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Michael Jordan Rumors
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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*)
Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Lamar Odom, LeBron James, and Kyrie Irving. Those are the only five players to win an NBA title and a gold medal in the same year, whether it was in FIBA or Olympic competition, with Pippen doing it twice. It is an exclusive club – one that Marc Gasol is on the cusp of joining.
Sanders was asked during an appearance on “The Kyle Kulinski Show” who he’d pick between James and Jordan, and unsurprisingly this is another area where his opinion differs from the current president: Kulinski: Last question: Michael Jordan or LeBron James? Sanders: LeBron James. Kulinski: Is that because of the policy he just supported with you? Sanders: Well actually, yes, I think LeBron has been willing to do what a lot of athletes are not and get involved in the political process, put money into education, and I respect that.
Hornets Sports & Entertainment Chairman Michael Jordan today announced that Gabe Plotkin, Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Melvin Capital, and Daniel Sundheim, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of D1 Capital, will join HSE as partners. The transaction is subject to NBA approval.
“I’m excited to welcome Gabe and Dan as my partners in Hornets Sports & Entertainment,” said Michael Jordan. “While I will continue to run the Charlotte Hornets, make all decisions related to the team and organization, and remain the team’s NBA Governor, Gabe and Dan’s investment in the franchise is invaluable, as we continue to modernize, add new technology and strive to compete with the best in the NBA. Both Gabe and Dan are industry standard-setters and proven leaders, with a belief in philanthropy and a passion for the game of basketball. They share my commitment to Charlotte and the Carolinas, and I look forward to working with and learning from them.”
Michael Jordan selling part of the Hornets
Michael Jordan has agreed to sell a large piece of the Charlotte Hornets to two New York-based investors, the Charlotte Observer has learned.
Jordan is bringing in Gabe Plotkin, a founder of Melvin Captal, and Daniel Sundheim, a founder of DI Capital. Both prospective owners must be approved by the NBA, but that is already in process and the sale is expected to close in the next couple of weeks, a league source confirmed.
Jordan controls about a 97 percent stake in the Hornets. This agreement has no provision for him to give up majority control of the team or its operation. A source familiar with Jordan’s thinking said he plans to own and run the Hornets “a good, long time.”
Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan has pledged a $1 million contribution to relief efforts in the Bahamas, in response to the destruction caused by Hurricane Dorian. Jordan’s pledge comes a year after he made a similar contribution in response to Hurricane Florence. Jordan, who grew up in Wilmington, pledged $2 million after Florence caused severe damage up and down the North and South Carolina coasts.
Rose also reveals he wasn’t able to celebrate the Bulls championships because he was too young to go outside at night. Rose grew up in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Chicago — Englewood. “At that time, I wasn’t 6-6, our games wasn’t similar, so I really didn’t like look up to him like that because I was always outside just working on my game and it ended up paying off for me,” Rose told Dan Patrick on the Dan Patrick Show. “I knew that we were winning championships, but I wasn’t able to celebrate that because I was too young to go outside to celebrate with the people that was running on the streets after a championship. So, they’ll win a championship, my brothers are outside, and I have to sit in the house and look from the window and see everybody on the street celebrate.”
Wholesale revenue at Nike’s Jordan Brand subsidiary hit $3.14 billion in the fiscal year ending May 2019, up 10% from 2018. MJ’s annual take is an estimated $130 million, four times more than that of James, the No. 2 earner, with $32 million. Arguably, 16 years after he last laced up his own high tops on the court, more Jordan-branded shoes and apparel are being sold than the signature lines of every other current NBA player. Combined. “Jordan is being extended as more of a lifestyle brand,” says Cowen & Co. analyst John Kernan. “There is enormous potential. It can be much bigger than a $3 billion brand.” Kernan cites Jordan strengths in its ability to create new colorways, relaunch products and manage the supply and demand equation to keep prices high. The brand has moved beyond just basketball through partnerships with French soccer club Paris Saint-Germain and college football blue blood Michigan.
