulls, told Jackson: "I feel like Michael may not be able to hold on, his leg is going to break!" ”
Just when his physical fitness had reached his limit, Jordan completed one of the most classic heroic epics in NBA history, as sports journalist Bill Simmons described in his basketball book The Book of Basketball.
In Game 6 of the 1998 Finals, Jordan single-handedly won. He scored 41 of his first 83 points. Trailing by three points with 40 seconds left in the end, he began a deadly move, catching the ball and breaking through for a layup, then cutting off Malone's ball on the defensive end and dribbling himself. During this time, Jordan did everything in one go, and none of his teammates touched the ball. ”
Jordan's basketball story is not about perfection, but about him growing through setbacks, breaking through his own combat and leadership bottlenecks, raising the ceiling of individuals and teams, and holding on to the throne after climbing to the top. Physically gifted, indomitable, and beautiful, Jordan presents the ultimate form of a basketball player, and although sports have a law of moving forward, Jordan seems to be an exception, he is the measure of great players, a standard that no one has broken so far.
Jordan not only defines the upper limit of a player's on-field strength, but also defines the player's off-field business model. In 1984, Nike originally planned to split $2.5 million in advertising expenses among the rookies of that year, and Vaccalo, a scout who had been following Jordan, proposed that 2.5 million be given to Jordan and design a separate production line. When Nike executives objected, Vaccalo vouched for his job that Jordan would take off with Nike.
"I'll tell you, I've seen this kid play, he's going straight up in the NBA, to a level that no player has ever reached, and Nike has to tie his destiny to him." Vakahlo said. Nike decided to take the plunge and offered Jordan a five-year, $2.5 million advertising contract, Jordan's agent Falk masterminded the brand name "Air Jordan", and Nike's creative designer Moore created the Air Jordan trademark.
Nike stipulated in the contract that Air Jordan would have to sell $3 million at the end of the fourth year of the contract, but in fact, in the first year alone, Air Jordan brought Nike $126 million. Jordan made basketball shoes no longer a game shoe, but a fashion, a trend, and Jordan is also alone in the field of sneakers.
If you still insist that James is the first man in NBA history, I respect your point of view, just as I respect Jordan's view - "I can accept defeat, but I can't accept giving up." ”