hotfreestyle: Shaq says he would decline a ‘Last Dance’ documentary because Kobe is no longer here and says he will never wear his championship rings. RIP Kobe (@complex)
Michael Jordan Rumors
All NBA Players
#0
Michael Jordan
Position: -
Born: 02/17/63
Height: 6-6 / 1.98
Weight:216 lbs. / 98 kg.
Earnings: $86,760,000 ($143,710,650*)
Born: 02/17/63
Height: 6-6 / 1.98
Weight:216 lbs. / 98 kg.
Earnings: $86,760,000 ($143,710,650*)
“We had a checklist: gambling, conspiracy theory about retirement, his father’s death, his lack of activism and his teammates,” Tollin told me. “I think we touched on all categories. From the start, we asked ourselves, ‘Is this a workplace drama or is it a domestic one?’ We both believed it was a workplace story, and [director] Jason [Hehir] and I shared a general disinterest of the wives and children of the lead characters. Michael is one of the most private people of our lifetimes. He’s glad this is over. He wants to get on with his regularly scheduled life. Michael never said you can’t talk to either of his wives. We didn’t feel doing so advanced the story.”
Every person should be entitled to their story, especially for a person as forensically dissected as Michael Jordan. I asked Joe Dumars, the Hall of Fame Pistons guard, why he wasn’t in the film. He told me the filmmakers reached out to him, but while he had enormous respect for Jordan and found it entertaining, the film was Michael’s show. His story, as he saw it. In a sense, Tollin and the director, Jason Hehir, got lucky that Jordan was willing to be seen as openly as he was. “I think the film did much to demystify him,” Tollin said. “There were many times when it took a hard, unflattering look at him.”
ESPN Stats: With the Grizziles currently 8th in the West, Ja Morant has a chance to become the 3rd rookie to lead a playoff team in PPG and APG, joining Michael Jordan (’84-85 Bulls) & Elgin Baylor (’58-59 Lakers). (Source: Elias Sports Bureau)
ESPN Stats: With the Grizziles currently 8th in the West, Ja Morant has a chance to become the 3rd rookie to lead a playoff team in PPG and APG, joining Michael Jordan (’84-85 Bulls) & Elgin Baylor (’58-59 Lakers). (Source: Elias Sports Bureau)
Martindale on Erving: “Dr. J was awesome. He was awesome because he gave a great perspective during the Civil Rights era – when he played and how he handled it. I thought that was good for the guys at the time. And we all know Dr. J was – as I introduced him to the players – he was Michael Jordan’s Michael Jordan if you will.”
“Making this game in Chicago during the height of the Michael Jordan era, there was a big rivalry between the Pistons and the Bulls, but the one way I could get back at the Bulls once they got over the hump was to affect their skills against the Pistons in NBA Jam,” Turmell said in the interview. “And so I put in special code that if the Bulls were taking last-second shots against the Pistons, they would miss those shots. And so, if you’re ever playing the game, make sure you pick the Pistons over the Bulls.”
George Karl: Vince was the best dunker I’ve ever seen in basketball. Better than Michael, Shawn, Dominique, anyone. More importantly, congrats on a wonderful career @Vince Carter. You did @UNC_Basketball proud.
Tommy Beer: Vince Carter retires as one of five players in NBA history to score more than 25,000 points, grab more than 5,000 rebounds, dish out more than 4,000 assists and make more than 500 made 3-pointers. The other four are: Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Paul Pierce and LeBron James.
“[Williamson is] a guy that drives eyeballs and attention,” said the Eastern Conference executive, before referencing another rising star coming off an injury who met a title favorite in the NBA playoffs almost 30 years ago. “[The NBA] would love to have a Michael Jordan versus the ’86 Celtics moment in the first round,” the executive continued. “If they could get their ideal world, that’s what they would want.”
Darren Rovell: New Jordan auction by @GoldinAuctions just opened and the MJ game-used jersey from Games 3 & 4 of the “Last Dance” Eastern Conference Finals against the Pacers is already at $204,000, including buyer’s premium.