Wholesale revenue at Nike’s Jordan Brand subsidiary hit $3.14 billion in the fiscal year ending May 2019, up 10% from 2018. MJ’s annual take is an estimated $130 million, four times more than that of James, the No. 2 earner, with $32 million. Arguably, 16 years after he last laced up his own high tops on the court, more Jordan-branded shoes and apparel are being sold than the signature lines of every other current NBA player. Combined.
There are 14 current or former NBA stars who earn at least $9 million from shoe deals by Forbes’ count based on conversations with basketball insiders. They range from Jordan ($130 million) to Klay Thompson ($9 million). NBA sneaker deals are layered with potential bonuses for sales, individual awards and team performance
Mark Cuban on Rockets GM Daryl Morey saying that James Harden is a better scorer than Michael Jordan: “It’s a different game. The mid-90’s game was brutal … It was a much more physical game. So being able to score back then meant being able to deal with physicality. Now, there’s so much more space because of five-out, five being able to shoot the ball, that you have the opportunity to score more. The 3-point shot is more prevalent, so I think Daryl is right in terms of absolute analytics, but the real question is if you put Michael Jordan in today’s game he might struggle some, because he wasn’t a pure 3-point shooter. Well, that’s wrong, he wouldn’t struggle. He would be incredible, but I don’t know if he’d be as efficient. But knowing Michael, he’d figure out how to be a 45 percent 3-point shooter, and that would change the equation.
What was your ‘Welcome to the NBA’ moment? Ray Allen: The second preseason game of my career. October 15, 1996. United Center. Michael Jordan. He said “welcome to the NBA” at jump ball.
Cox said it would be an “easy call” for the city of Oakland to build a statue in honor of Curry for everything he has done here on and off the court. “Man, the kids couldn’t believe he was there. He means as much if not more to Oakland than what Michael Jordan meant to Chicago,” Cox said.
“I’m not sure; it’s something that I work on,” Harden said when asked if he’ll use the one-legged, step-back 3 this season. “But you know how Mike [Jordan] has his fadeaway and Dirk [Nowitzki] has his one-leg and [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar] had the sky hook, I want my step-back to be one of those moves that last forever. So when I travel around the world and I see little kids that [say], ‘Hey James, I got a step-back!’ — I love to see that.”
Daryl Morey: “We put all our assets in to trade for him, but no one could anticipate he’d be the best player in the world.” Jackson Dahl: “Why did you put all your assets? Why him?” Daryl Morey: “So both the eye test, because he looks amazing, I think anyone who watched him [would agree]. If you looked at data at the time, once he had the ball in his hands – and it’s still true to this day. And I get a lot of [expletive] because someone asks me ‘who’s the better scorer? [Harden] or Michael Jordan?’ And it’s just factual that James Harden is a better scorer than Michael Jordan. Based on literally you give James Harden the ball and before you’re giving up the ball how many points do you generate, which is how you should measure offense, James Harden is by far No. 1 in NBA history. And he was No. 1 even at the Oklahoma City Thunder, it’s just he was coming off the bench, it was a little more hidden. So you needed good data to sort of suss that out.”
08 Aug
Walker said he did not have a final conversation with Hornets owner Michael Jordan, but understood the organization’s viewpoint. “It’s not disappointing because I understand the business side of things,” Walker said. “I’m not mad at MJ or the organization for anything. I understand it. You have to look at both sides at the end of the day. Could MJ have went over the luxury tax? Yeah, he could have. But why?
05 Aug
What was your ‘Welcome to the NBA’ moment? Vince Carter: Obviously, playing against guys who I tried to model my game after or tried to take pieces of their game, like [Scottie] Pippen, Grant [Hill], Penny [Hardaway], some from [Michael Jordan]. I played against MJ, so it doesn’t get bigger than that. But I’ll tell you what: One of the things that floored me in terms of being awestruck, after winning the dunk contest and going through the trophy ceremony, as soon as I walked through the back, Dr. J was the first person right there. He shook my hand and was like, “Congratulations, young man.” I’ll never forget it.
