Like most basketball players, Michael Jordan wasn’t born with superior basketball skills. He had to work relentlessly on his game to become the greatest basketball player of all time. His incredible basketball talent wouldn’t have been possible without his mentality, which he used to his advantage for most of his phenomenal career. In fact, what separated MJ from normal basketball players was that instead of competing and comparing himself against his competitors, he did it mostly with himself.
Michael versus himself
According to motivational speaker Tony Robbins, Michael once told him that he became the best basketball player in the world because he always competed with his expectations and standards instead of others’. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to live up to people’s expectations, but more so the fact that he knew he was the one who demanded the most out of himself — which was why he used it as the measuring stick.
“Michael Jordan. Remember I interviewed him years ago? And I said, ‘What makes you the best in the world? Is it skill? Is it talent? Is it abilities? Is it background? Is it training?’ And he was so awesome. He said, ‘Tony I can tell you the truth and it won’t sound like false modesty.’ He said, ‘I didn’t even make the high school basketball team, sophomore year. I was cut.‘ He said, ‘What it is is everyday I demand more from myself than anybody else could possibly expect. I don’t compete with other people. I compete with what I’m capable of,’” Robbins shared.
A life lesson from Robbins and Jordan
Aside from being rich multimillionaires and high-profile personalities in their crafts, the similarity between Jordan and Robbins was that they always had high standards for themselves. When it comes to public speaking, Robbins always felt that his next talk had to be better than his last, no matter what he was going through. Like Jordan, he always expected himself to achieve his goals before attempting to go after them.
The success of both Jordan and Robbins’ careers is yet another reminder that most of the time, we don’t need to let other people’s expectations limit the possibilities of what we can and want to achieve for ourselves. Comparing yourself to other people’s expectations becomes moot if you hold yourself to a greater standard. As Mike said, it’s a matter of competing against what you’re capable of.
Michael Jordan’s days of victimizing the Gary Paytons, George Karls and Reggie Millers were over.
So, in 2003, just a few months after his tenure with the Washington Wizards had come to an end, Jordan spent time laying waste to a bunch of old heads who had dropped $15,000 each to attend the Michael Jordan Senior Flight School camp in Las Vegas.
The campers brought a wide array of experience: the basketball novices who received the trip as gifts, the ballers who were proud of their top dawg status in their local rec leagues and the former college players who thought they could still bring it.
It didn’t matter to Jordan, who each year spent a session during the camp taking on volunteers in a game of one-on-one, game to three. If you were bold enough to raise your hand to step on the court to play him, it was his intent to treat you to a quick and complete embarrassment.
As the session came to a close on this day, Jordan requested one last victim after having already destroyed more than 20 campers.
John Rogers, attending his third straight camp, sheepishly raised his hand. Jordan called him to center court.
The tale of the tape:
Jordan was 40, a 6-foot-6, six-time NBA champion, five-time NBA MVP and 14-time NBA All-Star with a career 30.1 points per game scoring average. As a basketball player, Jordan is considered by many to be the greatest of all time.
Rogers was 45, a 6-foot former Princeton point guard who averaged 3.5 points in the 23 games he played in during his college career. As a businessman, Rogers, the founder and CEO of Ariel Investments (often described as the largest minority-owned investment firm), is considered to be one of the nation’s leading financial executives.
This wasn’t the first time Rogers competed against Jordan. When Jordan was considering a return to basketball in 2001 following his retirement in 1998, Rogers was one of the local players invited to play in the pickup games that helped Jordan build his stamina.
“I was there for about a half-dozen games, but eventually got cut when some of the top college players who were finishing their seasons came home,” Rogers said. “I got switched off on Michael from time to time during those games, and I remember he was going up for a shot once and I thought for sure I was going to block it. I whiffed.”
Rogers would get his revenge two years later.
From Isiah Thomas to Maurice Cheeks to Tim Hardaway, the city of Chicago has produced a long list of talented basketball players. You won’t find Rogers on any of those lists, but he played against many of those greats.
A scoring point guard in high school at the University of Laboratory Schools, Rogers had interest from a few Division III programs as a senior in 1976. But his classroom brilliance had him eyeing Ivy League schools. And on each campus visit, he made sure to meet with the school’s basketball coach.
