I year old video, Im sure this has been posted before, If you are under 30 its a must watch.

[johnnyvann840]

Here’s a pretty good link

https://inallairness.com/nb85-3-michael-jordans-rookie-nba-season-1984-usa-pre-olympic-exhibition-games-podcast/

I remember a few of these games being my introduction to basketball. Watching them in Japan, on VHS with my fathers Air Force coworkers during their poker nights.

I’ve went back over the years and watched again. Appreciating it much more with my older eyes.

Great find.

Some really good talent on the NBA teams, however, it seems like it wasn't the same players each game, but seemed to be the NBA players in town during that time.

Still, you'd think NBA players would have still had it easy against the college players but, the Olympics team did actually have a proper team they were working with, and consistency with line ups are important.

What happened was the NBA team started off thinking they didn't need the best guys, but by the time they got back to Indiana, (Bob Knight was coaching there at the time) they were losing every game and they called in the big guns and still couldn't beat the college kids. It was epic. Like I said, there is a great chapter about that summer in Michael Jordan The Life book by Lazenby. He tells the story. They were "scrimmages" designed to get Team USA ready, but they turned into serious battles and the kids, led by Michael, showed up the NBA stars. Nothing like that has ever happened in sports other than the 1980 Team USA Men's Ice Hockey team beating the Soviets. I mean on the grand scale it makes Buster Douglas over Tyson seem like not even an upset.

Look at the lineup for the game in Indianapolis. Bird, Mchale, Parish (that's 3/5ths of one of the greatest NBA teams of all time. Then add Isiah Thomas and Mark Aguirre and you have 5 NBA all stars and others (Interestingly, Pax was on the NBA stars team that game) against a bunch of kids who never played a game in the NBA yet. Unbelievable really and there are no excuses for the NBA team.

[2018C3]

Pople like to hate on Krause, but for a period in time, he was on top of his game. He inherited the best player and was able to surround him not once but twice with enough talent to dominate the league. He also picked Phill to lead the group, it was a good choice as Phil also had success after leaving our organization.

MJ definately made the GM job easy, but alot of GM"S still could have found a way to mess it all up and Krause did not. He had many key aquisitions and trades that helped this team exceed. A few of the moves MJ was not happy about when they happened. Most credit has to be given to MJ, but Krause also did his part.

At one point there were rumors about a Pippen /Kemp trade. If i remember corectly MJ put a stop to that one. It might have been one of his best moves as a influential player even though Kemp was a absolute monster at the time, and the general consencus was that he had a very bright future ahead of him.

[johnnyvann840]

Great find.

Some really good talent on the NBA teams, however, it seems like it wasn't the same players each game, but seemed to be the NBA players in town during that time.

Still, you'd think NBA players would have still had it easy against the college players but, the Olympics team did actually have a proper team they were working with, and consistency with line ups are important.

The cohesion built by the “amateurs” was definitely an advantage in those games. The talent level on MJ’s teams was also a lot better than I think the NBA guys and fans expected. There are some pretty good game vids on YouTube. Fun to watch when you have free time.

Yeah, I will definitely be watching them tonight. As mentioned, I didn't even know such games existed, so this is great.

The funny thing is, the 84 Olympics team could actually have had better talent on the roster, if not for the cuts or players who pulled out, with the possibilities of having the following; Barkley, Bias, Stockon, Anderson, Terry Porter amd Chuck Person.

Yeah, Bob Knight was crucified for not having Barkley (and Stockton) on that team but he was steadfast on only having the players he wanted there. He, like Herb Brooks in 1980, knew the best talent didn't always mean the best team.

[2018C3]

The cohesion built by the “amateurs” was definitely an advantage in those games. The talent level on MJ’s teams was also a lot better than I think the NBA guys and fans expected. There are some pretty good game vids on YouTube. Fun to watch when you have free time.

Yeah, I will definitely be watching them tonight. As mentioned, I didn't even know such games existed, so this is great.

The funny thing is, the 84 Olympics team could actually have had better talent on the roster, if not for the cuts or players who pulled out, with the possibilities of having the following; Barkley, Bias, Stockon, Anderson, Terry Porter amd Chuck Person.