And while he hit the court that night wearing a pair of Nike Kyrie 4s from his Duke days, he spent the rest of summer league alternating between sneakers from Puma and Jordan Brand as he sat and watched his New Orleans Pelicans teammates from the sidelines. Those two companies had emerged as the front-runners in the Zion sweepstakes, a bidding war that saw some competitors offer deals that could’ve paid the young superstar nearly $20 million per year. In the end, Michael Jordan got his man.
This year will see perhaps the biggest celebrity ever to compete in the tournament with the arrival of Michael Jordan and his crew on the aptly-named Catch 23. WMO officials this week confirmed the Catch 23, a 80-foot Viking, has officially entered the 2019 tournament. Indeed, a check of current entries, which by mid-week had reached 134, revealed the Catch 23, either by mere coincidence, good timing or perhaps a perfect omen, is entry number 123.
Nick DePaula: Zion Williamson: “I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of the Jordan Brand family. Since I was a kid, I dreamed of making it to the league & having the type of impact on the game Michael Jordan had & continues to have today. He was one of those special athletes I looked up to.”
Nick DePaula: Michael Jordan: “Zion’s incredible determination, character and play are inspiring. He’s an essential part of the new talent that will help lead the brand into the future. He told us he would ‘shock the world,’ and asked us to believe him. We do.”
The investigation followed a tense owners meeting, which multiple sources described to ESPN. Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan, speaking as the head of the labor committee, discussed the possible need to revisit free-agency rules in the next collective bargaining agreement, sources said. Marc Lasry, co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, spoke of his concern of the gray areas of tampering rules; it was lost on no one in the room that Milwaukee’s franchise player, Giannis Antetokounmpo, could be the most sought-after star in free agency in 2021 if he does not sign an extension before then. Other owners expressed frustration that some deals had apparently been agreed to well before the official start of free agency.
When it comes to the greatest NBA player of all-time debate, Charles Barkley has a clear answer to who he thinks takes that title. Barkley, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member, sarcastically said that Michael Jordan was overrated before he quickly added that Jordan was his choice as the greatest player of all-time.
Earlier this summer, Lillard joined LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, Diana Taurasi and a host of other professional NBA and WNBA players, as well as the likes of Don Cheadle and Sonequa Martin-Green for the filming of Space Jam 2, the sequel/remake of the Michael Jordan vehicle, which was originally released in 1996.
In his career, Jordan battled the hard-hitting “Bad Boys” Pistons and legendarily played through most any injury. In Jordan’s day, the gold standard for durability was simple: start all 82 NBA regular-season games, which he did in eight of his 13 seasons in Chicago. But it’s not as if Jordan was a relentless baller all year long. “When the season ended, Michael left and played golf and didn’t pick up a basketball again until probably a little bit before training camp [in September],” says Wally Blase, a Bulls athletic trainer from 1993-2000. “He might have played pickup ball with some friends, but he wasn’t working eight hours a day at some gym with some shooting coach.” (And in contrast to the myth that has grown around him, Jordan, Blase notes, didn’t treat every practice as if it were Game 7: “There were days when Michael would show up, put ice on his knees, go smoke a cigar and then go play 18 holes of golf.”)
During Saturday’s banquet, the long time NBA executive who drafted Michael Jordan reflected on his time working with one of the most talented players in the NBA. “He was by far the best but what he brought to the table that no analytic can let you know is the heart he had. Jordan is not like the rest of us if you cut his arm there would be wires, not blood. He’s different he’s not like us, and he wasn’t he was different, he had it,” Thorn said.
Marc J. Spears: Michael Jordan statement on Kemba Walker pic.twitter.com/CF6L6tc3Al
Davis said he wouldn’t talk about the specifics of his trade from the New Orleans Pelicans until the transaction was complete and approved by the NBA, but he laughed when asked about James’ Instagram post of the two of them wearing Lakers uniforms after news of the deal broke on June 15. “It was cool,” Davis said. “I always looked up to him. As a kid, [James] and Michael Jordan were the two guys I [admired]. I didn’t get a chance to watch Michael Jordan live, but I watched LeBron a lot after he entered the league and he was the guy that I looked up to.”