At Penn, that was future Hall of Fame coach Chuck Daly. “Spent an hour with him,” Rogers recalled. “You could tell Chuck Daly was not interested in me at all.” But Rogers’ visit to Princeton left a different impression. He came away impressed by the school’s history, which includes Bill Bradley going on to a Hall of Fame career with the New York Knicks and Armond Hill becoming a first-round pick by the Atlanta Hawks that year.
“The people at Princeton were kind to me,” Rogers said. “It felt like a really special place with a great history of basketball excellence.” John Rogers (center) shoots a jump shot while on Princeton’s basketball team.
Rogers was one of nine recruits entering Princeton in 1976, but soon realized there were only four guys on the freshman team who were expected to reach the varsity squad — and he wasn’t one of them. Rogers, however, got lucky when an extra varsity spot opened after a player left school. Rogers, having played his way from the seventh man to the starting point guard by the end of his freshman season, earned the varsity spot as a sophomore.
He played a total of just seven minutes in four games for Princeton as a sophomore, scoring two points. His college coach, the legendary Pete Carril, was harsh. “In a 5-on-5 game, Rogers is legally blind,” Carril said of Rogers. “He has no vision, and I can’t teach vision. So he can’t play here.”
Despite that rather harsh assessment, Carril, who rarely passed on compliments, did admire one quality in Rogers’ game.
“He said I was a good one-on-one player,” Rogers said. “Because I was good at driving and making tricky shots with either hand.”
As Jordan checked the ball to the bespectacled and slightly balding Rogers at the start of their 2003 game, he attempted to get inside his opponent’s head.
“Don’t be mad at me, I’m just good,” Jordan said.
Jordan hitched up the right side of his shorts as he dropped in a defensive stance.
“Y’all think I had this camp just so you can beat me?” he said.
Jordan had yet to complete that sentence as Rogers took two power dribbles to his right and drove in for a double-clutch layup as Jordan challenged.
Bucket.
“It went in and I said, ‘Oh, this is a nice feeling,’ ” Rogers said. “I didn’t want to embarrass myself, I didn’t want to shoot an airball. I thought going in it would be great to make one basket, so I’m thrilled.”
Campers roared. Jordan, known to let campers score a bucket before crushing them, just smiled. Rogers, walking toward the 3-point line with a one-point lead, offered one of those “nice try, kid” pats to Jordan’s stomach.
“That’s just something that I always do,” Rogers said. “Just a habit.”
The game is make-it, take-it, so Rogers got the ball again and faked as if to launch a jumper, then took two power dribbles to his left before launching his body into Jordan’s chest. This created enough separation for him to let fly a left-handed circus shot that kissed off the glass.
Rogers 2, Jordan 0.
Few people had high expectations for Rogers as a basketball player when he entered Princeton, but toward the end of his junior year, he demonstrated a few flashes of talent. He scored 14 points against Yale and a career-high 20 against Brown.
It was startling to Carril.
“A reporter from a local paper asked [Carril] about my play,” Rogers recalled. “And he told him, ‘If Johnny Rogers could pass or dribble a little bit, he could have been playing a long time ago.’ ”
Rogers started only three games as a junior (and played in five games total), but he was named captain of the Princeton team as a senior. That season, the Tigers would go on to be the co-champions of the Ivy League before missing the NCAA tournament by losing a one-game playoff game to Penn 50-49.
“He was the guy who would take charges and dive for loose balls,” said Craig Robinson, the two-time Ivy League Player of the Year who played a season with Rogers. “His hustle allowed him to become our captain.” In 2003, John Rogers beat Michael Jordan in a game of one-on-one.
JOHN ROGERS
Although Rogers had one clear career desire at Princeton — “I told the coaches that I wanted to be a basketball coach when I graduated,” Rogers said — three years after graduating, Rogers founded Ariel Capital Management (now Ariel Investments), a Chicago-based company that manages portfolios worth more than $10 billion. Rogers was recognized in the book The World’s 99 Greatest Investors in 2014, alongside the likes of Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch. He has served on the boards of McDonald’s, Nike and The New York Times, and served as the co-chair of the Presidential Inaugural Committee after the election of his longtime friend, President Barack Obama.
After launching his business, Rogers also found ways to maintain his love for basketball. Along with Robinson and other former Princeton players, he formed a squad that played in rec leagues throughout Chicago and beat teams that boasted talented players, including Juwan Howard and Michael Finley. That squad later recruited Arne Duncan (the former Harvard standout who was later appointed the secretary of education by Obama) into the fold and taught him the Princeton offense. Their 3-on-3 teams, meanwhile, went on to win several regional, national and world 3-on-3 basketball titles.