And, get this, there’s more awesome Kobe swag for sale: – Kobe Bryant worn and signed cast from when he broke his wrist during the preseason in 1999. Expected to bring in about $20k. – A 1996-1997 Topps Chrome Refractors Kobe Bryant rookie card (a very rare card). Expected to go for around $75k. – A Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant signed basketball. Expected to sell for $20k to $25k.
Darren Rovell: Two pairs of Michael Jordan signed shoes sold tonight in a @lelandsdotcom auction. One he is said to have used at the warmup tournament before the 1992 Olympics sold for $190,373 (same price as ’84 Olympic used shoes sold for in 2017) A UNC pair sold for $95,176.
Darren Rovell: Two pairs of Michael Jordan signed shoes sold tonight in a @lelandsdotcom auction. One he is said to have used at the warmup tournament before the 1992 Olympics sold for $190,373 (same price as ’84 Olympic used shoes sold for in 2017) A UNC pair sold for $95,176.
3w
One of the last Chicago Bulls jerseys Michael Jordan’s ever rocked is about to hit the auction block … and is expected to sell for half a MILLION dollars!! The threads are from the ’97-’98 Eastern Conference Finals — MJ’s last season with Chicago — when his Bulls squad battled Reggie Miller’s Indiana Pacers.
In 1994, Michael Jordan was still enjoying his first retirement. But his competitive drive never left, which is how he found himself joining a pickup game at the Athletic Club at Illinois Center. Ben Terrell was there that night, and he provided the never-before-seen footage to SI, which shows the best basketball player in the world dusting Average Joes on the court while operating at approximately 15% effort.
SportsChannel Chicago, a now-defunct regional sports network, sent a cameraman down to the gym to film Jordan playing. A clip from the resulting SportsChannel segment went semi-viral on Twitter last month, which led a man named Ben Terrell to go digging around his basement for a VHS tape that had been down there for 26 years. Terrell, who played with Jordan that night, was the one who tipped off SportsChannel anchor Steve Kashul, the husband of an old friend, that Jordan was at the gym. Kashul gave him a tape of the segment as a keepsake, which featured not only the SportsChannel segment but also all the raw footage of Jordan that cameraman Dyrol Joyner had captured.
Kendall Gill (15-year NBA veteran, trained at the Athletic Club in the summers): He was sort of like the mayor down there. Real competitive. Nobody can out-talk Dennis. When you come in and battle him, you better have great skills on the basketball court because you’re not going to be able to out-talk him. Not even Michael. Michael couldn’t out-talk him. No way in hell.
Make no mistake, though. Jordan was there to have fun but he was also there to win. The guys at the Athletic Club were not immune to MJ’s legendary trash talk. Boone: One time I played against him, I had another guy guarding me and I was able to get by him and I got to the bucket really quick. Mike was delayed on the switch and I was able to lay it up before he was able to get to me. I was ecstatic. Now, did I score on Mike? Maybe not, but in my mind I did. He went to block it but I was already there. We’re running down the court and he says, “You will not score again today.” I was like, OK, whatever. I didn’t really think anything of it. He wasn’t even guarding me. I had a guy on me who was a little smaller than me and I went into the post. I got the ball and I turned to shoot a fadeaway and Mike was already there. He blocked it and he sent it up to the track [above the court]. And he said, “I told you, you will not score again today.” He was dead serious that I was not going to score again because I scored that one time.
The NBA and National Basketball Players Association have talked about how they will address these issues together, but definitive plans are still forthcoming. The burden of financial donations to black communities disproportionately falls onto players, Bradley said, and hoped that more owners would follow the charitable lead of Dallas’ Mark Cuban and Charlotte’s Michael Jordan in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death last month.
