Michael Jordan: Legends in Sports (5 page)

The NBA draft was held on June 19, 1984. The Houston Rockets had the first pick. As expected,
they selected University of Houston center Hakeem Olajuwon, the best pivot man in college basketball. The Rockets needed a
center and selecting a player from the University of Houston was a smart public relations move.

The Portland Trail Blazers picked next. Many people thought Portland would pick Michael. But the Trail Blazers needed a center,
too. They selected Sam Bowie of the University of Kentucky.

As soon as Portland made its pick, officials from the Chicago Bulls let out a big sigh of relief. The Bulls, with the third
pick in the draft, had hoped that Michael Jordan would still be available.

In a Chicago hotel, thousands of Bulls fans watching the draft on television started chanting, “Jordan, Jordan, Jordan.” Bulls
general manager Rod Thorn, in a room two floors above the ballroom, could hear the commotion. A big smile crossed his face.
A few moments later, the Bulls released a brief statement. “The Chicago Bulls Pick Michael Jordan, Guard, from the University
of North Carolina.”

As soon as the Bulls fans heard the announcement, they erupted in applause and cheers.

Ever since the Bulls franchise was born in 1966,
Bulls fans had been waiting for a winner. In the early 1970s, they nearly got their wish. The Bulls made regular appearances
in the playoffs, and even won the Central Division championship in the 1971–72 season. But the team never went very far in
the playoffs, and in the last decade had been doormats in the NBA. While the Bulls players were individually talented, they
didn’t play together well as a team. They didn’t just lose; they lost badly. None of the Bulls demonstrated much leadership
on court, and no one was particularly exciting to watch.

The Bulls hoped Michael Jordan would change all that. Members of the press started referring to him as the team’s “savior.”
But before Michael could join the Bulls, he had some unfinished business to take care of. He still had to play in the Olympics.

All summer long, Michael practiced with the Olympic team. During a series of exhibitions, it became clear that even on a team
that included stars like Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing and St. John’s guard Chris Mullin, Michael Jordan was the best player.
In practice, even Coach Bobby Knight, who was known for his stern and serious disposition, marveled at Michael’s ability.
While Knight expected players to
listen and do things his way on the court, he allowed Michael more freedom than others. Knight knew that once Michael got
going, few players could stop him.

The world found out about Michael Jordan when the 1984 Olympics began in July.

In the first game, against China, Michael scored 14 points and led the United States to a lopsided win, 91–47. In the next
game, versus Canada, he scored 20 as the United States won big again, 89–68. Then, in a 104–68 blasting of Uruguay, he dropped
in 16 points as the United States moved on to the medal round.

Players from the opposing teams were awed by Michael Jordan. Many had never seen a player do the things he did. When he jumped
into the air, he seemed to soar and “hang,” as if defying gravity. He didn’t just score; he did so in spectacular fashion,
spinning 360 degrees then jamming the ball, or launching himself into the air from the free throw line and throwing down a
tomahawk slam, or twisting beneath the basket for a reverse layup. As Uruguayan coach Ramon Etchamendi said about playing
the American squad. “Maybe we have a chance with
seven against five.” One Canadian player lamented, “We just couldn’t stay with Jordan.”

Michael saved his best performances for medal-round play. In a 101–68 rout of Spain, he scored 24 points, 18 in the first
half. After the game, Spanish coach Antonio Díaz-Miguel joked, “I asked my good friend Bob Knight if he wanted my whole team
in trade for Michael Jordan.”

To win the gold medal, the United States had to beat Spain for a second time. Coach Knight worried that his team would be
overconfident. A U.S. Olympic victory was anything but a sure thing. Only four years before, in the 1980 Olympics, the United
States had finished a disappointing third.

When Knight entered the locker room before the final game, he wondered what he could say to his team to get them ready. As
he approached the blackboard to write down his starting lineup, he noticed a note taped to the board. Knight looked at the
note closely. It was from Michael Jordan.

“Coach,” it read, “after everything we’ve been through, we’re not going to lose this game.”

The note was prophetic. Far from suffering from a letdown or overconfidence, the team rode roughshod
over Spain. Michael scored 20 points, and the United States knocked off Spain, 96–65, to win the gold.

After the medal ceremony, Michael found his mother, Deloris, in the crowd. Without saying a word, he took the gold medal from
his neck and draped it around hers.

On a team of stars, Michael shone brightest, as he led the U.S. squad with a scoring average of 17 points. In eight games,
the United States won by an average of 32 points.

Michael had little time to celebrate his Olympic accomplishments. As soon as the games ended, he signed a seven-year contract
with the Chicago Bulls worth more than $6 million and began his professional career.

Coach Smith had been right. Professional basketball was perfectly suited to Michael’s game. Each team had to play man-to-man
defense, giving Michael more room to maneuver than he had had in college. The 24-second clock made the entire game move faster.
Individual ability was highlighted, and few players had as much individual ability as Michael Jordan. The spectacular plays
he made once or twice a game in college were commonplace in the NBA.

Even in practice, Bulls coach Kevin Loughery could tell Michael was going to be something special. As he told one reporter,
when the Bulls scrimmaged, “If I put him in with the starters, they win. If I put him in with the second team, they win. …
No matter what I do with Michael, his team wins.”