“When we played 3-on-3 tournaments, I’d be eating a cheeseburger while John would be scouting opponents and the courts we’d be playing on,” said Kit Mueller, a two-time Ivy League Player of the Year (1990, 1991) who is the second all-time leading scorer in Princeton history.
“He’s addicted to basketball and addicted to winning,” Mueller said. “It consumes him to find every little thing that would give him an edge.”
Up 2-0 with a chance to win the game, Rogers drove to his right again against Jordan, who was still playing soft defensively. But Rogers missed the clear look.
Years later, Rogers is still upset that he didn’t pitch a shutout.
“It’s a shot I normally make,” Rogers said. “The ball just spun out.”
Jordan, finally with the ball, teased Rogers for wearing Adidas just before launching his first shot from beyond the 3-point line.
Good.
Jordan’s second shot beyond the arc was also good. Rogers, who assumed the shots beyond the arc were worth two points each, thought the game was over and began to walk away. But Jordan called him back.
It was 2-2.
The game continued with the two trading misses. Finally, Rogers got the ball back with another shot at glory.
“I’m thinking I’m going to see where he is defensively, and follow my instincts,” Rogers said. “I thought about shooting a jump shot, but decided to drive to the basket.”
Rogers took two dribbles to his left and, again, drove into Jordan’s body before launching a prayer.
“I can still remember watching the ball go up as I was falling out of bounds,” Rogers said. “I can hear him say, ‘Oh, no’ before the ball went in.
“He knew that was one of my patented shots.”
The two embraced as the crowd — which included actor/comedian Damon Wayans (who played a Senior Flight School camper who got zipped by Michael Jordan in a 2004 episode of the My Wife and Kids TV show a year later) — roared in approval. Rogers had earned everyone’s respect.
“Take that picture down,” Wayans said, pointing toward the wall at an image of Jordan, “and put up Rogers right there.”
With the game over, Rogers faced a more pressing matter: securing the footage.
“I asked for it immediately, and it seemed like it took forever,” Rogers said. “I was worried it would get lost. I kept bugging the camp and finally, maybe two months later, they sent me the tape.”
With the tape in hand, Rogers dubbed copies for his closest friends, who now had visual proof of the game he had told them about.
“He was pretty proud of it,” said Mueller, one of the recipients. “And I don’t blame him — he beat Michael Jordan!”
Robinson, the brother of former first lady Michelle Obama and current vice president of player development with the Knicks, was also eager to see video proof.
“When you hear him say, ‘I beat Michael Jordan one-on-one,’ you’re thinking Michael’s just messing around,” Robinson said. “You see the tape, and see it’s legit. …
“Is he a legend for doing that? Absolutely. It’s something few people can say they’ve ever accomplished. Do something like that today, and it would go viral.”
Rogers was walking down the street last year in Chicago when a random man stopped him. “You’re that guy,” he said. “I recognize you.”
Similar reactions have come during stays at hotels he frequents. “They would happen to come across it on YouTube,” Rogers said. “They would tell me, ‘I had no idea.’ ”
The video is out there. The Wall Street Journal got a copy of it from Rogers and posted an edited version in 2008.
“It’s awkward at times because I’m a low-key kind of guy,” Rogers said. “I go on the road and do a lot of speeches, and the person who introduces me will invariably bring it up as kind of a lighthearted point of my resume.”
Rogers, 62, has had a lot of sports highlights in his life. He has played basketball multiple times with President Obama (Rogers has known the former president since the 1990s), beat 176 competitors at the Warren Buffett-sponsored NetJet poker tournament, and is now working with USA Basketball as it introduces 3-on-3 basketball to the Olympics (several former Princeton players were scheduled to represent the USA in the 2020 Games in Tokyo).
So where does the victory over Jordan rank in all of his accomplishments?
“Playing Jordan is right up there,” Rogers said. “But had I never made the basketball team at Princeton, I never would have had a chance to play for Coach Carril and none of what followed — the 3-on-3 tournaments, the Jordan camp, the friendships I made through basketball — would have ever happened.”
Rogers, who is five years removed from basketball after having hip replacement surgery, is a realist when it comes to his game against Jordan: that day he was more lucky than good.