JD Shaw: The Hornets are emerging as a serious destination for free agent Terry Rozier, though it remains to be seen how much money Michael Jordan is willing to spend on the 25-year-old. Rozier has spent all four seasons with Boston.
When production on the movie began in 1995, Michael Jordan had just come back from retirement … so he and Pippen were teammates in the Chicago Bulls again — which had people wondering why didn’t #33 have a significant role??? So, when we saw Pip at LAX on Thursday, we needed that explanation!!! I think I was injured or recovering from offseason injuries,” Pippen said … “I wasn’t able to participate.” If he WAS healthy though, Pippen says he would have agreed to a role in a heartbeat.
Rick Bonnell: .@Kemba Walker said he’d be seeing @Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan before free agency starts. Looks like they were together in Paris for this Jordan Brand appearance. And so was the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum. IMGhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BzA8uo_ggA5
Jorge Sierra: Most times No. 2 in the MVP vote Four: Larry Bird, Jerry West Three: Kevin Durant, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, JAMES HARDEN That’s some nice company for The Beard.
Leonard’s 36-point performance Friday night was his 14th 30-point game this postseason. Only Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant have had more. It’s impressive company for someone who wasn’t seen as a scorer when he came into the league. “You got to give him his credit,” Draymond Green said. “He imposed his will on the game, and all the other guys followed him. So I’m not sure if it will ever look like those other guys, but he gets the job done.” As for how he gets it done, Parks has a simple explanation. “I always tell people, ‘Kawhi Leonard has been the truth,'” Parks said. “His story is about his work ethic, if you ask me. That’s what will always stand out about him.”
Wayne Embry has spent the last 15 years as a consultant with the Toronto. He watched LeBron James and the Cavs eliminate his team three consecutive seasons (2016-18). “It was the same thing…greatness,” he said. “You can have a better team 1-through-12. I thought we did in Cleveland some of those years. But we couldn’t cope with Michael.”
Micah Adams: 35 points and 0 turnovers on the road in the NBA Finals: Kawhi Leonard. Michael Jordan. That’s it. Just an outrageous road performance.
For the second time in less than a year, Michael Jordan is making a sizable donation to his hometown. Laney athletic director Fred Lynch confirmed Thursday that Jordan would be donating $1.1 million to the Buccaneers. Half of the donation must go straight to the athletic department, according to Lynch, while the other half could help any aspect of Laney High School. “Contrary to popular belief, Michael is always thinking of us,” Lynch said. “People are surprised when stuff like this comes out, but we’re not surprised over here at Laney. It’s not always publicized, but it’s always a nice little gamechanger for Laney athletics.”
06 Jun
The Hornets and Kemba Walker both have each other as top priorities entering July 1, league sources said. Walker confirmed to Jared Weiss of The Athletic that the Hornets remain his “first priority” during his tour of Tokyo as an NBA ambassador there during the NBA Finals. Walker made the All-NBA third team this year after another spectacular season, allowing him to sign a five-year, $221 million super maximum contract. There is doubt around the NBA that the Hornets will reach that high amount, but owner Michael Jordan’s loyalty has always been with Walker.
28 May
19 May
As for what he knows about Memphis? “I just know Memphis Grizzlies basketball and that’s it,” Morant said. “If you ask me about Chicago, I know Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan. It’s just that I’ve never been to places like that and I’m a big basketball guy, so I would probably know basketball.”
Justin Kubatko: Draymond Green is the fourth player in NBA history to record 100+ rebounds and 100+ assists in at least five straight postseasons. The others are Magic Johnson (1982-1988), Larry Bird (1984-1988), and Michael Jordan (1989-1993).
