AUTOGRAPHS

Michael Jordan the Basketball Superstar

Michael Jordan…..The Beginning Introduction One day, God created a perfect basketball player. He gave him all the necessary skills and character traits. He called him….. Michael Jordan. Today he is a basketball superstar and the most famous man in the world. He has hundreds of awards and honors, and his annual earnings reach $80 million. Early Life Michael Jeffrey Jordan was born on February 17, 1963 in Brooklyn (New York, USA). Although, he does not consider himself to be a New Yorker as says he was too small to be aware of this fact. His parents, fearing the growing crime rate, moved to Wilmington – a small town on the coast (in North Carolina). In most American small towns boys enjoyed baseball more than basketball that is why Michael started with baseball. When he was 12 years old his team advanced to the Little League World Series (league for best juniors). Jordan had some good shots, but eventually his team was eliminated from the tournament. In high school he continued playing, he also tried to play football!

The basketball adventure began thanks to his father – James who built a small courtyard at their property, for his children. It was one of the few two-basket fields in the area and soon it became a favorite place for guys from Wilmington to play. Jordan whether he wanted to or not had to play. A constant opponent was his brother Larry. A senior in high school, the much taller Larry regularly beat the smaller Michael. In high school (Laney High), Michael played in the junior team. As a sign of respect to his older brother, Larry, and believing himself to be half as good as his brother he took the number 23, which is almost half of the number Larry had, 45. In the second class, Jordan had problems with finding space in the basic composition of the school team. To play on the wing, he was too small (he was 173 cm), plus he was healing an injury. As he said: “It was humiliating. I carried the bags, on trips, for older teammates. Once my parents saw it I thought I would burn with shame. They were convinced that I went to play.” But Michael was stubborn. His physical education teacher would repeatedly throw him out from the gym, because he was repeatedly coming to practice before his lessons. He trained a lot, and often “forgot” about the lessons! Michael was helped by the Buccaneers coach – Clifton Herring. Mostly he trained kicks and dribbling. None of his family was more than 170 cm tall. MJ was a little taller, but still too low to be a basketball player. He then started to work on his growth. Throughout the summer he was hanging on the rails exercising and used a variety of stretching exercises. Did this help… nobody knows. The fact is, however, that the following season he was 188 cm tall! In the end, he managed to get to the basketball team. When he was 190 cm he started to play the position of a strong winger. Although it was not his natural position, he played it with great success. University of North Carolina After graduating from Laney High, high school, the time came to make the big decision – the choice of a university. Michael was considering colleges such as UCLA, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In November 1980 he devoted himself to the care of the latter. The team at the University of North Carolina – The Tar Heels, had already 2 stars, James Worthy and Sam Perkins. Soon there would appear a new star.

Jordan’s new coach – Dean Smith – taught his students that the most important thing is the good of the whole team, not individual basketball players. He taught how to be a team player and how to put everything aside for the team’s sake. Smith also attached the great importance to individual coaching and the appropriate approach to it. Michael quickly accepted the new rules. Although, from the beginning, he was the star of the team, yet he had great respect for older players. At press conferences he would apologize for the absence of seniors players, when needed he yielded his seat to them, and when he scored over 20 points – at first, he thanked his colleagues for their assistance. To this day, is a supporter of such policy in the NBA. Michael’s first season ended with an average of 13.5 ppg (53.4% efficiency) and 4.4 RPG. About his great talent the world found out on March 29, 1982. In the final of the U.S. university championships (NCAA Division), MJ, nineteen at the time, in the last seconds turned the tide in the favor of the Tar Heels. When his team was losing by one point, a series of several passes managed to confuse the enemy from Georgetown. MJ had used it – he successfully shot from a distance 15 seconds before the end of the match. James Worthy scored 28 points that day (this was the best performance of his career). Jordan scored only 16 points and had a record nine rebounds, but he was a star! After his exploits was showered with awards. The league title of 1982 proved to be the first and last of MJ’s university career. The departure of basic players (led by Worthy) significantly weakened the team. But Michael at all times was gaining individual successes. He was elected to the first team All-America (1982-83 and 1983-84). “Sporting News” ranked him in 1983 and 1984 the player of the year. In 1984, he was also the college player of the year. For three years playing in college he received an average 17.7 ppg and 5.1 RPG. Nobody would have imagined that this is only the beginning of the incredible feats that ensured him the title of the best basketball player in history. It is worth to emphasize once again the impact of Coach Dean Smith on Michael and his approach to basketball. Smith has taught him respect for the game, helped him realize and begin to develop his sporting opportunities. Also, shaped his character. The bond between them became very important to both of them. When Michael wanted to leave school after one year, only his parents and Smith participated in discussions on this topic. It was largely thanks to Jordan’s coach that Michael stayed at the university. In 1993, when Michael revealed to the most trusted friends, that he intends to withdraw from playing basketball, his friends laughed at him. Smith flew to Chicago to personally see the last game that Michael was to participate in. He knew right away that MJ was serious! NBA – The 1st Season The NBA adventure Michael began on draft day – June 19, 1984. As the first, the Houston Rockets chose, from a local university, center Hakeem Olajuwon. The second choice belonged to the Portland Trail Blazers, who already had a player who played like Jordan, the swing man Clyde Drexler. They needed the center, which is why they choose Sam Bowie. The number three team to choose was the Chicago Bulls, one of the worst teams in the NBA. They took Michael Jordan, which by many – both supporters and activists of the club – was seen as a ridiculous move (of course no one today can say that it was a mistake!). In the meantime, Michael was the star of the U.S. Olympic team. He played with the future members of the Dream Team – Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin. MJ had an average of 17.1 ppg. Then he won his first Olympic gold. On September 12, 1984, Michael signed a seven-year contract for 6.15 million dollars (five years plus an option to play the next two). At that time it was the third-highest contract in history, signed by the first-year player. More got only Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson, who both, signed contracts with the Houston Rockets. That was how Michael went from a strong team at the university to a very weak team from Chicago, who finished the season preceding the balance of 27 wins to 55 loses (32.9% of the games had been won by the Chicago Bulls). However, this was a young team, with many possibilities….., and a lot of work ahead of them. In his first preseason game MJ scored 18 points. He played 29 minutes. In the presence of 2,100 spectators at Peoria Civic Arena the Bulls defeated the Indiana Pacers.