“We all know that if I had played him 100 times, he would have beat me the next 100 times,” Rogers said. “But it was a memorable moment that I’ll always cherish.”
One that lives on with video evidence.
“In all,” Rogers said with a laugh, “I’ve watched it a million times.”
Jerry Bembry is a senior writer at Andscape. His bucket list items include being serenaded by Lizz Wright and watching the Knicks play a MEANINGFUL NBA game in June.
In March 1990, Chicago Bulls guard Michael Jordan was at the top of his statistical game. He was on the way to his fourth scoring title and his sixth All-Star team, and mere months away from his most compelling playoff run yet.
One version of Jordan—the 35-point-per-game destroyer of worlds of the 1980s—was going extinct as the unbeatable Jordan of the 1990s was being fitfully born. However, one spring evening against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jordan marshaled his otherworldly talents for the most dominant game of his career.
The future Hall of Famer tagged the Cavaliers for 69 points, 18 rebounds and six assists in 50 minutes of action as the Bulls edged Cleveland 117–113 in overtime. It was a performance worth immortalizing, and now documentation of Jordan’s big night is up for auction.
Sotheby’s, the venerable art brokerage, is listing the scoresheet from the game between $60,000 and $80,000.
“What made this performance … breathtaking was the manner in which Jordan scored,” the catalogue entry reads. “It wasn’t just the sheer volume of points; it was the artistry, the finesse, and the versatility of ways Jordan put the ball in the basket.
“Fadeaway jumpers, acrobatic drives, mid-range daggers—the full repertoire of Jordan’s offensive arsenal was on display that night.”
Indeed, Jordan was one of a kind in 1990 and remains one of a kind in 2024. The sea of ink on the scoresheet next to his name attests to that.
Michael Jordan was part of a five-player freshman class in 1981-82 that included John Brownlee of Fort Worth, Texas; Warren Martin of Axton, Va.; Lynwood Robinson of Mt. Olive, N.C.; and Buzz Peterson of Asheville, N.C.
Jordan was listed as Mike Jordan in the 1981-82 media guide and was introduced to the crowd in his first game against Kansas as freshman guard Mike Jordan.
Jordan named Walter Davis and Magic Johnson as his favorite players.
The last player to wear No. 23 prior to Jordan was Ged Doughton, a guard from Winston-Salem, N.C., who played for Carolina from 1975-79.
A Raleigh Times column the day after the 1981 NCAA championship game identified Jordan as Michael “Magic” Jordan among the next season’s incoming freshmen.
Jordan was the fourth freshman to start his first college game for head coach Dean Smith, following Phil Ford, Mike O’Koren and James Worthy.
Jordan scored 12 points against Kansas in Charlotte on Nov. 28, 1981, in his first game as a Tar Heel.
Carolina was ranked No. 1 in the nation in the Associated Press poll in 57 of his 101 games as a Tar Heel.
Jordan’s teams went 11-1 against top-10 opponents.
Carolina was not ranked in the top 20 in the AP poll in only two of his 101 games (against Texas-Pan America and Chattanooga in December 1982).
Carolina finished his three seasons ranked No. 1 in 1981-82, No. 8 in 1982-83 and No. 1 in 1983-84.
Jordan scored in double figures in 90 of 101 games (63 of 67 games as a sophomore and junior).
Scored a career-high 39 points against Georgia Tech on Jan. 29, 1983.
Made a career-high 13 field goals against Duke as a sophomore and Chattanooga as a junior.
The most points he scored against any team were 159 against Duke. He scored 19-11-32-32-18-25-22 in his seven games against the Blue Devils (22.7 ppg).
Jordan’s 149 points against Georgia Tech are the most by any Tar Heel ever against the Yellow Jackets.
Jordan led the team in scoring as a sophomore and junior. As a freshman, he was the third-leading scorer behind junior James Worthy and sophomore Sam Perkins.
Jordan’s 16 points against Georgetown in 1982 are the most by a Tar Heel freshman in a national championship game.
Jordan led Carolina with nine rebounds in the 1982 NCAA title game vs. the Hoyas.
Jordan is one of six Tar Heel players who were elected to the Naismith Hall of Fame as a player with Billy Cunningham, Bob McAdoo, James Worthy, Charlie Scott and Bobby Jones.
ESPN named Jordan the Greatest Athlete of the 20th Century. He was one of 11 basketball players in the top 100. The next highest-ranked basketball player was Wilt Chamberlain at No. 13.