NBA Central: “Look at all his statistics. You’re talking about a player at the level of Michael Jordan or Wilt Chamberlain.” -Hakeem Olajuwon on James Harden (Via SportsTalk790.com) pic.twitter.com/JSSDlq2Gan
However, one executive said he already would put James ahead of Jordan. Another said winning it all this year would put James over the top. “LeBron is going to make sure those games [in Orlando] are played, because he knows they could have a huge impact on his legacy,” an Eastern Conference executive said. “He knows picking up one or two more titles is the potential tipping point, and he’s determined to go for it.”
However, one executive said he already would put James ahead of Jordan. Another said winning it all this year would put James over the top. “LeBron is going to make sure those games [in Orlando] are played, because he knows they could have a huge impact on his legacy,” an Eastern Conference executive said. “He knows picking up one or two more titles is the potential tipping point, and he’s determined to go for it.”
James Edwards III: Blake Griffin just called “The Last Dance” … “basketball porn” lmao
Like millions of basketball fans across the country, Embiid had a formative experience watching The Last Dance documentary on ESPN: “I did watch it. It was interesting. I saw a lot of similarities, and a lot of people have told me that. I’m always quiet about it, but I kind of saw that there’s a lot of similarities, and I can also be that guy. I just need to keep putting in the work, and that’s what I’ve been doing. It was a great documentary and I enjoyed it.”
Apparently, Michael Jordan is pretty good at fishing, too. The six-time NBA champion and the crew of his 80-foot fishing boat named “Catch 23” hauled in a 442.3-pound blue marlin on Tuesday at the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament, an event held annually off the coast of Morehead City, North Carolina, that attracts anglers from across the world. It’s the sixth-largest marlin caught so far during the tournament, which boasts a $3.3 million overall purse. Jordan’s boat had been in fifth place until a boat came in later Tuesday with a 450-pound blue marlin.
Dino Radja: It is difficult to write something about Drazen that has not already been written. Yet after watching the Last Dance I have to make a comparison. I’m not going to talk about playing qualities because it doesn’t matter in this situation. Just the mind. Everything in Jordan’s head was in Drazen’s. Identical. That’s why he was what he was. A winner above all. Games were lost here and there, championships and titles, but it was the mind that did not allow surrender and that pushed forward without compromise. From him, my mind also learned a lot and copied unconsciously. Who then has an idea of anything. And now to confirm only one situation that few people know. Drazen’s last match against Slovenia in Poland. Totally irrelevant because we played the qualifying finals and the first three go to the European Championships. It means a match for nothing. Nobody even needs to play. However, this was never an option for him.
Former NBA player Drew Gooden compares LeBron James’ championships to those of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Gooden also explains the main factor that contributed to Jordan’s championships and how it sets him apart from LeBron James.
Jordan passionately stated why he believes the principals should have been kept intact to try for a seventh championship in 1998-99. “I was not pleased. How’s that?” Reinsdorf told NBC Sports Chicago in a phone conversation, when asked for his reaction to the scene. “He knew better. Michael and I had some private conversations at that time that I won’t go into detail on ever. But there’s no question in my mind that Michael’s feeling at the time was we could not put together a championship team the next year.” Don’t get it twisted. Reinsdorf called his current relationship with Jordan “great” and said his favorite part of the documentary is that it should put to rest any doubt about the NBA’s greatest player of all-time.
To Reinsdorf, the revisionist history of the end of the dynasty is less so. “I asked (coach) Phil (Jackson) to come back. Phil said no. Michael said I won’t play for anybody other than Phil,” Reinsdorf said, reiterating facts that were reported 22 years ago. “I met with Michael on the 3rd of July of that year and I said to him, ‘We’re in a lockout. Who knows when we’re going to play? Why don’t you wait until the lockout is over and maybe I can talk Phil into coming back?’ And he agreed. When the lockout was over, I still couldn’t talk Phil into coming back. And the big thing is Michael had cut his finger with a cigar cutter, and he couldn’t have played. So what’s all this talk about bringing everybody back when Michael couldn’t have come back?”
