Sale Confirmed: The Michael Jordan Thread

[SWedd523]

~lol~ Umbrellas indoors!? Was that a trend?

How about the fans?

Beats me, he was drafted 6 years before I was born

[MPM]

i remember watching a duke/unc game in elementary school (maybe 1st grade?). none of us knew what it was but the teachers liked it. i picked UNC because i like their blue more than dukes blue.

I'd almost completely forgotten about this. Amazing what you consider normal - there were TV's in almost every class in my high school all tuned to the ACC Tourney. It also seemed that every man, woman, and child participated in some sort of paper-based ACC Tourney pool. I worked in a wine shop in Charlotte back then and remember (I think I remember) winning our pool with Kenny Anderson and Dennis Scott leading GT. Loved some of those ole' school GT guys - Hammonds, Geiger, etc.

EDIT: And I also distinctly remember Jordan being perceived as good, not great, when he was dribbling around in Carolina blue (not sky blue, not baby blue)

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/michael-jordan-an-emerging-voice-in-labor-talks-194726362.html

It's nice seeing positive Jordan press.

[gamer4Life]

I bet Woj is annoyed he can never get info from Cho.

Cho doesn't get to get credit now. Remember in the summer it was all about blaming mj.

Clifford shouldn't get credit then.

[BlackOutBuzz]

I've talked about this many times, but when I was a kid in the 80s the ACC tournament was so big in this area that on the Friday of the ACC tournament they would wheel in the black and white TVS and we would stop class at noon and watch basketball for the last 3 hours of the school day. That happened across every school in every classroom in Charlotte for the entire time I was in elementary and junior high. Can you imagine that happening now?

I had the same experience throughout school in the 90s and 00s, can't imagine it's changed too much.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[SWedd523]

Why can't they all share in the credit and derision? Clifford has done a phenomenal job instituting his philosophy and continuing the defensive intensity and capability despite having a bunch of players who aren't necessarily considered good defenders while also changing his offensive philosophy over the course of one offseason to go from bottom feeders to top 10 in offensive efficiency.

Cho has brought in Batum, Lin, and Lee, and has signed Kemba and MKG to team friendly deals while maintaining cap flexibility and continuously bringing in talent on a year-over-year basis.

MJ has taken a more of a leadership role in owner/player negotiations, invested much more money than necessary to bring the Hornets brand back and create a D League team, has continued to bring in more and better sponsors, and is bringing the All-Star Weekend to town next year.

They've all made mistakes, but right now all three seem to be on a bit of a roll. Hopefully their success can be sustained

[salg101]

Jordan shutting up a lot of haters and doubters about his abilities as an owner.

CHO still has a long ways to go, but signing MKG, Lin and Batum, signing Cliff and Cho, these are all huge steps in the right direction.

I know I'm overstating the case, but CHO has a great culture which does remind me a bit of the Dubs and Spurs.

[Liver_Pooty]

Dont really see how Cho "has a long ways to go". Hes had his faults, but hes assembled a pretty damn good roster.

[salg101]

Dont really see how Cho "has a long ways to go". Hes had his faults, but hes assembled a pretty damn good roster.

CHO meaning the Hornets.

Cho the GM is a badass.

[ChokeFasncists]

MJ was popular, but in no way shape or form near the level he reached in the NBA. I don't think any old school Heels fan would have ever guessed he would have blown up like he did in terms of skills and popularity. Everyone knew he was good, but Dean Smith had a way of keeping his stars from really shining (in a good way, always kept it about team first). UNC was all about the system and the system was all about pounding the ball in the post. In terms of popularity in NC among UNC fans at the time (and remember this was back when ACC basketball was KING - trust me, I lived it, starting watching ACC and UNC in 1981) James Worthy was probably a bigger star than Jordan. Worthy was the guy that everyone assumed would go on to the NBA and become the superstar. In fact, if you asked me back in 1982-83 who would be the best NBA players to come out of the ACC at that time I would have said #1 Ralph Sampson #2 James Worthy #MJ. Sampson was the guy that everyone in country drooled over. He was amazing in college.

Vince Carter, to a much lesser degree, had a very similar experience in college and then to NBA. He was just another really good player at UNC, but the system hid a lot of his skills. Jamison and Rasheed and guys like that seemed to have much brighter career paths at the time they were at UNC.

Back to MJ... The real truth about MJ and his amazing talents didn't really start to come out until he started trying out and practicing for the 84 Olympic team.

