Michael Jordan has plenty of nicknames like MJ, Air Jordan, Money, and Black Cat, but one sticks out more than the rest, The Greatest of All Time. This term is used for talking about someone or something that is better than all other people or things that have existed. The expression Greatest of All Time is a highly regarded compliment. Here is why Michael Jordan has that title. Michael Jeffrey Jordan was born on February 17, 1963 in Brooklyn New York. Michael was one of five children born to James and Deloris Jordan. When Michael was 4 him and his family moved to Wilmington North Carolina. His mother worked at a bank and his father worked as a supervisor. His siblings were as talented as Michael and that’s in part to their dad. Michael’s father taught him how to work hard and not be tempted by the street life he saw on the daily.
Michael Jordan was just another kid trying out for Emsley A. Laney High School. He was one of fifty classmates trying to earn a spot on the fifteen man roster. Michael was a 5-10 sophomore and his close friend a 6-7 sophomore, Leroy Smith was picked before him. He locked himself in his room and cried but this pain turned into motivation (source). Everytime he would be working out and thought he should probably stop he would close his eyes and imagine the roster in the locker room without his name on it. Not making the varsity squad didn’t stop Michael. He was putting up 40 point games on the junior varsity squad.The summer going into his Junior year Michael morphed he grew four inches and worked out constantly. He easily made the varsity squad and was having twenty point games regularly. However, his work ethic did not change. His senior year he was averaging a triple double every game. He led his team to a 19-4 record and topped off his high school career by being named a McDonald’s All American. (newsweek) Not only was Michael a stud on the court, he was a stud in the diamond too. Michael won the Dixie Youth Baseball Associations Mr. Baseball title and the Outstanding Athlete title During High School Michael got suspended and that’s when Deloris’s parenting skills came into play. She didn’t want him wasting his day away watching T.V. so she took him to the bank. She made him read books all day while she watched over him.
During Michael’s summer going into Senior year he attended a national renowned 5-star basketball camp. He met UNC head basketball coach Dean Smith. Smith began recruiting Michael to play for his program. Michael signed a letter of intent for UNC. A year later he attended UNC with a full ride scholarship. Michael was the fourth freshmen ever to start for the Tar Heels. The spotlight wasn’t on Mike though, it was on two forwards named James Worthy and Sam Perkins, who ended up playing in the NBA. Michael made the game winning shot to win the NCAA National Championship. During his sophomore year is when Michael stepped into the limelight. He earned North Carolina the Conference Regular Season CHampionship, and led the team to an elite eight appearance in the NCAA tournament. This was his first of many marks he left on basketball. Michael was selected as the college player of the year for the 1983-1984 season. After Michael’s third year playing for the Tar Heels, the Bull’s signed him as the third overall pick of the NBA draft. Michael had one more challenge to prove to himself before he played for the Bulls, the Olympics. (sportskeeda)
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In the 1984 Olympics, Jordan led the team in scored points, averaging 17 points a game. The USA team ended up going undefeated, and winning the gold. Eight years later he claimed his second gold in Barcelona with the infamous Dream Team. This tournament Michael averaged 14.9 points a game. (olympic) A summary of Jordan’s basketball career doesn’t give justice to his title of greatest of all time. Michael was an amazing athlete, he looked graceful playing ball, and had outstanding fundamentals and awareness on the court. These skills take years of practice to develop and master and Jordan fine tuned them. Even other players knew that they weren’t on the level of Jordan. Magic Johnson once said, “There’s Michael Jordan then the rest of us”. Larry Bird once told reporters after Jordan dropped a 63 point game that he was, “God disguised as Michael Jordan”. Jordan faced some adversity in the NBA preseason. His coach told reporters that he didn’t have amazing shooting range and roamed too much on defense. Improvements in both of these categories were soon accomplished, and he was soon regarded as a threat from anywhere on the floor. Jordan’s greatness was apparent in his first season. People would go watch their favorite team get slaughtered just to watch Jordan play.
Attendance at Bulls games and road games rose dramatically. People couldn’t get enough of Jordan, and Nike knew this. Nike originally signed Jordan out of North Carolina to a five year deal worth 2.5 million. However, Jordan wasn’t a regular athlete with a shoe deal. Nike and Jordan collaborated to make him his own brand.(NBA) On June 11, 1997 Jordan was competing to win another national championship, but his body was not trying to help him out. Jordan has a serious case of the flu and wasn’t fit for the game. Instead of sitting out and watching his team lose he took it upon himself to summon something the league has ever seen. In the first quarter you could tell the sickness was getting the best of him, allowing the Jazz to get a 16 point lead on the Bull’s. However, in the 2nd quarter Jordan showed flashes of his normal self and shot for 17 points. Whenever he wasn’t playing on the court you could tell he was miserable. He was hunched over with his hands on his knees. When he was sitting on the bench he had ice packs on his forehead and was chugging liquids.
As sick as Jordan was it didn’t stop him from balling out. In the Bull’s 90-88 win, Michael recorded 38 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block. This included a clutch 3 pointer with a minute left to give the Bull’s a lead. (theundefeated) This is a list of all Michael Jordan’s accomplishments: Five-time NBA MVP, Six-time NBA champion, Six-time NBA Finals MVP, Ten-time All-NBA First Team, Nine time NBA All-Defensive First Team, Defensive Player of the Year, 14-time NBA All-Star, Three-time NBA All-Star MVP, 50th Anniversary All-Time Team, Ten scoring titles, Retired with the NBA’s highest scoring average of 30.1points per game, and finally a Hall of Fame inductee.(NBA)
Another reason why Michael Jordan is considered the greatest of all time is because he risked his reputation in basketball to play a sport that he hadn’t played since high school. After winning three championships with the Chicago Bulls, Michael risked it all and tried to see if he could reach the same excellence in baseball as he did in basketball. On February 7th, 1994 Jordan signed a contract with the Chicago White Sox. Michael played on the double A Birmingham Barons, and recorded a 2.02 batting average, 3 homeruns, 51 RBI’s, and 30 steals. His manager said that if he would’ve stuck around he could’ve played in the Majors. After his 1994 season he went back to basketball. Michael then proceeded to win another three NBA championships. (MLB)
On January 13th, 1999, Michael Jordan retired for the second time from his 15 year career for the Chicago Bulls. The first retirement was for his short stent in the MLB. Jordan said he did not have the desire to play basketball at a high level anymore, and that he was 99.9% sure he would never turn back. After one year Jordan signed as a part owner and director of basketball operations for the Washington Wizards. After a year with this role he signed as a free agent and played two more seasons with the Wizards. Jordan retired for the third and final time on April 6th, 2003. (NBAretirement) He has been extremely successful since his time in the NBA. Michael’s sneaker deal with Nike turned into a bigtime company under Nike and has continued to stock shelves with the latest and greatest sneakers. The legacy Nike and Jordan made has raked in $3.1 billion just in 2017 and Michael’s cut is worth $100,000,000. The Charlotte Hornets are also owned by Michael and he has become one of the most powerful men in the NBA because of this. Michael is also the only athlete ever to become a billionaire. He is now living a lavish lifestyle in his million dollar penthouse in Chicago. Being an athlete really does pay. (topendsports) Michael Jordan achieved excellence in everything he did. Even when he was faced with adversity Michael persevered and worked even harder. He was the greatest player to ever step on the court and the most successful athlete to ever live. That is why Michael Jeffrey Jordan has the title of The Greatest of All Time.