Jerry Reinsdorf: “In my mind, anytime anybody wants to talk to me about comparing Michael to LeBron (James), I’m going to tell them to please don’t waste my time. I’m really pleased it showed how great Michael was to people who hadn’t seen him play. I’m truly tired of people trying to compare LeBron to Michael when it’s not even close. They should try to compare LeBron with Oscar Robertson or Magic Johnson. Michael was so head and shoulders over everybody, and that really came out in this documentary. He was a phenomenon. We may never see another like him.”
4w
Michael Jordan knows money alone can’t solve racism, or barriers to upward mobility for the poor. But he hopes the pledge he and Jordan Brand made Friday — to donate $100 million over the next 10 years — helps start a conversation and a level of education that can finally end the ingrained racism the Charlotte Hornets owner says he’s seen all his life as an African American. “We have encountered racism to be somewhat acceptable in certain circles,” Jordan told The Observer. “We’ve got to understand at an early age (that can’t be tolerated). Education is such an important part” of societal change.
Amid the global outpouring of support for the Black Lives Matter movement, Michael Jordan and Jordan Brand is pledging $100 million over the next 10 years to nationwide organizations “dedicated to ensuring racial equality, social justice and greater access to education.” “Black lives matter. This isn’t a controversial statement,” read a joint statement from Jordan and his company, which is a subsidiary of Nike.
Specifically, Jordan Brand will increase its work in communities across the United States to provide access to education and opportunities for future generations, while also taking a more active role in supporting organizations that work to effect policy change in local government. “We must join forces with the community, government and civic leaders to create a lasting impact together,” Jordan Brand president Craig Williams said. “There is still more work for us to do to drive real impact for the Black Community. We embrace the responsibility.”
The Jordan Brand pledge came hours after Nike announced its own “Commitment to the Black Community,” an additional $40 million collective pledge to community organizations from the Nike, Jordan and Converse brands over the coming four years. “Systemic racism and the events that have unfolded across America over the past few weeks serve as an urgent reminder of the continued change needed in our society,” Nike president and CEO John Donahoe said in a statement.
4w
Tim Reynolds: Adam Silver says it was Michael Jordan who insisted the NBA playoffs not be “gimmicky” and that the standard postseason comes as close to normal as possible.
Hodges made an appearance on “The No-Sports Report” podcast on Wednesday to talk about what was going on during that time, and the nationwide protests currently happening in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, the Minneapolis man who died in police custody May 25 after an officer kneeled on his neck for more than 8 minutes in a moment caught on cellphone video. “But, you know, for me it was one of those things where I had talked to Michael [Jordan] about opening up the same manufacturing we have overseas in America, and that’s being able to produce shoes and stuff here, and that’s the part that I felt like we kind of missed the boat,” Hodges said on the podcast. “And as far as the 1991 championship on both levels, Chicago and Los Angeles, two of the biggest media markets — what would’ve happened if we would have said, we want to have a work stoppage and we want to change the conditions of police and civilians?
KingFut Q: After ‘The Last Dance’ documentary, people are having a lot of debates on who is the real GOAT. What are your thoughts on the documentary and maybe you can tell us about your NBA all-time best 5? Abdel Nader: You will be surprised, but I didn’t watch the documentary. For me in my era I got to see Kobe Bryant in my eyes as the best.
Hornets owner Michael Jordan was outspoken on Friday’s call, advocating for player safety and not having players have to return for meaningless games following a four-plus month hiatus, sources said. The Hawks and Bulls ownership groups said on the call that they wanted to return, sources said, but several players and staffers throughout both organizations prefer not to.
5w
Like anyone missing basketball, Embiid watched “The Last Dance” documentary. There are some parallels to be made as Embiid and Ben Simmons have had their share of disappointment in the postseason. Much like Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen did with the “Bad Boy” Pistons, the Sixers’ All-Star duo may have to overcome their playoff boogeymen in Boston and Toronto. Embiid believes he can push his teammates the same way Jordan once did. “I did watch it. It was interesting,” Embiid said. “I saw a lot of similarities and a lot of people have told me that. … I can also be that guy, I just need to keep putting in the work and that’s what I’ve been doing.”