Jordan (1984) is one of four Tar Heels who earned consensus National Player of the Year honors with Phil Ford (1978), Antawn Jamison (1998) and Tyler Hansbrough (2008).
Jordan is one of two Tar Heels to win National Player of the Year honors in two seasons (1983 and 1984). George Glamack is the other (1940 and 1941).
Jordan is one of six Tar Heels who earned consensus first-team All-America honors in two or more seasons.
In 2004, a blue-ribbon panel selected Jordan as the Greatest Male Athlete in the first 50 years of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Greatest Female Athlete was Carolina soccer player Mia Hamm.
Jordan was first-team All-ACC in 1983 and 1984. The only other player to earn first-team All-ACC honors in those seasons was his Tar Heel teammate, Sam Perkins.
Jordan is one of nine Tar Heels to win ACC Rookie of the Year honors.
Jordan scored 1,788 points as a Tar Heel (17.7 per game).
He averaged 20.0 points as a sophomore and 19.6 as a junior.
Jordan shot 44.7 percent from three-point range in 1982-83 when the ACC experimented for that one season with a 17-feet, 9-inch line.
Carolina went 88-13 overall and 42-4 in ACC regular-season play in Jordan’s three seasons.
Carolina was unbeaten against two ACC teams in Jordan’s three seasons – 8-0 vs. Clemson and 7-0 vs. Georgia Tech.
Jordan led Team USA to a gold medal in the 1984 Summer Olympics after his junior season at Carolina. He led Team USA in scoring with 137 points in eight games (17.1 ppg), including a game-high 20 points in the gold medal game against Spain.
Jordan’s coaches at UNC included head coach Dean Smith and assistant coaches Bill Guthridge, Eddie Fogler and Roy Williams. All four earned National Coach of the Year honors as head coaches.
Every NBA All-Stаr, Slаm Dunk Conteѕt іs аlwаys а сreative сontest аnd gіves vіewers а very unіque feelіng.
Beѕideѕ the All-Stаr Gаme, the Slаm Dunk Conteѕt іs аlso аn event thаt іs exрected аnd аttrаcts vіewers аt NBA All-Stаr every yeаr. In thіs yeаr’s dunk сontest, 4 nаmes wіll рarticiрate іncludіng Dennіs Smіth Jr. (New York Knіcks), John Collіns (Atlаntа Hаwks), Mіles Brіdges (Chаrlotte Hornetѕ) аnd Hаmidou Dіallo (Oklаhomа Cіty Thunder).
In the рast, there were mаny momentѕ аt the Slаm Dunk Conteѕt thаt left а very deeр іmpressіon іn the mіnds of vіewers. Before enterіng the dunk сontest of 4 young tаlents on Februаry 17, let’ѕ tаke а look аt the 10 moѕt memorаble momentѕ іn Slаm Dunk Conteѕt hіstory:
1. Mіchael Jordаn аnd hіs dunk from the free throw lіne аt the 1988 NBA Slаm Dunk Conteѕt
2. Blаke Grіffіn jumрed over а сar аt Slаm Dunk Conteѕt 2011
3. Sрud Webb іs only 1m7 tаll but won the 1986 Slаm Dunk Conteѕt
4. Nаte Robіnson followed hіs сareer by wіnnіng the Slаm Dunk Conteѕt 3 tіmes іn 2006, 2009 аnd 2010 when he wаs only 1m75 tаll
Forbes released its list of the richest people in the world on Tuesday, and there are some familiar names for sports fans.
It turns out that being the best basketball player in history with a still-thriving apparel company has its perks, as Michael Jordan checks in at 1,033rd with a net worth of $3.2 billion. Golfing legend Tiger Woods is listed at 2,287th with a net worth of $1.3 billion, while LeBron James checks in at 2,410th with a net worth of $1.2 billion.
Magic Johnson is also tied for 2,410th with a net worth of $1.2 billion.
Jordan’s accomplishments on the court are legendary and include six championships, six NBA Finals MVPs, five league MVPs and 10 scoring titles, but he wouldn’t be on this list from his basketball salary alone.
He made $93.6 million during his career, per Spotrac, which underscores the fact he played in the NBA before salaries exploded to their current rate. For comparison, James is making $47.6 million in base salary alone in 2023-24, which is second in the league behind Stephen Curry ($51.9 million).