I've talked about this many times, but when I was a kid in the 80s the ACC tournament was so big in this area that on the Friday of the ACC tournament they would wheel in the black and white TVS and we would stop class at noon and watch basketball for the last 3 hours of the school day. That happened across every school in every classroom in Charlotte for the entire time I was in elementary and junior high. Can you imagine that happening now?

Awesome, thanks!!

So he was just another good UNC player, and I guess you guys didn't all become MJ/Bulls fan.

[salg101]

I saw Jordan play live on TV when he was at UNC. I immediately thought he had a perfect physique and perfect shooting form. He was the perfect basketball player at 18/19 years of age.

I couldn't believe how ice cold he was drilling that jumper against georgetown.

Oddly, some very uninformed broadcaster was criticizing MJ for doing the cradle dunk: "he could drop the ball doing that dunk!"

[CobraCommander]

Dont really see how Cho "has a long ways to go". Hes had his faults, but hes assembled a pretty damn good roster.

CHO meaning the Hornets.

Cho the GM is a badass.

As a wiz fan it pains me to say Cho is indeed a bad ass. TheGoat made the right choice picking him to assemble your team.

[fatlever]

So he was just another good UNC player, and I guess you guys didn't all become MJ/Bulls fan.

Long story alert about my hoops fandom.

Granted I was a kid, only 9 years old when UNC won in 1982 (my parents let me stay up late and watch the championship game) and 11 when MJ was drafted, but here is what I remember.

First, the NBA was a complete afterthought. It was ACC basketball and that was all that mattered. Early 80s the NBA was coming out of the dark ages and had not yet really taken off again as mainstream television. I don't ever remember seeing any NBA games on TV as a kid, at least not until about 1985. Partly because I wasn't looking and partly because it wasn't in your face like ACC hoops and other college basketball.

But I loved James Worthy as a kid when he was at UNC. Worthy was my guy, so naturally I was a Lakers fan in my very early days of learning about the NBA, even though I never really saw any games. I knew Bird, Magic, Kareem, DR J and Worthy as well as the ACC guys from other schools and the guys that played against UNC in big games - Isiah Thomas, Ewing etc... But most of that was from reading the sports page, commercials or remembering them from college. Even at 9,10 years old I watched a ton of college basketball.

When MJ burst into the NBA, obviously it was a big deal. I mean, he exploded. We all know the story. I'm sure that a ton of UNC fans in the area immediately became big Bulls fans as a result. I remember rooting for MJ, I liked him as a kid and kids are drawn to stuff like dunks and the flashy stuff he was doing, but again, Worthy was my guy.

By 1986 MJ was a marketing monster, everyone wanted or had the Jordans, his commercials were everywhere. For me, in NC, he didnt feel like a local hero though. He was so huge and it was so unlike when he was at UNC, that it was almost like a different player, one that was just born out of nowhere. I mean, there were a lot of college guys back then that were talked about and hyped as much or more than MJ coming out - Isiah, Worthy, Sampson, Olajuwon and of course Ewing. (Magic and Bird coming out of college was before my sports memories).

Some of my earliest NBA memories were watching 1986 slam dunk contest, 1986 NBA draft and the NBA finals that year. TNT (or TBS back then) was starting to show games on cable TV around this time so there was finally a market for NBA games outside of the one or two games they'd show on local channels.

By 1987 the Hornets expansion team was announced and we knew we were getting an NBA team and that's about the time I really ramped up paying attention to the NBA and the NBA coverage in Charlotte really increased ten fold. That was also about the time I started checking box scores for NBA games in the paper every morning and when I learned about this dude in Denver who was just killing the box score every night and had such a cool name. That's when I became a Fat Lever fan and a Nuggets fan.

MJ was still doing his thing, scoring all those points and getting knocked out of the playoffs and I liked him, but he wasn't my favorite, not by a mile, but I was probably in the minority in the area. I assume everyone else was obsessed with MJ by this point.

I rooted for the Bulls over the Pistons because of MJ. But I rooted for the Lakers over the Bulls because of Worthy. And by the time MJ started really winning rings, I hated his **** guts. The media and NBA refs just drove me to despise him. So, I spent all of the 90s rooting for MJ to break a leg or something. I think my early love for the Western Conference (Lakers and Denver, followed by Dallas, Portland, Golden State, Utah, Sonics, Suns etc...) had something to do with me always rooting against MJ. I hated MJ up until the day he became our owner. I still think he's probably a terrible person, but whatever, he's good for the team, despite his meddling.

