A phenomenal athlete with a
unique combination of grace, power, artistry and improvisational
ability, Michael Jordan has single-handedly redefined the NBA
superstar. The most recognizable athlete in the world, he is not
only the top player of his era, but is quite possibly the best
player ever to wear the uniform of an NBA team. A legend on the
court, Jordan added to his mystique with a totally unexpected
retirement just before the 1993-94 season. After a year spent
playing minor league baseball, he authored yet another amazing
chapter to his story by returning to the Chicago Bulls late in
the 1994-95 campaign with his basketball skills intact. In
1995-96 he won a record eighth scoring title and led the Bulls to
their fourth NBA championship of the 1990s, and in 1996-97 he
raised those numbers to nine scoring championships and six NBA
crowns in the decade. A summary of Jordan's basketball career
inevitably fails to do it justice. The 6-6 Brooklyn native
attended high school in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he was
cut from the basketball team as a sophomore. He spent his college
career at North Carolina, playing for an NCAA Championship team
as a freshman and hitting the game-winning shot in the title
game. He was named College Player of the Year by The Sporting
News in both 1983 and 1984 and won the Naismith and Wooden Awards
in 1984. After his junior year he was chosen with the third
overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls. Jordan
burst into the big time with a fabulous first season, earning the
NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 1984-85 after averaging 28.2
points per game. An injured foot sidelined him for 64 games in
his second campaign, but he came back late in the year to score
an NBA playoff-record 63 points in a first-round game against the
Boston Celtics. Starting with the 1986-87 season he began a
career-long onslaught on the NBA record book. That year saw him
average 37.1 points in the first of seven consecutive seasons in
which he led the league in scoring (a feat matched only by Wilt
Chamberlain) and topped 30 points per contest. By the time he
announced his retirement in 1993, he had earned three league MVP
Awards, an NBA Defensive Player of the Year selection, a pair of
NBA slam-dunk championship titles, seven berths on the All-NBA
First Team and six selections to the NBA All-Defensive First
Team. He also led the league in steals three times. A nine-time
All-Star Game selection, he earned the game's MVP Award in 1988
after a 40-point performance. More than just a scoring machine,
Jordan also showed that he was a leader and a winner by guiding
Chicago to a trio of NBA Championships. As a rookie, he joined a
Bulls team that had won only 28 games the previous season. By
1991 the club had topped 60 wins during the regular season while
marching to the first of three consecutive titles. If anything,
Jordan was even more spectacular in postseason play. Prior to his
retirement he had averaged below 30 points per game in the
postseason only once (29.3 ppg in his rookie year). In the
1985-86 postseason he poured in an astounding 43.7 points per
contest. He left basketball temporarily in 1993 as a three-time
Finals MVP, and he owned a career playoff average of 34.7 points
per game, the best in NBA history. He also had two Olympic gold
medals to show for his participation on Team USA in 1984 and
1992. Jordan shocked the NBA by announcing his retirement prior
to the 1993-94 season. He spent the year playing minor league
baseball for the Class AA Birmingham Barons of the Chicago White
Sox organization, for whom he was a competent if unspectacular
performer. But Jordan's hopes of reaching the major leagues
seemed dim, and with Major League Baseball embroiled in a labor
dispute as the 1995 season neared, he focused his competitive
fire back on the NBA. Late in the 1994-95 NBA season he came out
of retirement and attempted to carry the Bulls to another title.
Jordan averaged 26.9 points in 17 regular-season games, then
poured in 31.5 points per contest in the playoffs. Despite
Jordan's presence in the lineup, the Bulls didn't have quite
enough to get past the Orlando Magic in the conference
semifinals. Chicago lost to the Magic in six games. Jordan's
championship quest was fulfilled the following season as the team
enjoyed one of the most remarkable years ever posted by any club.
Jordan led the NBA with 30.4 points per game as the Bulls charged
to a record 72 victories during the regular season, then stormed
through the playoffs with a 15-3 record. Chicago's combined
record of 87-13 for the 1995-96 regular season and playoffs was
the best in NBA history. Along the way, Jordan captured the MVP
awards for the regular season, All-Star Game and Finals, joining
Willis Reed (1970) as the only men to win all three honors in the
same season. Although he relinquished the MVP award to Karl
Malone in 1996-97, Jordan again led the Bulls to the NBA
Championship with a satisfying six-game victory over Malone's
Utah Jazz, and was named the NBA Finals MVP for the fifth time in
his remarkable career.