Yeah, Bob Knight was crucified for not having Barkley (and Stockton) on that team but he was steadfast on only having the players he wanted there. He, like Herb Brooks in 1980, knew the best talent didn't always mean the best team.

Its good to get introspective from people who could remember all of this, This is before my time. How old are you johnnyvann840? I'm 46 and some of MJs early career is beyond what I'm able to remember.

[kulaz3000]

The cohesion built by the “amateurs” was definitely an advantage in those games. The talent level on MJ’s teams was also a lot better than I think the NBA guys and fans expected. There are some pretty good game vids on YouTube. Fun to watch when you have free time.

Yeah, I will definitely be watching them tonight. As mentioned, I didn't even know such games existed, so this is great.

The funny thing is, the 84 Olympics team could actually have had better talent on the roster, if not for the cuts or players who pulled out, with the possibilities of having the following; Barkley, Bias, Stockon, Anderson, Terry Porter amd Chuck Person.

Yeah, Bob Knight was crucified for not having Barkley (and Stockton) on that team but he was steadfast on only having the players he wanted there. He, like Herb Brooks in 1980, knew the best talent didn't always mean the best team.

I should have saved the URL, but I did read that though Bobby made some big cuts of extremely talented players, he was concerned about the overal fit which is comendable.

He also took extra measures to ensure that no feelings were hurt by bringing in NBA players who had great careers who were also cut from Olympics teams, but also providing honest feedback to scouts about the players, ensuring them it wasn't about the talent, but the fit as to why he chose to cut them.

Like most hard-a**es, it looks like he had a sensitive side behind closed doors.

[johnnyvann840]

Yeah, I will definitely be watching them tonight. As mentioned, I didn't even know such games existed, so this is great.

The funny thing is, the 84 Olympics team could actually have had better talent on the roster, if not for the cuts or players who pulled out, with the possibilities of having the following; Barkley, Bias, Stockon, Anderson, Terry Porter amd Chuck Person.

Yeah, Bob Knight was crucified for not having Barkley (and Stockton) on that team but he was steadfast on only having the players he wanted there. He, like Herb Brooks in 1980, knew the best talent didn't always mean the best team.

Its good to get introspective from people who could remember, This is before my time. How old are you johnnyvann840? I'm 46 and some of MJs career is beyond what I'm able to remember.

I'm 53. I was about to start my sophomore year at ASU in Tempe, when all that happened. I remember Michael's rookie season and the excitement we had as Bulls fans knowing we had the best player on the planet. I remember a bunch of us Chicago kids going to a Bulls/Suns game in PHX at the old Veteran's Memorial Coliseum. We had a pool guessing how many pts Michael would score... he was on a tear at the time and it seemed like he was scoring over 30 every night by then and had already scored 45 not too long before then .. I still remember picking 38 as the number. Michael only scored 22, I think and kind of went into a scoring drought after that game.

[2018C3]

I remeber the Sting, then the Bears, followed by the Bulls. It was a good time to grow up, as the local fan consistently had a team to be proud of. The bears season is the first team I can rember vividly in every detail.

[Michael Jackson]

Pople like to hate on Krause, but for a period in time, he was on top of his game. He inherited the best player and was able to surround him not once but twice with enough talent to dominate the league. He also picked Phill to lead the group, it was a good choice as Phil also had success after leaving our organization.

MJ definately made the GM job easy, but alot of GM"S still could have found a way to mess it all up and Krause did not. He had many key aquisitions and trades that helped this team exceed. A few of the moves MJ was not happy about when they happened. Most credit has to be given to MJ, but Krause also did his part.

At one point there were rumors about a Pippen /Kemp trade. If i remember corectly MJ put a stop to that one. It might have been one of his best moves as a influential player even though Kemp was a absolute monster at the time, and the general consencus was that he had a very bright future ahead of him.

MJ definitely vetoed the McGrady trade. I remember there being discussion about Kemp and Pippen but I can’t recall how real those trade talks were. Krause absolutely was going to trade for McGrady though

[Michael Jackson]

I remeber the Sting, then the Bears, followed by the Bulls. It was a good time to grow up, as the local fan consistently had a team to be proud of. The bears season is the first team I can rember vividly in every detail.

Man the Sting!