Justin Kubatko: Kawhi Leonard scored 243 points in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the most in a single postseason series since Michael Jordan scored 246 points in the 1993 NBA Finals.
During the Obama administration, State Department officials considered sending basketball players to North Korea to jumpstart diplomatic efforts, according to the Washington Post. Kim Jong Un’s father Kim Jong Il was also a fan of basketball and requested that the U.S. send Michael Jordan to North Korea. “When I was there on my trips, the father [Kim Jong Il] through his foreign ministry people wanted me to extend an invitation to Michael Jordan,” former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson recalled from his communications in 2000 in an interview with ABC News.
09 May
02 May
Basketball-Reference: 45-point, 10-rebound Game 1s, since ’84: Michael Jordan (1992 EC First Round), Shaquille O’Neal (1997 WC First Round, 2000 WC First Round), Karl Malone (2000 WC First Round), Kobe Bryant (2001 WCF), Dirk Nowitzki (2003 WC First Round), Dwight Howard (2011 EC First Round), LaMarcus Aldridge (2014 WC First Round), Kawhi Leonard (2019 ECS) pic.twitter.com/0vpbc6pMtG
Bill Laimbeer, four-time All-Star and two-time NBA Champion with the Detroit Pistons, has weighed in on his take regarding who he believes is the greatest NBA player of all time. The GOAT debate between Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and former Chicago Bulls great Michael Jordan continues to rage among basketball fans and NBA Twitter. But in Laimbeer’s mind, there’s no question, according to a Bleacher Report article by Scott Polacek: “I’ll take LeBron James every day of the week,” Laimbeer said when comparing the King to Michael Jordan during his appearance this week on The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker of Fox Sports Radio.
23 Apr
23 Apr
Gallery 23 Apr
The top scorers ever by draft position
(*) Regular season and playoff scoring combined.
20 Apr
“I took two years off to play baseball, but nothing like that,” Jordan said. “I’m pretty sure he questioned himself, whether he could get it back, and he had to put a lot of work in. But he took it head-on. He had to change his game; he had to change his perspective a little bit. To me, it was the greatest comeback I’ve ever seen.”
Like everyone else, Jordan marveled at Woods’ ability to get back command of his bag so completely. “He’s actually surprised me, and I’m happily surprised,” Jordan said. “I always thought the biggest advantage for Tiger is his irons. Even if you don’t hit it as long or you don’t putt it as well, his iron game is the best in the game. When you start to lose your skills, you have to concentrate on the mental. These guys are hitting it unbelievably long. Precision is his game. He went through a tough stretch with his chipping. But he’s come back stronger.”
The First Annual Jim Cleamons Celebrity Golf Classic and Charity Event to be “headlined” by Phil Jackson and Lenny Wilkens was billed as a star-studded event with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Kobe Bryant and Jerry West possibly attending the fundraiser for Cleamons’ now-defunct charity Hoopology, according to court records. None of those basketball luminaries attended – the complaint says they were never asked — but 300 people did play golf at the Aug. 20, 2018, event at NCR South, according to a complaint filed in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.
“Comparison is a need for joy,” Durant said. “It takes a long time for you to realize that as an NBA player, especially when you’ve been pumped up, as soon as you come into it, you’re promoted a star. You always want to compare yourself to the next guy or the guy that did it before, the MJs, the Kobes, the LeBrons, to rookies. I want to compare myself to my teammates. When you compare yourself at all times to see what guys are doing, you’re taking away from the focus of trying to make yourself the greatest that you can be.”
12 Apr
What’s next for Wade? More time with his wife, Gabrielle Union-Wade, more time with his son Zaire during his senior season of high school basketball, more moments with his son Zion and more diaper changes with his months-old daughter Kaavia. And more free time in the city he has become forever linked to. “I think kids that are probably 12 or around that age, they think I’m from Miami,” Wade said with a grin. “When I was young, I thought Michael Jordan was from Chicago. That’s a great thing. I definitely think that when you think about Miami, anyone around the world whether it’s sports or not, I think my name comes up.”
