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| Michael Jordan NBA championships 6-time NBA Champion |
Early life
Michael Jeffrey Jordan was born at Cumberland Hospital in Brooklyn, New
York on February 17, 1963, the son of bank employee Deloris (née Peoples) and
equipment supervisor James R. Jordan Sr. He has two older brothers, James Jr.
and Larry. as well as an older sister named Deloris and a younger sister named
Roslyn. Jordan and his brothers were raised Methodist.
In 1968, the family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina. Jordan attended
Emsley A. Laney High School, where he played basketball, baseball and football.
In his sophomore year, he tried out for the varsity basketball team, but at 5
feet 11 inches (1.80 m) he was considered too short. Eager to prove himself,
Jordan became a star on Laney's junior varsity team and posted multiple
40-point games. The following summer he grew four inches (10 cm) and trained
hard. After earning a spot on the varsity roster, Jordan averaged over 25
points per game (ppg) during his final two seasons in high school. As a senior,
he was selected to the 1981 McDonald's All-American Game and scored 30 points
while averaging 26.8 points per game, 11.6 rebounds per game and 10.1 assists
per game during the season.
Jordan was a shooting guard who could also play small forward, a position
he primarily played during his second return to professional basketball with
the Washington Wizards. Jordan was known throughout his career as an excellent
clutch player. With the Bulls, he decided 25 games by making field goals or
free throws in the final 30 seconds, including two NBA Finals games and five
other playoff games. His competitiveness was evident in his many chats and
renowned work ethic. Jordan often used perceived slights to improve his
performances.
Sportswriter Wright Thompson described him as "an assassin in the
Darwinian sense of the word, who immediately discovers and attacks someone's
weakest point." As the Bulls organization built a franchise around Jordan,
management had to trade away players who weren't "tough enough" to
compete with him in practice. To improve his defense, Jordan spent hours
studying video footage of his opponents. In attack, he relied more on instinct
and improvisation. Jordan's fierce competition had a huge impact on his
teammates, sometimes motivating them but also creating tension and alienation.
Legacy
Jordan's talent was evident from his first season in the NBA; In November
1984, he was compared to Julius Erving Larry Bird said that rookie Jordan was
the best player he had ever seen and that Jordan was "one of a kind"
and comparable to Wayne Gretzky as an athlete. In his first game at Madison
Square Garden against the New York Knicks, Jordan received a standing ovation
that lasted almost a minute. After Jordan set a single-game playoff record of
63 points against the Boston Celtics on April 20, 1986, Bird described him as
"God disguised as Michael Jordan."
Awards and honors
NBA
Six-time NBA champion – 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998
Six-time NBA Finals MVP – 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998
Five-time NBA MVP – 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1998
NBA
Defensive Player of the Year – 1987–88
NBA
Rookie of the Year – 1984–85
10-time NBA scoring leader – 1987–1993,
1996–1998
Three-time NBA steals leader – 1988,
1990, 1993
14-time NBA All-Star – 1985–1993,
1996–1998, 2002, 2003
USA Basketball
Two-time Olympic gold
medal winner – 1984, 1992
Tournament
of the Americas gold medal winner – 1992
Pan American
Games gold medal winner – 1983
Two-time USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year – 1983,
1984
NCAA
NCAA national championship – 1981–82
ACC Rookie of the Year –
1981–82
Two-time Consensus NCAA
All-American First Team – 1982–83, 1983–84
ACC Men's Basketball Player of the Year –
1983–84
ACC
Athlete of the Year – 1984
USBWA
College Player of the Year –
1983–84
Naismith
College Player of the Year –
1983–84
Post-retirement
After his third retirement,
Jordan expected to be able to return to his executive position as the Wizards'
director of basketball operations. Jordan's previous tenure had produced mixed
results and may have also influenced the trade of Richard "Rip"
Hamilton for Jerry Stackhouse, although Jordan was not technically the director
of basketball operations in 2002.
On May 7, 2003, Wizards owner Abe Pollin fired Jordan. from the
role. Jordan later stated that he felt betrayed and that if he had known he
would be fired upon his retirement, he would never have played for the Wizards
again.
Over the next few years,
Jordan played golf at celebrity charity tournaments and spent time with his
family in Chicago. He also promoted his Jordan Brand clothing line and rode
motorcycles. Since
2004, Jordan has owned Michael Jordan Motorsports, a professional closed-track
motorcycle racing team that competed on two Suzuki’s in the premier American
Motorcycle Association (AMA)-sanctioned Superbike Championship until the end of
the 2013 season.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jordan
·
Michael Jordan on Twitter
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Career statistics from NBA.com and Basketball Reference
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Michael Jordan at the Naismith
Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
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Career statistics from Baseball Reference (Minors)
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Michael Jordan at IMDb
·
"Jordan archives". Chicago
Tribune. Archived from the original on June 5, 1997.
Retrieved April 29, 2020.
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