Michael+Jordan

Who is Michael Jordan? The Greatest Player in the NBA!
 Everyone knows the name of this arguably greatest NBA player. He was like a God on the court when he played. People loved him not only in the USA but around the world. He had many nicknames throughout his great career, but his two most famous names everyone knows, His Airness or Air Jordan. This man was incredible with his on court skills. He has six NBA Championship rings and five time MVP. That is incredible because this same man renewed the interest of people to watch basketball. He retired from the sport with the highest points per game average of 30.1. Everyone knows that this is incredible because he was and still is the greatest player in the NBA history. Surly people can argue that their were great people before him and after him. Yet when ever we think of basketball MJ pops up in our minds. That is the mark he left in the NBA. For my I-Search paper, I have decided to find out how this great man made the NBA popular to the USA and the rest of the world. I will focus on his impact on the sport, his legacy, his contributions to the league, and how he promoted the game to the world. Hope you enjoy.

How has he impacted us today?
Michael Jordan is my personal basketball hero. It is not LeBron or Kobe, it will always be Michael Jordan. Sadly I was not born when this man played, but I have watched those famous games and his greatest moments. To me that is incredible that I like a player so much that I have never witnessed play. I am not the only one in the world who loves Air Jordan. This man is remembered by his Air Jordan brand, his achievements in the game, and recently by a video game. This video game came out in 2010 and actually about a month ago now. This is the first game with Michael Jordan. Recently it has been said to be the most hyped up basketball video game. It was promoted highly and Kobe Bryant even endorsed it. In this game you can replay the greatest Jordan moments. You can even sign Jordan to the current basketball teams. This games is really popular now and is currently a best seller. The Jordan brand is doing well with its shoes, clothes and other apparels. His famous moments go back to the shot that cost the Utah Jazz to lose the Championship. The fowl line slam dunk that he made during an the All-Star Slam Dunk contest.

As you all may know Michael Jordan had a great career with the Chicago Bulls. He led them to six NBA Championship titles. That is still incredible even though I mentioned this before. In an article I read the author said that after Jordan made the 1989 "Shot" over Craig Ehlo in Game 5 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, he became a Jordan fan. People say that it was fun watching this man play on the court. To some it was incredible at how athletic he was, while some disliked him (other players). He pretty much stole the spotlight during the 90's. He was the star that is remembered by everyone today. This guy actually retired in '93 to play baseball. He did this because he wanted to commemorate the memory of his father. His father was killed by an unknown assailant, and to this day it is unknown who shot him. Jordan's father wanted to him to play baseball, and that is exactly what he did. Everyone was astonished at his decision and some were disappointed that such a star would leave the game. Jordan returned two years later from retirement and was able to continue to dominate the court. After all he is Michael Jordan.

http://www.nba.com/history/players/jordan_bio.html http://www.nba.com/jordan/jordan_icon_thiel.html

===**How has he impacted the league? ** === His Airness was the best in his game during his career in the NBA. He won six Championships and that could have been eight but due to Jordan leaving to play baseball for two years he missed. The Bulls suffered greatly without the their leader. But through out the time he had played in the league everyone was excited to see him play and do his signatures moves, especially the dunks. Today dunks are not what they were 10 or even 15 years back. They were the ultimate skill a NBA player had. It was also cool and fun to watch. Jordan was a incredible player who brought the NBA ratings up with his amazing skills. He was the best during his time and no one was close to him. Before him came Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, before them Wilt Chamberlain. I mean this guy was in his own league no one to challenge or stop him. In an article I read recently the author said if you think about this as literature, Jordan did not have any antagonists through his career. He led the Bulls to a 72 season game wins in 1996, which is the highest any team has gotten. THE JORDAN FACTOR! In December 1997 in a magazine called the Sporting News, Jordan was named the most powerful person in sports. That is quite amazing. When Jordan announced his retirement in January 13, 1999, the owner of the Bulls, Jerry Reinsdorf, said that they might as well retire all of the 23 jerseys in the league. I mean this is how he impacted the game he loved. Arguably, no one from the modern league has come close to this man. I can further argue that he is the best in the NBA history and that his legacy has forever impacted the NBA.



http://www.nba.com/history/players/jordan_bio.html http://www.nba.com/jordan/jordan_icon_thiel.html

Air Jordan Brand
Hey you all probably seen people wearing clothes, shoes, and maybe even wearing backpacks that have a a guy in mid air with a ball doing a dunk. Well this logo first of all is called the Jumpman and it is a representation of Michael Jordan. This is pretty much his subsidiary company that was started in 1985. It was back then that Jordan got a new shoe from NIKE that was banned to be used by the NBA. He was really lucky because the fines were paid by NIKE because of this the shoe got a lot of publicity. Eventually the league allowed the shoe to be used by players and MJ. That is incredibly cool when you have your company and a shoe named after you. I find really amazing. Besides that this company has produced a lot of shoes. They have many lines of apparel and they are Originals, Retro, Retro-Pluses, Player Exclusives, and Samples. The original shoe that MJ wore back in the day is still produced with 90+ different color variations. THAT IS AMAZING! I kind of want to get the shoe myself now. The company has its own team of all star players. They are called Team Jordan. This group has such modern greats as Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Ray Allen, and Dwyane Wade (current face of the company). So this is for today enjoy!



