path to greatness

Jordan was a shooting guard who was also capable of playing as a small forward (the position he would primarily play during his second return to professional basketball with the Washington Wizards), and as a point guard. Jordan was known throughout his career for being a strong clutch performer. With the Bulls, he decided 25 games with field goals or free throws in the last 30 seconds, including two NBA Finals games and five other playoff contests. His competitiveness was visible in his prolific trash-talk and well-known work ethic. As the Bulls organization built the franchise around Jordan, management had to trade away players who were not “tough enough” to compete with him in practice. To help improve his defense, he spent extra hours studying film of opponents. On offense, he relied more upon instinct and improvisation at game time. Noted as a durable player, Jordan did not miss four or more games while active for a full season from 1986–87 to 2001–02, when he injured his right knee. He played all 82 games nine times. Jordan has frequently cited David Thompson, Walter Davis, and Jerry West as influences.Confirmed at the start of his career, and possibly later on, Jordan had a special “Love of the Game Clause” written into his contract (unusual at the time) which allowed him to play basketball against anyone at any time, anywhere.

Jordan had a versatile offensive game. He was capable of aggressively driving to the basket, as well as drawing fouls from his opponents at a high rate; his 8,772 free throw attempts are the ninth-highest total of all time. As his career progressed, Jordan also developed the ability to post up his opponents and score with his trademark fadeaway jump shot, using his leaping ability to “fade away” from block attempts. According to Hubie Brown, this move alone made him nearly unstoppable. Despite media criticism as a “selfish” player early in his career, Jordan’s 5.3 assists per game also indicate his willingness to defer to his teammates. In later years, the NBA shortened its three-point line to 22 feet (from 23 feet, 9 inches), which coupled with Jordan’s extended shooting range to make him a long-range threat as well—his 3-point stroke developed from a low 9/52 rate (.173) in his rookie year into a stellar 111/260 (.427) shooter in the 1995–96 season. For a guard, Jordan was also a good rebounder (6.2 per game).

In 1988, Jordan was honored with the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year Award and became the first NBA player to win both the Defensive Player of the Year and MVP awards in a career (since equaled by Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, and Kevin Garnett; Olajuwon is the only player other than Jordan to win both during the same season). In addition he set both seasonal and career records for blocked shots by a guard, and combined this with his ball-thieving ability to become a standout defensive player. He ranks third in NBA history in total steals with 2,514, trailing John Stockton and Jason Kidd. Jerry West often stated that he was more impressed with Jordan’s defensive contributions than his offensive ones. He was also known to have strong eyesight; broadcaster Al Michaels said that he was able to read baseball box scores on a 27-inch television clearly from about 50 feet away