Yet His Airness has made his riches off the court with endorsement deals with Nike, Gatorade, Hanes and many more companies.
His partnership with Nike for Air Jordan is arguably the most famous one in sports history and continues to pay off with the Jumpman logo on current NBA jerseys and stars such as Jayson Tatum, Luka Dončić, Zion Williamson and Russell Westbrook signed to the brand.
Yet even Jordan is behind other figures from the sports world on the Forbes list.
The majority of those connected to sports are team owners, such as Stanley Kroenke, Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, Arthur Blank and Jerry Reinsdorf, among others. Kroenke, who owns the Los Angeles Rams, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Rapids and the United Kingdom’s Arsenal soccer club, is highest on the list.
He is 115th with a net worth of $16.2 billion. Jones, who owns the Dallas Cowboys, is next at 137th with a net worth of $13.8 billion.
Kroenke has also found plenty of success inside the lines with the Nuggets the reigning champions in the NBA and the Rams and Avalanche winning championships in their respective sports within the last five years.
Mіchael Jordаn’s ‘Lаst Dаnce’ doсumentary ѕent mаssive reverberаtions throughout the entіre ѕportѕ world when іt fіrst debuted.
Not only dіd іt сompletely wreсk Jordаn’s relаtionship wіth Sсottie Pіppen, but іt turned ѕome of hіs former Chіcago Bullѕ teаmmаtes аgаinst hіm.
Nevertheleѕѕ, the doсumentary wаs а huge hіt.
One of the key thіngs fаns сouldn’t helр but notіce аbout іt, however, wаs exсlusion of сurrent Loѕ Angeleѕ Lаkers ѕtar LeBron Jаmes.
“Onсe you oрen thаt door, then you hаve to hаve thаt dіscussіon, аnd I wаs never іnterested іn hаving thаt dіscussіon,” Jаson Hehіr ѕaid, the dіrector of the ‘Lаst Dаnce’ doсumentary, told Bіll Sіmmons.
“… If they (рeoрle) were аt the bаr hаving thіs dіscussіon аbout the GOAT, іf they wаnt to сite thіngs thаt they ѕaw іn ‘The Lаst Dаnce,’ greаt, but I never wаnted to ѕit … Beсause whаt аre you gonnа аsk LeBron?
“And you know whаt he’ѕ goіng to ѕay. He’ѕ gonnа ѕay ‘I аdmire the guy, I wore 23 beсause of hіm, I grew uр wаtching hіm.’ We’ll ѕhow а рicture of hіm weаring Jordаns. There’ѕ goіng to be no ѕurpriѕeѕ there.”
Whіle Hehіr’s logіc сertainly mаkes ѕenѕe, іt іs а ѕhame thаt Jаmes wаsn’t feаtured іn the ‘Lаst Dаnce’ аnywаy.
Hoрefully when the tіme сomes for Jаmes’ doсumentary to be releаsed, Jordаn wіll іn fаct be feаtured іn іt іn ѕome сapaсity.
Michael Jordan, Hornets to meet with Brandon Miller, Scoot Henderson
Michael Jordan and the Charlotte Hornets will meet with Brandon Miller and Scoot Henderson in the lead-up to the NBA draft on Monday.
Michael Jordan has spent plenty of time in the news in recent days, with the Charlotte Hornets majority owner set to sell his stake in the franchise. But Jordan’s business in Charlotte isn’t done quite yet.According to ESPN, he’s set to meet with Brandon Miller and Scoot Henderson on Monday, the two players competing to be selected with the Hornet’s number two pick in the upcoming NBA draft.
With both players hailing from the South they’ve each shown an eagerness to be selected by Charlotte, though it’s Miller who is, according to most reports, leading the charge, in no small part due to his likely better fit alongside LaMelo Ball. Henderson, however, impressed during a workout with the Hornets last week.
With the NBA draft just a few days away, the Hornets need to finalize their decision soon, and Michael Jordan and his fellow Charlotte bigwigs will clearly be endeavoring to do just that in the wake of this upcoming meeting.