Justin Kubatko: James Harden will become just the third player in NBA history to average at least 30 points, five rebounds, and five assists per game in consecutive seasons. The others are Oscar Robertson and Michael Jordan.
In reality, Jordan had started to think about giving up basketball for baseball even before the summer of 1992’s Dream Team. He was tired of the basketball grind and all the great expectations, and he wanted to see if he could still play baseball, like his father told him he could. Hey, Mr. Basketball was once North Carolina’s “Mr. Baseball,” as chosen by the Dixie Youth Association. Never mind that he was 12 at the time.
Jordan would occasionally deign to play hoops with the mortals. “I can safely tell you this now,” Francona said, “but if I told you back in ’94, I might’ve gotten fired. “We had just come back to Birmingham after a Sunday morning game in Huntsville [a 5-4 win on May 22, in which Michael went 0-for-5]. We decide to play a 4-on-4 game at Rime Village, where a lot of the players stayed. The three coaches plus Michael versus four of our better basketball players.”
“This was back in the day before cellphones,” Tedder said. “Word traveled fast.” “Me and Barney were just along for the ride,” said Kirk Champion, who was the pitching coach and still works in the White Sox organization. “Once you gave the ball to either Tito or Michael, you weren’t going to see it again.” “Scott was a really good shooter,” Barnett said. “I hit maybe four 3s,” said Tedder, who’s now in the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame. “But you could tell Michael was holding back. When we get up 15-11 — one more basket to win — Michael says to me, kind of matter-of-fact, ‘Kid, you’re not going to score any more.’ The next thing we know, we’ve lost, 17-15, and the coaches are celebrating.”
Alykhan Bijani: James Harden already has a steal in the 1Q vs. Phoenix. He is now assured of averaging at least 2.00 steals this season. Harden joins Michael Jordan (1988-89) as the only players to have averaged at least 30.0 ppg, 7.0 apg, 5.0 rpg and 2.00 spg in a single season. #Rockets
Kukoc, who was elected to the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2017, has been a finalist for enshrinement in Springfield, Mass., twice. “I’ve seen some things go on in the Hall of Fame that really have been a little bit shocking,” Pippen said. “I’ve seen some guys get in where I think Toni and Ron (Harper) definitely had a lot better career than those guys. I think they’re getting a little bit of a knock-back because they were part of a team with me and Michael (Jordan). But those guys are winners. “It was a great journey to play my career alongside Toni, even though he came over as one of the enemies. We grew together and had a lot of success and a lot of fun.”
Foremost in the bumbling was the Lakers front office, which was behind the curve in wisdom, poise, awareness and, shockingly, effort. Magic Johnson isn’t actually a full-timer in the usual NBA sense. He’s rarely in the Laker office, big-footing the process like Michael Jordan in Charlotte. Not that there aren’t other head guys with light schedules but they have No. 2 guys who take up the slack. Johnson’s GM Rob Pelinka is a bright guy but like Magic, isn’t a regular on the scouting trail, or wasn’t until they realized they were looking at a lottery pick instead of the playoffs.
ESPN’s “30 for 30” documentary on the Bad Boys shed a different light on the era and the Pistons team and reintroduced many younger fans who were not as versed on their place in the championship hierarchy. “It’s almost as if the Bad Boys became the people’s choice, not necessarily the institutional choice. We became the people’s champ,” Thomas told The Detroit News. “Still today, it goes Bird, Magic and then it goes to Jordan and it’s almost as if we didn’t exist. “Fortunately for us, the ’30 for 30′ video was the first time we all collectively got a voice and were able to speak and tell our story. Our story was told so accurately that because of that, history is being corrected. Had it not been for the ’30 for 30,’ we could have gotten lost in history.”
Salman Ali: 50 points for James Harden. His 18th career career 50 point game – 4th behind Wilt, Jordan, and Kobe.