1997-1998 REGULAR SEASON
Named to the 1997-98 NBA All-Interview First Team Named NBA Most
Valuable Player for the fifth time in 1997-98 and a unanimous
selection to the 1997-98 All-NBA First Team Named to the NBA
All-Defensive First Team for a record ninth time in 1997-98
Totaled a game-high 44 points (22-24 FT), 3 rebounds and 3
assists in a 111-109 victory over the New York Knicks on 4/18
Notched his 5,000th career assist, recording a game-high 37
points, 4 rebounds and 4 steals, in an 87-78 win over the Orlando
Magic on 4/11 Registered a game-high 40 points, 4 rebounds, 3
assists and 3 steals in a 109-94 victory over the Houston Rockets
on 4/5 Named NBA Player of the Week for the week ending 4/5,
averaging a league-high 35.7 ppg, 5.0 apg and 4.3 rpg for the 3-0
Bulls Scored his 29,000th career point, posting a game-high 41
points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, in a 107-93 win over the
Minnesota Timberwolves on 4/3 Named NBA Player of the Month for
March, averaging a league-leading 28.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.5 apg and
2.07 spg for the 13-1 Bulls Totaled a game-high 42 points, 8
rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals in a 102-89 victory over the New
York Knicks on 3/8 Named All-Star Game MVP for the third time,
recording a game-high 23 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 3
steals, in the 1998 NBA All-Star Game in New York Registered a
game-high 40 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists against the Utah
Jazz on 2/4 Posted a game-high 45 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists
and 3 steals in a 106-100 victory over the Houston Rockets on
1/18 Totaled a game-high 44 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals in a
90-89 victory over the New York Knicks on 1/9 Recorded game-highs
of 34 points and 9 assists and grabbed 9 rebounds in a 105-96 win
over the Detroit Pistons on 1/3 Registered a game-high 44 points
(15-22 FG) and 5 rebounds in a 114-100 victory over the Milwaukee
Bucks on 1/2 Named NBA Player of the Month for December,
averaging a league-best 28.4 ppg, 6.9 rpg and 3.2 apg for the
11-3 Bulls Broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's NBA record by scoring in
double-digits for the 788th consecutive game, scoring a game-high
33 points, against the Minnesota Timberwolves on 12/30 Posted a
game-high 47 points (18-26 FG, 11-13 FT), 4 rebounds and 3 steals
in a 97-90 win over the Atlanta Hawks on 12/27 Named NBA Player
of the Week for the week ending 12/21, averaging 30.3 ppg, 6.3
rpg, 3.7 apg and 2.00 spg to lead the Bulls to a 3-0 week Scored
a game-high 29 points, moving past Moses Malone into 3rd place on
the NBA all-time scoring list, in a 100-82 victory over the New
York Knicks on 12/9 Named NBA Player of the Week for the week
ending 11/23, averaging 37.3 pppg (.500 FG), 4.7 rpg, 4.3 apg and
1.33 spg for the 2-1 Bulls Totaled a season-high 49 points, 5
rebounds and 5 assists in a 111-102 double-overtime win over the
L.A. Clippers on 11/21 Recorded 29 points, 17 rebounds and 4
assists in a 94-81 victory over the Orlando Magic on 11/5
1996-1997 REGULAR SEASON
Jordan had another great season, leading the league in scoring
for the ninth time at 29.6 ppg, contributing 5.9 rebounds, 4.3
assists and 1.71 steals per game and being voted to his
accustomed spots on the All-NBA and All-NBA Defensive First
Teams. Although the voters elected Karl Malone of Utah as the
league's MVP by a slim margin over Jordan, he gained revenge by
leading the Bulls past Malone's Jazz in the NBA Finals and
capturing Finals MVP honors for the fifth time in five trips to
the championship series. The NBA's Player of the Month for
November, Jordan started all 82 games and climbed past Alex
English, Dominique Wilkins, John Havlicek and Oscar Robertson
into fifth place on the all-time scoring list with 26,920 points.
Jordan, who has now scored in double figures in 758 consecutive
games, tallied a season-high 51 points in an 88-87 win over New
York on Jan. 21 and got 50 points in a 106-100 triumph over Miami
on Nov. 6. He scored at least 40 points eight times and 30 or
more on 44 occasions. Jordan, who matched his career high of 18
rebounds in an 89-87 overtime win over Seattle on March 6, became
the first player to post a triple-double in NBA All-Star history
when he got 14 points, a game-high 11 rebounds and a game-high 11
assists in Cleveland. During the weekend he also participated in
the ceremonies honoring the "50 Greatest Players in NBA
History." Jordan averaged an NBA-high 31.1 points, 7.9
rebounds, and team-highs of 4.8 assists and 1.58 steals per game
in 19 playoff contests, and averaged 32.3 ppg in the NBA Finals
against the Jazz. Jordan hit a buzzer-beating shot to win Game 1
of the Finals, had 38 points in Game 2 and came up with another
38 points, this time despite a stomach virus, in Game 5.
1995-1996 REGULAR SEASON
Jordan proved he was all the way back by winning a record eighth
scoring championship, one more than Wilt Chamberlain, and leading
the Bulls to their fourth NBA championship of the 1990s. He
joined Willis Reed (1970) as only the second man to win Most
Valuable Player awards for the regular season, All-Star Game and
NBA Finals in the same season. Jordan started all 100 games for
the Bulls-he was the only player to start all 82 regular season
games for Chicago, and he also started all 18 playoff contests.
Though perhaps he drove to the hoop a bit less than earlier in
his career and lacked a drop of his previous explosiveness and
reckless abandon, Jordan was a far more effective and controlled
jump-shooter and three-point scoring threat and remained an
outstanding all-around contributor. Besides his league-leading
30.4 points per game, Jordan averaged 6.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists
and 2.20 steals in 37.7 minutes per game, ranking third in the
league in steals. Jordan scored 40 points or more nine times,
getting an NBA season-high 53 points against Detroit on March 7.
He also had season highs of 16 rebounds at New Jersey on March 16
and eight assists against New York on Dec. 6. In the All-Star
Game he played just 22 minutes but edged out Shaquille O'Neal for
MVP honors by scoring 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting and grabbing
four rebounds. Jordan led the Bulls in scoring in 17 of 18
playoff contests, with a high of 46 points in Game 3 against New
York. He also had 45 points in Game 4 against Orlando and 44
points in Game 1 against New York. He averaged 30.7 points, 4.0
rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.83 steals in 40.7 minutes per game in
the playoffs, including 27.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 4.2 apg, 1.67 spg and
42.0 mpg in the Finals against Seattle.