You did have the 83 Sox break a long Chicago playoff drought followed by the 84 cubs. The 70’s were pretty ugly for Chicago sports. The Bulls made the Western Conference Finals in 75 I think and lost to the warriors but it was pretty bleak. The 80’s got better and the 90’s got even better.

[johnnyvann840]

Pople like to hate on Krause, but for a period in time, he was on top of his game. He inherited the best player and was able to surround him not once but twice with enough talent to dominate the league. He also picked Phill to lead the group, it was a good choice as Phil also had success after leaving our organization.

MJ definately made the GM job easy, but alot of GM"S still could have found a way to mess it all up and Krause did not. He had many key aquisitions and trades that helped this team exceed. A few of the moves MJ was not happy about when they happened. Most credit has to be given to MJ, but Krause also did his part.

At one point there were rumors about a Pippen /Kemp trade. If i remember corectly MJ put a stop to that one. It might have been one of his best moves as a influential player even though Kemp was a absolute monster at the time, and the general consencus was that he had a very bright future ahead of him.

MJ definitely vetoed the McGrady trade. I remember there being discussion about Kemp and Pippen but I can’t recall how real those trade talks were. Krause absolutely was going to trade for McGrady though

He was absolutely going to trade Scottie for Kemp too. The Scottie for Kemp deal was so real it was DONE. Got vetoed by the owner of the Sonics at the time. It was bizarre, MJ was in his baseball retirement and was good friends with George Karl (Karl was a graduate of North Carolina). Michael told George Karl to trade Kemp for Scottie and that the Sonics would win a Championship if he did. Karl was only the coach of the Sonics at the time but they were in between GM's so Karl actually negotiated the deal with Krause.. and got it done. Bob Ackerley, who owned the team, stopped it at the 11th hour.

I honestly don't think the 2nd 3peat happens if Scottie isn't a Bull and is replaced by Kemp. As good as Kemp was athletically, he was no Scottie. He just wasn't a very smart player on or off the court. Scottie's basketball IQ was off the charts and he was unique as a point forward and just way ahead of his time. Kemp was fun to watch, a fluid athlete, flashy dunker and was making highlight dunks every time you turned around..... but he was just not smart enough to carry a team like Scottie was capable of nor was he half the defensive force Scottie was.

I think having your primary ball handlers and leaders be really smart, two way players is imperative. It's one of the main keys to winning titles. Look at every dynasty and it's got smart leaders. The primary ball handlers are always super high IQ players who played both sides of the floor. Going back to the Celtics who had Bob Cousy, Sam Jones and Bill Russell. To the Lakers of the 80's with Magic and Worthy. The Celtics again with Bird, Parish and McHale (and DJ, and Ainge).. the Bulls with MJ and Scottie. Then, the Lakers again with Kobe. Spurs with Parker, Manu and Duncan. Common thread is high intelligence, two way, high IQ players in control of those teams.

[sco]

I just know my daughter could say Michael Jordan before she could say grandma.

[Michael Jackson]

Pople like to hate on Krause, but for a period in time, he was on top of his game. He inherited the best player and was able to surround him not once but twice with enough talent to dominate the league. He also picked Phill to lead the group, it was a good choice as Phil also had success after leaving our organization.

MJ definately made the GM job easy, but alot of GM"S still could have found a way to mess it all up and Krause did not. He had many key aquisitions and trades that helped this team exceed. A few of the moves MJ was not happy about when they happened. Most credit has to be given to MJ, but Krause also did his part.

At one point there were rumors about a Pippen /Kemp trade. If i remember corectly MJ put a stop to that one. It might have been one of his best moves as a influential player even though Kemp was a absolute monster at the time, and the general consencus was that he had a very bright future ahead of him.

MJ definitely vetoed the McGrady trade. I remember there being discussion about Kemp and Pippen but I can’t recall how real those trade talks were. Krause absolutely was going to trade for McGrady though

He was absolutely going to trade Scottie for Kemp too. The Scottie for Kemp deal was so real it was DONE. Got vetoed by the owner of the Sonics at the time. It was bizarre, MJ was in his baseball retirement and was good friends with George Karl (Karl was a graduate of North Carolina). Michael told George Karl to trade Kemp for Scottie and that the Sonics would win a Championship if he did. Karl was only the coach of the Sonics at the time but they were in between GM's so Karl actually negotiated the deal with Krause.. and got it done. Bob Ackerley, who owned the team, stopped it at the 11th hour.

