10 Things You May Not Know About The GOAT Michael Jordan

Chris Jackson- Back when Chris Jackson was LSU player Chris Jackson, he and MJ had a one-on-one game of make it take it at Jordan’s summer camp.  Jackson hit a bunch of perimeter shots and MJ never even got the ball.

MJ’s High School Coach-  Everybody knows the story that MJ was cut from his high school varsity team his sophomore year, but many don’t know what followed that story.  The coach that cut MJ, spend most mornings meeting MJ at 6am in the gym before school, training and helping him to become a better player.

5 Star Camp-  The famous 5 Star camp that is held at Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania did not invite high school junior Michael Jordan to their star summer basketball camp.  MJ at the time was not a star player.  MJ’s coach and father called the 5 star camp and told them they wanted their star guard Michael Jordan to play at the camp.  To impress the scouts at the camp, MJ’s coach greatly inflated his playing stats telling them that MJ was averaging 25+ points a game.  5 Star camp bought the story and MJ went to on to dominate the camp of the nation’s best high schoolers.

Nickname-  When MJ was at UNC, he didn’t have his own nickname.  The Nike contract and the “Air Jordan” name was still years away.  The local press was looking to give the rising college star a nickname and asked MJ if he had any in mind.  MJ’s response?  He wanted to be called “Magic”.  Think about that, Michael “Magic” Jordan.

First Retirement-  Even though Jordan was serious about never returning to the game in 1993, he did have an itch to play against the new generation of players.  Jordan was always curious how he would fare against the NBA’s newest talent.  The two players that MJ wanted to compete against the most?  Penny Hardaway and Jason Kidd.

His height-  A big mystery in the Jordan family is where exactly did Michael get his height from?  His playing height was 6’6, but Jordan is the only member of his immediate family and close extended family to be over 6 feet.

88 Dunk Contest- Everybody knows of Jordan’s famous free throw line dunk in Chicago in 1988 to beat Dominique Wilkins.  But what most people have forgotten, or didn’t know, is that was the second time doing that exact dunk in the dunk contest.  For some reason, the judges gave Jordan a 50 on a dunk he did in the round before!

The Draft- Even though MJ had won a title at UNC and had a great college career, he was never seen as the top draft prospect in the 1984 draft.  As the draft approached, MJ was not even expecting to be drafted by the Chicago Bulls at number 3 and was expecting to fall to the Philadelphia 76ers at pick #5.  The 76ers could have had Dr.J and Jordan on the same team.

The Dream Team- When USA basketball asked MJ about joining the dream team in 1991, MJ actually turned them down.  He had told them that after two seasons of playing 100+ games in the last two seasons, that he wanted to spend his summer relaxing and golfing not playing basketball.  After more NBA players were onboard to playing in Barcelona, MJ changed his mind about joining.