In early October, Michael Jordan made his professional debut in an exhibition game against the Milwaukee Bucks played at a
high school in East Chicago. While teenage girls screamed his name as if he were a rock star, Michael scored 22 points despite
being guarded by Sidney Moncrief, the NBA Defense Player of the Year! The Bulls won easily.

With each game, Michael played better and better. And he played just as hard in practice as he did during the games. Some
Bulls players were accustomed to “coasting” through practice. But when Michael was on the floor, they soon began playing hard.
If they didn’t, Michael would easily embarrass them with his magnificent play.

When the regular season began, Michael barely slowed down. It took him only a few games to adjust to the pace of the NBA.
The Bulls won their opener, 109–93, against the Washington Bullets. Michael
chipped in 16 points. In their second game, the Bulls lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, 108–106, when Michael missed a last-second
shot. Two nights later, again against the Bucks, Michael broke out for 37 points as the Bulls won again.

Word of Michael Jordan traveled quickly through the league. Nearly every night, he dominated highlight programs shown on television.
In every game he played, it seemed, Michael Jordan did something no one had ever seen before.

Almost overnight, Michael became the biggest drawing card in the NBA. No matter where he went, fans crowded around him and
clamored after his autograph. After only a few weeks as a professional basketball player, Michael found it impossible to go
to a movie or walk through a mall like a regular person. He was just too popular.

All over the country, young basketball players who had always imitated stars like Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers
or Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics suddenly started imitating Michael Jordan. On playgrounds everywhere, you could find kids
driving to the hoop with their tongues sticking out like Michael. His Bulls jersey, number 23, became
the most popular uniform, and his sneakers, known as Air Jordans, soon outsold all others.

Had this happened to any other player, it might have changed the way he or she behaved toward people. But Michael knew who
he was. He knew that no matter how well he played basketball, what really mattered was how good a person he was. Just because
he was the most popular player in the league didn’t mean he could stop trying to improve or start treating people badly. His
parents had taught him better than that.

While the Bulls weren’t the best team in the league, they weren’t the worst, either. With Michael leading the way, they finished
the first half of the season 20–21.

In midseason, Michael was thrilled to learn he had been named to the NBA All-Star team. That had been one of his personal
goals when he entered his first professional season.

But Michael was disappointed in the All-Star game. He played 22 minutes but took only nine shots. It seemed as if each time
he was open, his teammates passed the ball the other way. When he did get the ball, the defense swarmed over him, and
no one on his team came over to help out. After the game, Michael was mystified.

He soon found out what had happened. Some of the older players on Michael’s team were jealous of all the attention he was
receiving. Before the game, they decided to “freeze him out” — not let him have the ball.

When Michael Jordan found out what had happened, he didn’t get mad; he got even. A few days after the All-Star game, the Bulls
played the Detroit Pistons. Michael had learned that Piston guard Isiah Thomas was one of the players behind the All-Star
game boycott.

Michael made him pay. He scored 49 points on a series of monster dunks, spinning drives, and soaring jump shots that left
the Pistons shaking their heads. The Bulls won big.

Michael finished his first NBA season with a scoring average of 28.2 points a game. He also averaged 5.9 assists and 6.5 rebounds
per game, remarkable numbers for any player. To no one’s surprise, Michael Jordan was named NBA Rookie of the Year.

Thanks to Michael, the Bulls had become one of the most popular teams in the league. Attendance at
Chicago Stadium had nearly doubled, and they were favorites on the road, too. Moreover, the Bulls improved their record to
38–44, good enough to make the playoffs.

Yet what happened on the basketball court was not the most important event in Michael Jordan’s life that year. In midseason,
Michael met Juanita Vanoy, a former model who was working as a secretary at an advertising agency that handled some of Michael’s
endorsements. Soon, Michael and Juanita were spending all their free time together. A few years later, they married.

All the way around, it had been an eventful season for Michael Jordan. But even he couldn’t quite win games all by himself.
The veteran Milwaukee Bucks bounced the Bulls from the playoffs in the first round, three games to one. Michael Jordan was
disappointed but tried to put the loss behind him. He was already thinking about next year.

CHAPTER FOUR
1985–1987

In the off-season, partly because of the success the team had had with Michael, the Bulls were sold to a group headed by Jerry
Reinsdorf, who also owned the Chicago White Sox baseball team. The Bulls fired coach Kevin Loughery and general manager Rod
Thorn and named Stan Albeck and Jerry Krauss to take their places. The two men made some off-season changes in the team. They
got rid of several players who gave less than their full effort on the court, then added power forward Charles Oakley in the
draft and moved forward Sydney Green into the starting lineup.

Entering the 1985–86 season, Michael was optimistic. He hoped to lead the Bulls to a winning record and a good performance
in the playoffs.

But the Bulls had some problems that even
Michael Jordan couldn’t take care of. The team had a difficult time adjusting to a new coach, and some Bulls players were
more interested in partying than they were in winning.

The team started off the exhibition season with eight straight losses. Then Quintin Dailey, who teamed with Michael in the
Bulls’ backcourt, asked to be sent to a drug rehabilitation program. Soon after, Michael’s best friend on the team, Michael
Higgins, was cut.