His airness Michael Jordan was in a league of his own throughout his career. Even before going pro or rolling out his exclusive Air Jordan’s, Michael was special. His time in his high school and college were remarkable by how unremarkable they were. Cut from the varsity Laney High School basketball team and later overshadowed at UNC by their star James Worthy, Jordan overcame struggles to show up when it mattered. Michael Jordan basketball history truly began in the NCAA finals during his college freshman year. UNC was playing future NBA star Patrick Ewing’s Georgetown Tarheels, when Jordan took over the game scoring 16 points with 9 rebounds and the game winning shot with 18 second left in the game.
We’ve seen him many times, his larger-than-life face displayed on the electronic basketball scoreboards. His face is has become an icon thanks to new technology that can show player’s every move!
Michael Jordan exploded into the league in 1984. Dusting off the humility of being picked third in the draft after his sophomore season at UNC, his airness took the Chicago Bulls and made them his own. An instant scoring sensation, Michael Jordan took the Rookie of the Year honors with an average of 28.5 points per game, 6.5 rebounds and 6 assists–unmatched numbers for any rookie. The Michael Jordan basketball autobiography will also show that this year his contract with Nike kicked into high gear and demand for his exclusive air jordans drove him to eventually be the most marketable commercial asset as well. His basketball shoes turned Nike into a formidable force of popular culture.
A broken bone in his left foot put the Michael Jordan basketball history on a detour to greatness. Michael Jordan bounced back with an incredible 47 points per game in a losing playoff series against Larry Bird’s Celtics. The next season Michael Jordan emerged and blossomed as the emblematic leader of the Bulls for which he is remembered. It would take 5 more years until 1991 for the Bulls to take their first NBA title and two major pieces to be added to the Bulls: teammate Scottie Pippen and coach Phil Jackson.
Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls would win three NBA Championships in a row before Jordan stunned the basketball world in 1994 one day before the preseason began with his retirement announcement. Jordan went on to hang up his exclusive air jordans for the temptation to fulfill his murdered father’s wishes to see his son play baseball. While Jordan toiled in obscurity in minor league baseball, the league held its breath waiting for their icon to return. The Michael Jordan autobiography continued with 17 games left in that season when Jordan returned, proclaiming simply “I’m Back.”
Indeed, Michael Jordan was back. With a new group of teammates, the Michael Jordan basketball history was solidified the next season. That team won a record 72 regular season games and went on to win 3 more NBA Championships before Jordan retired. He played a few seasons for the lowly Washington Wizards, while also making some executive decisions for the team but nothing happened to add to his lore. His skills, while occasionally remarkable, were obviously in decline or already gone by this age.
Still nothing he did could take away from the wonder and amazement that Michael Jordan brought to the NBA, its fans and its advertisers. He was and probably always will be the greatest player to have ever played the game.