Michael Jordan is a global icon, a marketing genius, and a hero to basketball fans everywhere. In his fifteen year NBA career, Jordan won the rookie of the year award, 6 championships (all with Chicago Bulls), 6 Finals MVP awards , 5 MVP awards, 2 Olympic Gold Medals, 10 scoring titles, and the defensive player of the year award. In addition he was selected to 14 all star teams, and has won the all star game MVP 3 times. Jordan was named one of the best 50 players ever at the 1996 all-star game.Jordan started as a kid chasing a dream in Wilmington, North Carolina. Being cut from the basketball program at Laney High School as a sophomore pushed Jordan to work endlessly. He played good enough in his Junior and Senior seasons to earn a full ride to play at the University of North Carolina (UNC). At UNC Jordan scored 17.7 PPG in his 3 seasons playing under Coach Dean Smith. MJ's college career is highlighted by his baseline game-winner in the 1982 national championship game against the Georgetown Hoyas. This is the first of many big moments in which Jordan will deliver throughout his basketball journey. MJ decided to forgo his senior season at UNC and declare his eligibility in the 1984 NBA draft.
If you're a Portland Trailblazers fan I suggest that you skip over this next section. Jordan was picked third overall by the Chicago Bulls. The Houston Rockets were justified in drafting Hakeem Olajuwon because he led them to two titles (Jordan was retired) and he was a very safe pick. The argument can even be made that Olajuwon is the best center ever. But the Blazers, for some reason, decided that Sam Bowie was going to be a better NBA player than Jordan...Blazers fans are still recovering from this catastrophe.
Jordan wasted no time getting his career on the right track, in his rookie season Jordan scored 28.2 PPG, early in his career Jordan was more known as a scorer than anything else. Many writers attributed the Bulls playoff woes to Jordan's inability to trust his teammates. Longtime teammate and friend Scottie Pippen didn't arrive in the windy city until the 1987-88 season where the Bulls would still face difficulties with the, "Bad Boys," Pistons teams. A team that included future Bulls star Dennis Rodman.
In 1991 Jordan and his Bulls would begin a championship run to rival all others. In the 1991 finals the Bulls beat the Lakers in 5 games, in 1992 the Bulls defeated the Portland Trailblazers in 6 games (that had to hurt), and in 1993 John Paxson sealed the Bulls third consecu
tive championship. At the time, the Bulls were just the third team in NBA history to accomplish winning 3 championships in a row.
In the summer that would follow their third title in three years Jordan had his world turned upside down when his father, James Jordan, was fatally shot in the chest. Before his death, Jordan and his father had talked about MJ trying to start a career in professional baseball. In February 1994 Jordan announced that he was going to play for the Birmingham Barons.
Fortunately for basketball fans Jordan came to his senses very late in the 1994-95 season where MJ tried to lead the Bulls to yet another championship, in such little time. In 13 games Jordan averaged 26.9 PPG, that's outstanding considering that he had missed 69 games and was not at all in game shape. The Bulls would advance all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals only to fall to the Orlando Magic.
The next year dawned a new beginning for the Bulls, they added a great defensive and rebounding PF in Dennis Rodman. The Bulls were set to make their presence felt around the league . Chicago went an NBA record 72-10 in the 1995-96 season, they would re-establish their dominance and all the while ripping back their NBA crown when they eliminated the Seattle Supersonics in the NBA finals. The Bulls then beat the Utah Jazz in the Finals for the next two seasons. Jordan put the perfect exclamation point on his career when he crossed up Byron Russell for his championship winning 15 footer. Jordan would retire after the 1998 championship season and there could be no better way for him to have gone out, he hit his last shot, he won a championship, it was perfect. If you're a Bulls fan, this is how you view Jordan's career ending.
In the 2001-2002 season Jordan returned to the NBA with the Washington Wizards. The reason why Jordan was on the Wizards and not the Bulls is because Jordan was the GM of the Wizards before activating himself on the 12 man roster. As one might expect there were no complaints from the coaching staff, it's probably very hard to tell the best player ever that he has no spot on a mediocre team. To the surprise of many Jordan put up very high numbers for a 40+ year old player. In his two seasons with the Wizards Jordan averaged 21.5 PPG. Even in his old age Jordan wasn't done setting records. In the 2003 all-star game MJ passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the top scorer in all-star game history, he was the first 40 year old player to score 43 points in a game, also Jordan passed the 30,000 point mark.
When the Wizards visited the United Center (Bulls home court) for the last time in the 2002-03 season, Jordan received a four- minute standing ovation.
Michael Jordan is the best basketball player to ever live, Celtics' great Larry Bird was certainly convinced when he talked about Jordan after a playoff game, "I didn’t think anyone was capable of doing what Michael has done to us. He is the most exciting, awesome player in the game today. I think it’s just God disguised as Michael Jordan." That was following Jordan's 63 point performance in the Boston Garden. Magic Johnson also has chimed in saying, " There's Michael Jordan and then there is the rest of us."
Jordan's induction ceremony is big enough that the NBA was forced to change the venue of his enshrinement. It has been moved from the Hall's center court room which seats 1,200, to the Springfield Symphony Hall which more than doubles the HOF at 2,611.
The bottom line is that MJ is the best basketball player ever and his induction into the NBA hall of fame has been long awaited. The Hall is now complete with his airness joining those other pictures on the ceiling in Springfield, Massachusetts.