Michael Jordan made his NBA debut on October 26, 1984. That Friday night the Bulls played at home against the Washington Bullets. The meeting ended with the victory for the Bulls (109:93). MJ scored 16 points (5 of 16 throws being successful), had seven assists and six rebounds. Although Jordan was a renowned athlete at the university, nobody thought that he would become a superstar. Especially his debut, when most agreed that than $6 million for 7 years is slightly too much for such a player. Michael did not go too far in his NBA debut. However, during the third game MJ gave a sample of his true potential. In the game against the Milwaukee Bucks, he scored 37 points (including 20 of the 26 points scored by the Bulls in the fourth quarter) and led to 116:110 victory. Jordan’s first visit as a Chicago Bull n New York, echoed across the country. 19,252 spectators came to watch the young star at the famous Madison Square Garden. When a result was 121:106 for the Bulls, he picked up the ball from Darrel Walker and sped to the counterattack. At one point he casually looked back and jumped with the ball in one hand towards the basket. He shook the basket 2 times and stuffed the ball for 2 points. He did it with such drama that, this dunk was instantly made famous and even posters with it were sold. Michael slowly began to realize his abilities, but he was amazed at the confusion he caused. – “I’m no one special, of course, I play basketball better than some, and I can do on the field more than others, but why am I treated like a rock star, or someone like that?”. Also, other players began to realize that Michael was special – Larry Bird, after the bulls beat the Celtics (110:106) stated: “I’ve never seen a basketball player driving his team like that to win. All the Bulls have become more dangerous with him, and soon the time will come when people will pay for tickets just to see Jordan.” Remember that this was only Jordan’s debut season in the NBA. All-Star Weekend In February 1985 – as usual – it was time for the NBA All-Star Weekend. There was no great surprise to anyone that Michael was selected to be a part of the All-Star East Team. However, the decision was met with disapproval already by the recognized stars of the NBA – Magic Johnson, Isaiah Thomas, George Gervin and Mark Aguirre. The situation became even more inflamed during the Dunk Contest taking place for only the second time (and treated very seriously) in which Michael won second place only behind Dominique Wilkins. The stars decided to show the new kid up. They decided to ignore him on the pitch during the main ceremony during the weekend which was the All-Star Game. By himself, Jordan hit only 2 of 7 throws, scored 7 points, but managed to collect six balls, had three steals and blocked the 223cm tall Ralph Sampson. After the match he said: “Usually I stop getting jitters after one or two runs on the parquet – today I felt them until the second half. In the end that was a peak moment in my career.” Jordan managed to take revenge on the originator “of the campaign against Jordan” – two days after the All-Star Game the Bulls defeated the Detroit Pistons in their hall 139:126. Jordan scored 49 points and scored 15 rebounds. Michael was a player playing very spectacular and attractive basketball to the fans – the average attendance number in the Chicago Arena increased from 6365 the previous season to almost 12,000 in his first season! After superb performances in the first season Jordan was declared Rookie of the Year. During the season he gained an average of 28.2 ppg, which was third in the league. He led his team in terms of rebounds – 6.5 RPG, Assists – 5.9 apg and steals – 2.39 spg.

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