As the 1989 team gathers for its 30-year reunion at the brand-new Little Caesars Arena on Saturday, Thomas wants to remind everyone that the Pistons left a lasting impact on the NBA — the back-to-back champions Thomas feels the NBA has relegated to a forgotten bridge from the Lakers-Celtics rivalry in the ’80s to the Michael Jordan Bulls of the ’90s. “I mean, that’s how they wrote it [in the history books],” Thomas says to ESPN, laughing. “There was a team that was after the Lakers that had a pretty significant run from ’87 to ’91. That part of history, the NBA — the league office — just took and said, ‘We are not going to talk about it. We are going to bury it.’ And everything that was bad that was happening in the ’90s, they blamed it on the Pistons.”
Ron Harper: He didn’t just intimidate you [during the game]. When you played against MJ, you were thinking about it the night before. You knew that you had to get a good night’s sleep because he was going to come with it. Some guys would start trash talking with him. I used to ask guys, “Why are you talking trash to him first?! That’s not smart!”
29 Mar
Jordan knows this. That’s why he refused all offers this deadline and wasn’t interested in 2018 when the Hornets reportedly listened to offers. Jordan loves Walker as a person and player, league sources have repeatedly said, and that’s the primary reason Jordan wants to keep him. But he also knows that without Walker, the Hornets have nothing else.
Brad Galli: Kobe Bryant had the option to eat cow tongue or rank MJ, LBJ, and himself on @latelateshow. He hesitated, but picked: 1. Himself. 2. Michael Jordan. 3. LeBron James.
24 Mar
Justin Kubatko: James Harden is just the fourth player in NBA history to record at least two 60-point games in a single season. The others are Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant.
Now that your jersey has been retired here in Milwaukee, the next thing people bring up is the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. You were named a 2019 finalist in February. Do you allow your brain to wander and think about that possibility? I know both you and Sidney [Moncrief] are finalists this year and you each have similar resumes. Marques Johnson: I told Nellie this when I invited him out for the jersey retirement about a month ago and I had been name a finalist. It’s my first time being named a finalist. Sidney’s been a finalist before and didn’t make. I told Nellie, “If Sidney makes it and I don’t make it, I’m fine with that. Sidney deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.” Sidney is the second greatest two-way player, in terms of shooting guards, behind Michael Jordan. Defensive Player of the Year. He could average 25 a game if he wanted to, averaged 21, 22 here.
22 Mar
After his 19-point, 10-rebound, 11-assist stat line led to Monday’s overtime victory over Dallas, Payton was most pleased to crack the win column, after the Pelicans had lost in each of his previous triple-doubles, including in excruciating fashion Saturday vs. Phoenix. Asked for his reaction to joining an exclusive quintet of players with five consecutive triple-doubles – a group that includes Westbrook, Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan – Payton somewhat downplayed the achievement, saying, “Personally, it hasn’t really sunk in yet. I’m just trying to hoop and play at a high level. It felt good to get a win tonight, honestly.”
What would be your historic starting five for the USA for any team? Kobe Bryant: I’d go Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
As a kid, Davis was dad’s biggest fan. And in between sideline shrieks, a thought seeped into his developing mind: I want to play like them. I want to be there. Sometime after watching next-day highlights of Michael Jordan’s Bulls on Latvian television, the thought narrowed. Want became will. “I told ‘em I was gonna play in the NBA,” Bertans says. “They” – parents – “might’ve thought it was a joke back then. But I didn’t think like that.” What he thought he meant, and what he meant he often said. Sometimes that meant trouble. Dainis kicked 9- or 10-year-old Davis out of multiple youth basketball practices because, as Davis freely admits now, “I used to tell people what to do.”
Brendan Haywood’s rookie year (2001-02) just so happened to be the first of two seasons in Washington for one Michael Jordan. Jordan, well past his prime during this time, still left quite an impression on the rookie, even after all these years later. “You really got to see the myth behind all the greatness. He wasn’t good by accident. You got to see a guy that’s 40 years old still get to the gym at 8 o’clock working on his game.“
