MJ. His Airness. Or just plain Michael. Michael Jordan reached that special position in life that he was as well known by his nicknames, or merely by his first name, as anything else.
Jordan climbed so high by being able to fly so high over the basketball court. Watching MJ soar through the air for his memorable dunks, it sure looked like gravity had no hold on the man.
“Is MJ the greatest player scorer ever? Next question,” said Charles Barkley, one of Jordan’s strongest competitors and closest friends during their Hall of Fame careers. “He’s the greatest PLAYER ever.”1
Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships in eight seasons, and he didn’t play for most of the two years the Bulls fell short. After a third straight title in 1993, Jordan left basketball to try his hand at baseball, where he struggled in the minor leagues before returning to the Bulls late in the 1994–95 schedule. In ‘96, ‘97 and ‘98, he again carried the Bulls to championships.
And while Air Jordan always will be praised for his flights to the basket, his most memorable shot remains the jumper that beat the Utah Jazz for the sixth and final title. MJ even held his pose, his long arm extended in perfect shooting form as the winning shot went down.
“I was getting tired and I guess the lessons that you learn over the years is stick with that shot a little longer, make sure you get that extra little bit,” Jordan said. “And that was my thinking, was to make sure that I extend and do the necessary fundamentals to get the ball to the basket.
“It turned out to look as if I was posing for all the photographers, but that was not the case.”2
Then he retired again, although Jordan made an aborted comeback with the Washington Wizards, joining them as team president but eventually returning to the court.
A five-time Most Valuable Player, Jordan made the All-NBA squad 10 times. He was the 1985 Rookie of the Year, the 1988 Defensive Player of the Year—yes, this great scorer was a top defender, too—and a double Olympic gold medalist. In 1996, he was selected one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history.
But as Barkley mentioned, most people consider MJ to be No. 1. And it’s hard to dispute considering all those brilliant numbers. From his college days, when he knocked down the winning jump shot for North Carolina in the 1982 NCAA championship game, through his fifteen seasons in the NBA, Jordan was unstoppable. His career average was 30.1 points in the regular season, 33.4 in the playoffs.
