|
michael.j.jordan young playing high or COLLEGE school basketball in 1986 ducking. |
jordan was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Deloris (née Peoples), who worked in banking, and James R. Jordan, Sr., an equipment supervisor. His family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, when he was a toddler .Jordan attended Emsley A. Laney High School in Wilmington, where he anchored his athletic career by playing baseball, football, and basketball. He tried out for the varsity basketball team during his sophomore year, but at 5'11" (1.80 m), he was deemed too short to play at that level. His taller friend, Harvest Leroy Smith, was the only sophomore to make the team.
|
There have been a lot of Michael Jordan covers in SLAM’s history, but this one is the best for me. I love how it’s high contrast, shows off his fadeaway and how you can barely see his Jordan XIIIs. Pretty sure this issue is still in my mom’s basement.ON A BLUSTERY NIGHT IN CHICAGO when Michael Jordan hits the Portland Trail Blazers with a 53-point avalanche, reporters gather around Clyde Drexler to catch his drift. And the Glide of Portland isn't shoveling bull about this Bull."If Michael had the same supporting cast as Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, he would win as often as they do. If your talking who's most valuable to his team, it's Michael."The mind-boggling numbers say no NBA guard has had a scoring season quite like Michael Jordan's a year ago. Not Magic. Not Jerry West. Not Nate Archibald. Not George Gervin. Jordan wrote his own record book, establishing club marks for most points in a game (61) and season (3,041), to name two. His 37.1 point average led the league and shattered Archibald's one season standards in the backcourt. Overall, he was the team leader in 11 major categories. Only Oscar Robertson approached such dizzying heights in 1962, when he averaged a triple-double -- 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds, 11.4 assists -- in a league that boasted more 6-foot guards than 7-foot centers.To understand fully the extent of Jordan's statistical dominance, consider that he became the first player at any position to invade what long had been Wilt Chamberlain's private domain. His scoring total ranked third on the all-time list behind only Chamberlain. He accounted for 35 percent of his team's points, also No. 3 behind Chamberlain. And for the first time since the Big Dipper hung up his headband and finger roll, Jordan hit the 60-point mark twice in one season and 50 or more in three straight games. All this plus a Bulls home attendance record, too.
Yet despite the records and gravity-defying dunks and nationwide fan adoration, Jordan was hardly a contented 24-year-old man. If the cold numbers were numbing, so was their toll, physically and mentally. The more Jordan scored, it seemed, the Bulls struggled just the same and the less he enjoyed it. By season's end, he was tired, beaten and openly wondering whether he had done too much for everybody's own good. "In Michael Jordan, we have the sleek roadster, the Corvette," says Coach Doug Collins. "The rest of the guys are the bruisers, the Mack trucks. I think we've done a pretty good job of blending power with finesse and speed. It all gets back to this: Are you getting the most with what you've got? I think the answer is yes." With Jordan grounded for 64 regular season games the previous year because of a broken navicular tarsal bone in his left foot, the Bulls finished 30-52 and made a token playoff appearance. With Jordan healthy, they got out of the gate deceptively fast. But it wasn't long before opponents worked Jordan hard at both ends of the floor, became more attentive to his lesser teammates and, in the process, turned what had been a season of exclamation points into questionmarks. Then there was the hurt of growing whispers that suggested he was little more than a glorified scorer. It didn't seem to matter that his teams had been successful wherever he had gone previously, whether it be North Carolina or the Olympics. Or that the Lakers' Magic admits, "I have a few more horses than he does." As Jordan's points and shot attempts soared, so did criticism, some of it from people whom he respected and even envied. Among them was Bird, who only the previous year had called Jordan "the best player in the league." He amended the statement, saying, "When he came into the league, I thought (Jordan) would be a great all-around player, but his game has completely changed. Right now, the only thing he does is shoot 30 times a game. I'd never want to play like that. He's got to play like that, I guess, but I would never ever want to take 30-to-35 shots a game. It's too much of a load every game." Others followed, including Chamberlain, who questioned Jordan's shooting ability. Some were not quite as harsh. Said Houston Coach Bill Fitch: "Michael Jordan is a helluva player who has turned the Bulls into a good team. But it's deceiving the way they're using him. If you're asking me who the MVP is, that's something I can answer only after I've seen the final standings." Jordan understands such criticism, even if his critics don't always seem to understand his motives. In three short years, Jordan has done virtually everything except win, a fact that hangs like a millstone around his neck. Robertson is arguably the greatest guard to have played the game, but not until he won an NBA title as an aging Milwaukee Buck was his career considered to be complete. Chamberlain dominated like no other player before or since, but will forever be known as Bill Russell's fall guy. Jordan is aware hat Bird and Magic accept only championships in their exclusive MVP Club. Perhaps that explains why few noticed that, for example, Jordan had more blocked shots than any guard since 1973-74 (the statistic was not recorded before that season) and was the first player in league history to record at least 100 blocks and 200 steals. "The one thing I've concentrated on defense," he says. "That's an important area for this team, and I want to be a part of it. Defense is part of my background. I was taught the fundamentals at North Carolina, although people aren't aware of it. Before I retire, I want them to see that I'm a good defensive player. I can play defense, but nobody knows it." |
Jordan was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Deloris (née Peoples), who worked in banking, James R. Jordan, Sr., an equipment supervisor. His family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, when he was a toddler. Jordan attended Emsley A. Laney High School in Wilmington, where he anchored his athletic career by playing baseball, football, and basketball. He tried out for the varsity basketball team during his sophomore year, but at 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m), he was deemed too short to play at that level and was cut from the team. The following summer, however, he grew four inches (10 cm) and trained rigorously. Upon earning a spot on the varsity roster, Jordan averaged about 25 points per game over his final two seasons of high school play. As a senior, he was selected to the McDonald’s All-American Team after averaging a triple-double: 29.2 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 10.1 assists.
In 1981, Jordan earned a basketball scholarship to the University of North Carolina, where he majored in cultural geography. As a freshman in coach Dean Smith’s team-oriented system, he was named ACC Freshman of the Year after he averaged 13.4 points per game (ppg) on 53.4% shooting (field goal percentage). He made the game-winning jump shot in the 1982 NCAA Championship game against Georgetown, which was led by future NBA rival Patrick Ewing. Jordan later described this shot as the major turning point in his basketball career. During his three seasons at North Carolina, he averaged 17.7 ppg on 54.0% shooting, and added 5.0 rebounds per game (rpg). After winning the Naismith and the Wooden College Player of the Year awards in 1984, Jordan left North Carolina one year before his scheduled graduation to enter the 1984 NBA Draft. The Chicago Bulls selected Jordan with the third overall pick, after Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston Rockets) and Sam Bowie (Portland Trail Blazers). Jordan returned to North Carolina to complete his degree in 1986. |