|
|
 |
|
The Incredible
Diamond
From the outset of his career, Michael possessed an
unparalleled quickness off the dribble, and his ability to
dribble with either hand and finish in the lane with an
explosion separated him from the rest of the players in the
league. Plus, he always backed up his drives with the high
shooting percentages, so defending him was nearly impossible.
You could never foul him, because he'd go to the line and make
85 percent. What they had in Chicago was this incredible
diamond, but a diamond surrounded by less than a playoff-type
athlete.
As his career went on, the Bulls put in the missing pieces.
They added Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant in 1987 to give
them their "Big Three" and once that happened,
common thought was that his game had exploded when in reality
he had a complete game when he first came in. Now, he had the
supporting cast to help transform individual success into team
success.
|
|
  |
|
Getting
Totally Out of Endorsements
Understandably,
the sporting world's best salesman slowed down when he
came back from retirement the first time. It seems that
after earning salaries of $30 million and $33 million in
the 1996-97 and '97-98 seasons, the golden cord of
endorsement money has become less and less a motivation
for him. Just a year and half ago, he told the Chicago
Sun-Times he was "getting totally out of the
endorsement aspect of things" when his current
contracts expire.
He
has kept his word, signing on to few new relationships
since then. The exceptions have been few: expansion of his
name-brand restaurants, and a three-year deal with Palm
Pilot signed earlier this year. And while he filmed a
series of MCI commercials that began rolling out July 1, a
source close to he said, at least for some companies that
he is currently under contract, he will not be involved in
new advertising campaigns.
|
|
A Dominating
Post Player
As his career moved on, there was a slight step back
because of age, but he always had the medium game, those eight
to 15 foot shots that are missing in basketball today. Not
only did he have that tough medium game, but he could always
finish his drives when he went to the hole because of his
incredible leaping ability. And at the end of his career,
Michael transformed himself into one of the best post-up
players in the NBA. He was nearly unstoppable because he
perfected his bump and fadeaway jump shot. That one move,
never mind all of the other things that he could do with his
back to the basket, made him one of the most dominating post
players in the game.
|
|
|
|
Before he retired in 1993 to pursue a
baseball career, you would always double team him and he
still couldn't be stopped because of his ability to
elevate. Once he elevated, it just came down to whether he
made the shot or not. As a coach you could: a.) try to
take the ball out of his hands; or b.) force him into a
bad percentage shot. Neither choice is really correct
because regardless of whether he would either make the
shot or not make the shot, he understood how to beat the
double team, and that alone was dangerous.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