It’s a bonafide race in two to be the second selection, with Victor Wembanyama, widely viewed as one of the biggest talents to enter the league in decades, the nominal number one pick. The Frenchman will be heading to San Antonio, a franchise with significant ties to his home nation courtesy largely of Tony Parker’s illustrious career there – with Boris Diaw also spending a number of seasons there. For much of the past season that has left Brandon Miller and Scoot Henderson fighting it out for pick two, and one of Michael Jordan’s last decisions as a majority owner of the Hornets will be to help decide on which of these two talented youngsters they select in the 2023 NBA draft.
Tupac Shakur was very vocal about social issues. His activism was well established even at an early age. The legendary rapper was especially furious about other wealthy and influential African-American community members who didn’t want to present themselves as role models to other inner-city kids.
Meanwhile, Michael Jordan didn’t really address social issues, despite being the most influential athlete at the time. That’s why Tupac called him out for not doing much for the African-American community.
“You know Michael Jordan? I never saw Michael Jordan in the ‘hood. Let’s see Jordan come down to the inner city, just a parking lot, and just shoot the ball with the kids. I bet you that would change their life. Instead of going to some suburban PAL unit, shooting the ball,” Tupac said per MTV.
Tupac on the lack of role models
Tupas also reflected on his childhood, saying he didn’t have many role models growing up who could show him how to play basketball. That’s why he wanted MJ to speak up and be more of an influence on young people.“What about the ones that [have] only one basketball court in the whole neighborhood and don’t anybody — I still don’t know how to play basketball to this day, ’cause instead of somebody teaching me, everybody used to laugh at me,” Shakur said.
“Instead of me staying there being like, “Teach me! Teach me!” I just learned to be like “F— it. I won’t learn.” And that’s real. I know nothing about sports because I had no kind of role model to teach me,” Tupac added.
A different side of MJ
MJ was often criticized for not doing more for the community, especially during his playing days. However, a GQ interview from 1989 proves the Chicago Bulls legend was not indifferent to social issues.
Jordan, despite being one of the most famous individuals in the world, wasn’t a fan of the special treatment he was receiving. That’s one of the issues he discussed in an interview.
“As far as being on a pedestal, it’s a compliment, yet it’s somewhat painful to me that one person can be viewed so high above other people,” Jordan said, per GQ.
“For example, if I go to a restaurant, I am very likely to get that meal free. But poor people who go to the same restaurant got to wash dishes to eat. And I’m the one that can afford it. If you can explain that, then you can explain society, and you can explain Richie Weaver looking up to me,” MJ added.
Mike also talked about his fame in relation to his ethnicity. That being said, he wanted the next generation to aspire to be like him solely because of his skill set and not because of the color of his skin.
So Michael obviously did talk about social issues, but he wasn’t nearly as outspoken as today’s NBA superstars. Post-retirement, His Airness also started giving back to the communities more, especially to the people of Charlotte.
In a stunning display of love and opulence, basketball legend Michael Jordan left the world in awe as he celebrated his 10th wedding anniversary with wife Yvette Prieto. The surprise that stole the spotlight? A luxurious villa in Chicago, valued at over $10 million.
As Michael Jordan and Yvette Prieto marked a decade of marital bliss, the basketball icon decided to commemorate the occasion with a gift that transcends ordinary celebrations. The surprise unveiling of a $10 million villa in Chicago spoke volumes about the depth of their love and the grandeur with which they chose to celebrate.
Situated in the heart of Chicago, the $10 million villa gifted by Michael Jordan is more than just a residence; it’s a testament to the legendary athlete’s commitment to providing his wife with the epitome of comfort and luxury. Boasting sprawling interiors and exquisite architectural details, the villa stands as a symbol of their enduring love.
Yvette Prieto’s reaction to the surprise gift was nothing short of priceless. The genuine astonishment and joy on her face captured the essence of the moment, emphasizing the significance of Michael Jordan’s carefully orchestrated surprise on their 10th wedding anniversary.
Chicago, known for its architectural marvels and cultural richness, served as the backdrop for this grand anniversary gesture. Michael Jordan’s choice of the city added an extra layer of romantic symbolism to the already extraordinary gift, creating a memorable chapter in the couple’s love story.
While Michael Jordan’s prowess on the basketball court is legendary, his romantic gestures off the court further solidify his status as a visionary in matters of the heart. The $10 million villa gift not only reflects his financial prowess but also underscores the depth of his commitment to ensuring that his wife experiences the finest things life has to offer.
John Rogers (center) shoots a jump shot while on Princeton’s basketball team.
In 2003, John Rogers beat Michael Jordan in a game of one-on-one.
