| Michael
Jordan is the Chicago Bulls superstar who beat Charles Barkley and Akeem
Olajuwon for Rookie of the Year Honors in 1985. Perhaps, he is the greatest
player to ever play the game....he even has six championship rings to back
up his claim, including 3 straight from 1991-1993, and 3 more in 1996-1998.
Michael was named the NBA Finals MVP in all of those titles. He's won them
all with Scottie Pippen. In 1991, Jordan's Bulls finally overcame the greatest
impediment to their team's success, Isiah Thomas' Detroit Pistons, who had
regularly eliminated the Bulls from the playoffs. In 1993 he averaged 41.0
ppg in the finals, for a record. This 6-6 superstar guard is a perennial
NBA first teamer (10 times from 1987-1993 and 1996 and again as a unanimous
selection in 1997 and 1998). He was once again an All-NBA First Team member
in 1996 after making his return from baseball. You can always pencil Mike
in as the starting guard for the all-star game (12 appearances in 1985 and
from 1987-1993 and again in 1997). He started for the ninth time in 1997,
as the first player EVER to receive more that 2 million votes. In the 1997
Game he became the first player ever to record a triple double in the all-star
game with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 11 asssists. Jordan was not named MVP
that year (Glen Rice received that honor), but he did win the Game's MVP
award in 1988 after scoring 40 points and again in 1996. Jordan was once
again elected to start (10th time in 12 appearances) in 1998 after leading
the eastern conference in voting.
Jordan holds
the record for most career scoring titles with eight, including 7 straight,
also a record. He scores so many points that it is almost unfair to compare
him with other players. On November 6, 1996 Michael scored 50 points for
the 36th time in his career! Jordan eclipsed the 25,000 career points
total, and he continues to dominate in that statistical category. He was
the tenth player to score that many points, accomplishing the feat against
San Antonio on November 30, 1996, with his 35th point of the game. Oh
yeah, he's also the Bull's All-Time leading scorer, no surprise there.
His career scoring average of around 32 ppg is the best of all-time...even
better than Wilt and Jordan never scored 100 points in a game. On 12/30/97
Jordan broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record of scoring in double digits
in 788 consecutive games. He will undoubtedly bury this record, as there
is no end in sight to his double-digit habits. He ended the season with
840 consecutive games.
|