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Jordan

Now lets get back to Michael Jordan. Since he has retired and that was a long time ago. More precisely 2003 after playing with the Wizards. After that he was mostly associated with playing golf and all. But back in 2006, he bought majority of the stocks of the Charlotte Bobcats and he is second to the owner of the team.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jordan

2K 11 Michael Jordan Video Game
So I found this article that talks about Michael Jordan commenting on his own video game called 2K11. It is not exactly about him, but rather their is a big emphasize on him. He is on the fron cover with his red Bulls 23 jersey. In the game you are able to replay all his greatest moments throughout his EPIC career. You can replay the "Shot" that Jordan made in his last game with the Bulls. Score 60+ points against the Celtics in a playoff game. Another cool feature in the game is that you can sign Jordan to any modern teams in the NBA. I think that is so cool because who would not want to have Jordan play for the Celtics, Miami, and maybe the Lakers (not so much for me). So he is like awesome in that game. I had an opportunity to play the game once and I played one of the Jordan challenges and I had a lot of fun. I mean how big of a player do you have to be to have a game made in your name and have your own special challenges based on your achievements. Well I guess you have to be Michael Jordan. Well this article says that Jordan says that if he would play today it would be a different game. He said that today its less physical and that if he played he would either foul out (he is really physical) or he would just score 100 points with the help of the free throw line. That is so cool and I would agree with him on that.



http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/NBA-2K11-Michael-Jordan-Challenge-video-game http://www.nba.com/jordan/jordan_icon_thiel.html http://www.nba.com/history/players/jordan_bio.html

= How has he inspired the modern basketball players? = === So I read this article recently that said that MJ inspired everyone with his trick shots, amazing slam dunks, and three point attempts. The author also says that he inspired the modern generation of basketball players to play alone. What I mean by alone is that he not knowingly showed the at the time young kids that scoring alone was cool and these guys grew up to be basketball players. Well I mean now a days you see one player get 30 points and others are just there to back up him up. But when that player does not have a ball he is worthless. In most occasions, he doesn't set up screens but rather demands the ball. THAT IS NOT WHAT BASKETBALL IS! IT IS A TEAM SPORT! Look at LeBron, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant all they do is play alone. Each has a crew that backs them up. But Jordan did not do so, I mean he scored thats a fact, but he also tried to help out his teammates. He set up screens, passed the ball, and a was a true team player. But today the only team I see that has each teammate helping out are the Boston Celtics. It is true because each member helps the other and that makes them a tough team to play. That is because each player has to be defended carefully. So even though MJ did not intend to inspire people like that he did. Today everyone heres the phrase "I want to be like Mike". ===



http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1998/06/22/244166/index.htm

Michael Jordan's Records!
So in this post I decided to talk about the records set by MJ. As you all may know this man loved to score points. He just had a God given talent to score. At one point the Celtics great Larry Bird once said that God dressed up as MJ and play basketball. I mean that is a very high remark to make and since he is a great a lot of people listen to him. Today MJ holds the highest season point average of 30 points. That is an incredible feat because that is crazy. You have to score 30 or more points a game. In playoffs he owns the highest point percentage also and it is 33 points. He is just to awesome in my opinion. Also in the 1991-1993 Finals he is the only player to own three MVP's in a row. He made history people and thats is awesome. During his time all of his games in or out of town were sold out. THAT IS REALLY COOL! They said he got $30 million alone from game tickets and other endorsements. I think the NBA commissioner and other members must have been crying when he left the game. He also owns the record of the only 40 year old player to score over 40+ points. That is incredible because he played with the Wizards for two years. During one of the seasons he was turned 40. He is full achievements that I probably do not know about. But all of his achievements where engraved into a stone next to the Bulls arena in Chicago. So if you guys are curious I suggest you visit Chicago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jordan http://www.nba.com/history/players/jordan_bio.html

MY INTERVIEW ON MICHAEL JORDAN!

====For my interview on Michael Jordan I talked to my Uncle. His name is Paul Draper and that is why their is PD at the end of the interview. I asked my Uncle three questions and he responded with interesting info. He grew up in the New England area and he said he was an avid Celtics fan. So he did not think much of the Bulls with MJ at their helm. This is it hope you guys enjoy the interview. ====

1) Michael Jordan played in the NBA, what was the reaction of people?
====a. Being from Boston, Celtics fans didn’t think too much about Michael Jordan (MJ) when he first came into the league. It was assumed he was the type of player who would be a great individual scorer with lots of athletic talents but wasn’t thought of as a team player who could improve the other players around him.====