Side note, one of my all-time favorite Hornets years was their 2nd year when the NBA put us in the Western Conference. I had so much fun finally getting to watch all my WC heros that I only read about in box scores. Getting to see the Hornets play the Nuggets and other random WC team four times was so cool. Oddly enough, I have zero love for the Nuggets ever since they traded Fat to the Mavs, but the late 80s Nuggets will always have a spot in my heart as my first true love of the NBA.

[Flip Murray]

MJ was popular, but in no way shape or form near the level he reached in the NBA. I don't think any old school Heels fan would have ever guessed he would have blown up like he did in terms of skills and popularity. Everyone knew he was good, but Dean Smith had a way of keeping his stars from really shining (in a good way, always kept it about team first). UNC was all about the system and the system was all about pounding the ball in the post. In terms of popularity in NC among UNC fans at the time (and remember this was back when ACC basketball was KING - trust me, I lived it, starting watching ACC and UNC in 1981) James Worthy was probably a bigger star than Jordan. Worthy was the guy that everyone assumed would go on to the NBA and become the superstar. In fact, if you asked me back in 1982-83 who would be the best NBA players to come out of the ACC at that time I would have said #1 Ralph Sampson #2 James Worthy #MJ. Sampson was the guy that everyone in country drooled over. He was amazing in college.

Vince Carter, to a much lesser degree, had a very similar experience in college and then to NBA. He was just another really good player at UNC, but the system hid a lot of his skills. Jamison and Rasheed and guys like that seemed to have much brighter career paths at the time they were at UNC.

Back to MJ... The real truth about MJ and his amazing talents didn't really start to come out until he started trying out and practicing for the 84 Olympic team.

I've talked about this many times, but when I was a kid in the 80s the ACC tournament was so big in this area that on the Friday of the ACC tournament they would wheel in the black and white TVS and we would stop class at noon and watch basketball for the last 3 hours of the school day. That happened across every school in every classroom in Charlotte for the entire time I was in elementary and junior high. Can you imagine that happening now?

Phil Ford is the best Tar Heel ever in my opinion.

[fatlever]

I can definitely see the reasoning behind Ford at #1 on the all time school ranking. And #2 on that list would have to probably be Hansbrough, like it or not.

I'd probably go: Ford, Hansbrough, Worthy, Jordan, Jamison as my top 5. Honorable mention: Perkins, Cunningham (sorry Lenny Rosenbluth, you're way way way before my time).

My all time favorite Heels players as a team

PG: Ed Cota
SG: Al Wood
SF: Brian Reese
PF: James Worthy
C: Sam Perkins

[Walt Cronkite]

Ed Cota! So good. My favorite player during the time period of college hoops I was most into. I'm fond of Jason Capel as well, so I'd plug them in and surround them with Jamison, Montross and... hmm, Donald Williams.

[salg101]

Dont really see how Cho "has a long ways to go". Hes had his faults, but hes assembled a pretty damn good roster.

CHO meaning the Hornets.

Cho the GM is a badass.

As a wiz fan it pains me to say Cho is indeed a bad ass. TheGoat made the right choice picking him to assemble your team.

He's a badass but so under the radar. You could say that about the entire team: Cliff, Cho, Lin, MKG, etc. They receive so little publicity on the national scene but they get the job done at a very high level. That's some ninja ish right there.

I still say Jordan's Wiz years were pretty enjoyable to watch though.

[LamarMatic7]

Phil Ford is the best Tar Heel ever in my opinion.

Kblaze did a killer Phil Ford mixtape a year ago.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5bRLSq-1Mo[/youtube]

[fatlever]

Ed Cota! So good. My favorite player during the time period of college hoops I was most into. I'm fond of Jason Capel as well, so I'd plug them in and surround them with Jamison, Montross and... hmm, Donald Williams.

Ed Cota is on my Mr Rushmore of passing college PGs from the days when I watched a ton of hoops. Others would be Jason Kidd, Pepe Sanchez and Andre Miller. Honorable mention to Bobby Sura and Jon and Drew Barry.

[Flip Murray]

Ed Cota! So good. My favorite player during the time period of college hoops I was most into. I'm fond of Jason Capel as well, so I'd plug them in and surround them with Jamison, Montross and... hmm, Donald Williams.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzzvvfWkm8c[/youtube]