How did Jordan perform during the Wizards? suffered a knee injury + broken ribs, and finally set a historical record
Entering the NBA has to face a high threshold, to be able to get a stable rotation position in an NBA team, play for about 10 seasons, which only a few players can do, the NBA's extremely high elimination rate will almost every year to brush off a large number of players, as a lottery show into the NBA but may also disappear from the fan's field of vision after a few seasons, but Jordan has twice completed his comeback after leaving the league for a short time, the first comeback after the 1995-96 season to the 1997-98 season three times to become the scoring champion, and helped the Bulls complete three consecutive championships, the second comeback, the 38-year-old Jordan has already put on the Wizards jerseySo, how strong was he at that time, and in what ways?
"Box office appeal" top
Coming back from the Wizards in the 2001-02 season, Jordan had been in retirement for 3 years at that time, according to this situation, the NBA "praised" new stars very quickly, and then came back after leaving the NBA for 3 years, if it was an ordinary star, there was a high probability that it would not stir up any waves, but he was Jordan, a player who had become the All-Star ticket king for 7 consecutive years, Jordan's "box office appeal" It was also fully demonstrated after his comeback and began to play for the Wizards, the Wizards' home games were almost full, the average attendance per game in the 2000-01 season was 18th in the league, the 2001-02 season climbed directly to the 2nd in the league, and the 2002-03 season was also the 2nd in the league.
The enthusiasm of the fans caught the Wizards' ticketing department off guard, and even a month or so before the start of the 2001-02 regular season, the Wizards sold more than 13,000 season tickets, setting a new franchise record at the time. In addition, NBC also began to increase the number of broadcasts of the Wizards, and for a while, the Wizards became one of the most watched teams in the league, and the value of the Wizards also increased.
The personal competitiveness is considerable, and he is 40+ at the age of 40
After talking about "box office appeal" , Let's take a look at Jordan's competitiveness in the game during his time with the Wizards, he was 38 years old when he returned, and there are occasionally one or two players of this age in the NBA for many years, and the game performance is often not too ideal, like Garnett, when the 2014-15 regular season started, he was slightly younger than Jordan at the beginning of the 2001-02 regular season, Garnett was 38 years and 163 days old, Jordan was 38 years and 255 days, and Garnett averaged only 6.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in the regular season in 2014-15, Look at Jordan's average data in the 2001-02 regular season, averaging 22.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game, in the regular season that season, Jordan scored a total of 4 40+ in a single game, 1 50+, before Jamal Crawford set a new record, the NBA's title of "Mr. 50 Oldest Points" stayed with Jordan for 18 years.
In the 2002-03 season, Jordan averaged 20 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game in the regular season, and his shooting percentage increased from 41.6% in the previous season to 44.5%, and he scored 40+ points in a single game three times in the regular seasonOne of them was in a game shortly after his 40th birthday, which was a regular season game between the Wizards and the Nets, Jordan hit 18 of 30 shots from the field, scored 40 points, and scored 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals to help the Wizards win 89-86 against the Nets.
The ability to lead the team cannot be ignored
After talking about personal competitiveness, let's take a look at the ability to lead the team during the Jordan Wizards period, in the 2001-02 season, the "old flyer" led the team well at that time, before the All-Star Game, Jordan brought the Wizards to the top six in the East, he was the only two players in the league who averaged at least 25 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists per game in the same period of the season, that is, before the All-Star Game, and the other was Kobe Bryant, who was 23 years old at the time. In the 2001-02 regular season, Jordan once let the Wizards, who had missed the playoffs for 4 consecutive years at that time, and only won 19 games in the regular season in the previous season, saw the hope of breaking into the playoffs. However, in a game against the Kings before the All-Star break, Jordan collided with teammate Etan Thomas and injured his knee, which became a major turning point.
When the Wizards came back, Jordan was exposed to injury, including the injury of breaking his ribs by Artest in a training session before the start of the regular season, and in the 2001-02 regular season, Jordan faced the problem of water accumulation in his knees, and underwent multiple fluid extraction surgeries, and collided with Thomas in the game, after injuring his knee, Jordan's state began to decline seriously, and the Wizards' record was also greatly affected, in the first 8 games after Jordan's injury, the Wizards only achieved a 1-7 record, and originally achieved a good record of 26-21The Wizards, who had a chance to stay in the top six in the East, had an 11-24 record in the final 35 games of the regular season, and they ended up in 10th place in the East with a 37-45 record, missing the playoffs.
Looking back at the 2001-02 season, it was a pity that the Wizards did not make the playoffs, Jordan averaged 29.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.2 steals per game in the 10 games before the injury, and he also had 51 points in a single game and 40+ points in a single game many times in previous gamesThe performance helped the Wizards to achieve a 26-21 record in the first 46 games of the regular season in a bad situation of only 2 wins and 9 losses, which was done in the absence of the team's important outside scorer Richard Hamilton for a short time, Jordan led the Wizards to play an excellent defensive performance, and he played a good performance on the offensive end, many fans are looking forward to the performance of the Wizards after Hamilton returns and finds his form, Jordan was once considered a strong contender for MVP, but the injury made the Wizards' originally good momentum turn sharply, and finally missed the playoffs。
And in the 2002-03 season, Jordan, who was a year older, was plagued by injuries, and a knee injury made it difficult for him to turn the tide for the team again and again, Jordan "has more than enough heart but not enough", he can be said to have done his best, and Jordan has teammate experience in the Wizards, Tyronn Lue once said: "Jordan played all 82 games, he was always the first to show up on the court, always cheered up, practiced every day Xi and played 82 games at the age of 40, and with one leg." Jordan eventually averaged 20 points per game in the 2002-03 regular season, but the Wizards failed to make the playoffs and said goodbye to the season early, after which Jordan retired and said goodbye to the NBA.