I honestly don't think the 2nd 3peat happens if Scottie isn't a Bull and is replaced by Kemp. As good as Kemp was athletically, he was no Scottie. He just wasn't a very smart player on or off the court. Scottie's basketball IQ was off the charts and he was unique as a point forward and just way ahead of his time. Kemp was fun to watch, a fluid athlete, flashy dunker and was making highlight dunks every time you turned around..... but he was just not smart enough to carry a team like Scottie was capable of nor was he half the defensive force Scottie was.

I think having your primary ball handlers and leaders be really smart, two way players is imperative. It's one of the main keys to winning titles. Look at every dynasty and it's got smart leaders. The primary ball handlers are always super high IQ players who played both sides of the floor. Going back to the Celtics who had Bob Cousy, Sam Jones and Bill Russell. To the Lakers of the 80's with Magic and Worthy. The Celtics again with Bird, Parish and McHale (and DJ, and Ainge).. the Bulls with MJ and Scottie. Then, the Lakers again with Kobe. Spurs with Parker, Manu and Duncan. Common thread is high intelligence, two way, high IQ players in control of those teams.

Yup that sounds way more familiar, I remember MJ loving Karl and I recall the talk of Kemp. Yeah I much prefer Pippen no doubt. He didn’t become an alcoholic until after his playing days sitting center court as the liaison where it did no harm. Speaking of Kemp, the Baker for Kemp trade was the saddest trade ever to out of shape alcoholics. One of my coworkers played Kemp and he loves to talk about how he shut him down (jokingly). He held him 2 points under his average lol. Back to the subject at hand though Pippen is my favorite Bull of all time. I loved watching him play. The migraines never bothered me either. His sitting on the bench did but a lot of his personal life did too but come now game 2 against LA when he came of age and started checking Magic and all the fortunes turned.

[Michael Jackson]

I just know my daughter could say Michael Jordan before she could say grandma.

My daughter is 14 and she was forced to watch Jordan videos all the time. My son who is 5 was watching the Toronto/Philly series with me. He got all excited about Kawhi... he then asked me who was the best player, I of course said Jordan. He asks well then where is Jordan? I think the look I threw him almost got the authorities called on me. Damn kids!

[Dieselbound&Down]

Pople like to hate on Krause, but for a period in time, he was on top of his game. He inherited the best player and was able to surround him not once but twice with enough talent to dominate the league. He also picked Phill to lead the group, it was a good choice as Phil also had success after leaving our organization.

MJ definately made the GM job easy, but alot of GM"S still could have found a way to mess it all up and Krause did not. He had many key aquisitions and trades that helped this team exceed. A few of the moves MJ was not happy about when they happened. Most credit has to be given to MJ, but Krause also did his part.

At one point there were rumors about a Pippen /Kemp trade. If i remember corectly MJ put a stop to that one. It might have been one of his best moves as a influential player even though Kemp was a absolute monster at the time, and the general consencus was that he had a very bright future ahead of him.

MJ definitely vetoed the McGrady trade. I remember there being discussion about Kemp and Pippen but I can’t recall how real those trade talks were. Krause absolutely was going to trade for McGrady though

He was absolutely going to trade Scottie for Kemp too. The Scottie for Kemp deal was so real it was DONE. Got vetoed by the owner of the Sonics at the time. It was bizarre, MJ was in his baseball retirement and was good friends with George Karl (Karl was a graduate of North Carolina). Michael told George Karl to trade Kemp for Scottie and that the Sonics would win a Championship if he did. Karl was only the coach of the Sonics at the time but they were in between GM's so Karl actually negotiated the deal with Krause.. and got it done. Bob Ackerley, who owned the team, stopped it at the 11th hour.

I honestly don't think the 2nd 3peat happens if Scottie isn't a Bull and is replaced by Kemp. As good as Kemp was athletically, he was no Scottie. He just wasn't a very smart player on or off the court. Scottie's basketball IQ was off the charts and he was unique as a point forward and just way ahead of his time. Kemp was fun to watch, a fluid athlete, flashy dunker and was making highlight dunks every time you turned around..... but he was just not smart enough to carry a team like Scottie was capable of nor was he half the defensive force Scottie was.

I think having your primary ball handlers and leaders be really smart, two way players is imperative. It's one of the main keys to winning titles. Look at every dynasty and it's got smart leaders. The primary ball handlers are always super high IQ players who played both sides of the floor. Going back to the Celtics who had Bob Cousy, Sam Jones and Bill Russell. To the Lakers of the 80's with Magic and Worthy. The Celtics again with Bird, Parish and McHale (and DJ, and Ainge).. the Bulls with MJ and Scottie. Then, the Lakers again with Kobe. Spurs with Parker, Manu and Duncan. Common thread is high intelligence, two way, high IQ players in control of those teams.

The Kemp trade is interesting to me in the "what if" ether. So far gone it's not worth spilling much ink on it, but Kemp being mentored by Jordan I would think he gets his butt kicked into playing good defense and he keeps his nose clean. That alone transforms him from a fun flash into a monster career imo. I agree that the second 3 peat doesn't happen if Pip is gone, Kemp was just too raw and undisciplined at that point.

[mtron32]

If you are under30 its a must watch, if you are older it will be a fun recollection.
This is almost 50 minutes of video that does a great job of describing a era of growth and eventual dominance by the best player this league has ever seen in my lifetime.

Watch on YouTube

If you have not seen it yet, set aside atleast a hour, because you will back backtrack and watch a few of the events more than once.

Under 30? Hell, even if you're 45, right now, you were like 10 years old when MJ came into the league and way too young to even know what you were seeing in 1984. It's a must watch for anybody. I mean, you can be a fan when you're a kid but most, even young teens, have no idea of what they are seeing at that age. When Michael came into the league, we knew he was just different from day one, like guys like Bob Knight were saying when he was on Team USA.

I made a post here a while back about how historical what Michael did that summer was, on Team USA, to the NBA all stars before he even played a minute in the NBA. There was a great chapter in Roland Lazenby's book "The Life", that talks about that summer and the Team USA vs. NBA Stars games. The NBA greats already knew how special the kid was. Portland realized how bad they F'd up (truth is that Houston did too but hard to fault them for taking Olajuwan at the time) before Jordan ever put on a Bulls uniform. It was the summer before his rookie season, between the draft and that season, that he had his coming out party on Team USA. Most people don't know this but the year before Michael was a rookie the Bulls were averaging just 6700 people per game. It was empty at the old Chicago Stadium for Bulls games in 80-83. I mean empty. That changed in 84. Bulls have sold out every game since then and are still living off of MJ's legacy.

I'm 38 and missed much of his early years, had no idea about the USA vs NBA games, that looked insane.

[mtron32]

I didn't intend on watching the whole thing but here I am, it's getting dusty in here yawl. GOAT

[rtblues]

I'm not crying. You're crying!

[Michael Jackson]

I am 43. My siblings are much older than me 22,20 and 9 years older. My sister who is 9 years older sat me down and explained to me when we drafted Jordan how special it was. I really really didn’t get it. When we drafted Pippen my same sister sat me down again and explained to me that this was huge and we now would win a championship. I started to get it then... honestly though (even though I missed a day to hang out with MJ at his house in 86) I didn’t really get it until the 88-89 season. As amazing as the first championship was I think we all enjoyed the ECF even better. What an amazing privilege it was to watch Jordan play. It was a privilege too because there wasn’t league pass... you had to be in market to see all the games. It was almost the perfect marriage of technological advancement at that point, it wasn’t rare to see him but it was still a treat.

[erlim]

This is truly art.

[Michael Jackson]

It really is art. It can never be replicated either. It isn't like someone can come by today and do what Jackson Pollack did and it would be WOW. IT would be Jackson Pollack work. We clearly saw that with Kobe and Lebron, the Jordan shadow is a heavy one and will never be duplicated or can I imagine topped. It is a special place in history. Babe Ruth did something that can never be topped really, no matter what metrics are there. Surely Bonds isn't the best homerun hitter of all time? Someone would need multiple years of hitting .450 or better than .400 to take top Ted WIlliams and even then.... Being able to witness MJ live was a gift.