Why Everyone Was Afraid Of Michael Jordan

throughout the 75ish years of NBA history there have been a little over 4,700 players who have come and gone some of them have had the reputation of being very kind some of them have had the reputation of being very crazy and then there's the ones who have had the reputation of being feared well when it comes to the particular category of being feared some players who fit this category are Kobe Bryant Allan Iverson Charles Barkley Shaquille O'Neal then in today's NBA it'd be Steph Curry above them all however above all the feared players the NBA has ever known stands one man and that man's name is Michael Jeffrey Jordan what is it though that makes some of the strongest athletes in the world fear him I mean sure he's a lot bigger than the average man but in the NBA when it comes to size he's average so that begs the question again what exactly was it about MJ that caused NBA players to tremble well today we're going to dive deep into this topic and look at it from all angles to find out once and for all why everyone was afraid of Michael Jordan there are many different types of leadership styles in the league today but there are two polarizing ones that are shared between the goats of the game these different methodologies really affects the perception of players and I think Rich Paul one of the the best player agents in today's game hit it on the spot when he said Mike and Kobe they were they didn't care if you were their friend or not matter of fact they don't care to be your friend they don't want to speak to you period but what does that do that makes you want to be their friend even more LJ is all inclusive right all inclusive but familiarity breathes disrespect m now there's nothing wrong about LeBron's leadership style heck it got him to what four championships and the leading scorer in NBA history but that no friend nonsense type of leadership that MJ had was just one of the factors that made NBA players shiver when he was around and forget about just opposing team players even in practice his teammates were afraid people were afraid of him we were his teammates and we were afraid of him and there was just fear now this isn't the end Beall when it comes to MJ being feared in fact this is just the first layer let's now dive a bit deeper have yall ever seen this commercial yeah I'll have a uh a vodka martini how many would you like 81 ouch guys ouch you know this one is common sense every NBA player has pride in the craft and the last thing they'd want is someone to drop 40 50 60 or even 81 points on their head so it makes sense that they'd be a bit fearful against a player who was capable of that and uh Gilbert arenus actually hit it on the spot when he said this on his podcast the fear comes from what that person capability is right as a offensive player the capability of what Jordan's going to do if you're not on point that's where the fear came in that so Michael Jordan was feared Allan Iverson was feared Kobe was feared guys who have the ability to score 30 to damn 70 points they're feared right it's not Fe like I'm not afraid of a guy who's going to give me 2999 I'm I'm I'm I'm afraid of a man who's going to go for 60 if I'm not careful okay well when it comes to players who could drop 30 to 70 points a night Michael is at the top of that list I mean if we just took the points per game average Michael Jordan is number one even above the likes of Wilt Chamberlain so uh this was just another layer on why players were afraid of MJ players definitely didn't want to get on his bad side otherwise Mike was going to turn the heat up on them and Shaq actually pretty much reiterated this point on a recent podcast as well was there anybody that you kind of avoided talking smack to because if you did Spirit got bigger and they wanted to beat you or Michael Jordan you don't want to mess with [Applause] God you got to stay away from Mike leave that man alone leave that man alone and this leads me to my next Point welcome to to the SP Jam you know as a kid I loved Space Jam it was one of my favorite movies at the time but uh this was how it depicted Michael how was your game I don't want Hey so uh although I love this movie and have probably watched it a 100 times growing up I think it's fair to say that it didn't quite show Michael's true personality because well he was a kind and compassionate man in this movie but in real life at least from what we see on the court and here in the tabloids he was anything but that and this is another reason why Michael was feared because it didn't matter if he left him alone or not he was mean and he'd go after you anyway I mean do you all know who Rodney McCrae is if not these are the cliff notes of him 6'7 third overall pick back in 1983 3 two-time all defensive player and back when he was in college NCAA Champion anyway the story is in 1992 Rodney a 9-year NBA vet at the time joined the Chicago Bulls he was a great addition to the team as he could score and defend and coming off the bench he'd be able to provide quality minutes he was excited at the time I mean the Bulls were coming off a championship and now he was a teammate of the best basketball player in the entire world and this was his best chance to win a championship well little did he know that his quest to win a ring was going to be a nightmare you see according to teammates of the Bulls at the time when the two players are on opposing teams in scrimmages Jordan is in Rodney's face screaming you're a loser you've always been a loser Rodney can hardly put up a jumper now the stats back that up too before that year when he was in Dallas Rodney attempted 85 three-point shots but after Jordan got to him after Jordan had his way with him during that season with the bulls he only attempted five three-point shots throughout the entire year Michael was not kind to him at all and it wasn't just Rodney either I mean Steve Kerr got punched in the face and quame brown was tormented it was clear Michael was far from the nice man who was depicted in Space Jam and players knew that and as he further continued as dominance in the NBA his reputation got bigger and bigger and then it started to precede him I mean people around the league were thinking if he'd punch his teammates in the face in practice what would he do to us his opponents well this leads directly to the next point if there was something else about Mike which gave him that aura of being feared it was his confidence I mean no other players's belief in himself even comes close like for example which player do you know in today's NBA would walk into an opposing team's locker room during the playoffs light aing cigar and ask who's going to check me tonight well per Chris Weber that happened when he was a member of the bullets back in 1997 and uh guess what the Bulls won that game with MJ scoring a game high 28 points and uh the Wizards were eliminated she it wasn't just that incident either NBA Hall of Famer Dominic Wilkins also had this to say of MJ so we're in Chicago Michael walks into our locker room suit and tie I'm like what is this son of a gun coming into our locker room for I'm thinking he's going to the training room or something he walks by me he walks by Kevin Willis he gets to Randy Whitman and he Taps him on the leg and he said lace him up it's going to be a long night well Jordan ended up scoring 61 points that night are y'all seeing why everyone was fearful of Mike ladies and gentlemen Michael Jordan literally had everything needed to become feared his demeanor his ability to drop buckets and completely embarrass you his bullying personality and then on top of this he had the utmost confidence about it all then as he rinsed and repeated year after year his reputation got to the point where people like Reggie Miller were calling him Black Jesus and uh it wasn't just players that his Aura reached either even referees were under his Dominion never but he didn't touch you with both hands that's the thing you think so Michael 55 hits two to come Michael I didn't see two hands on him Michael but I believe you but I believe you but I believe you [Music] you

Channel: Hoop Reports

Views: 185,727

Keywords: nba, nba news, nba today, nba trades, nba trade, nba trade rumors, nba rumors, undisputed, first take, espn, nba draft, kobe bryant, michael jordan, michael jordan highlights, michael jordan dunk, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, mj nba, mj chicago bulls, michael jordan trash talking, nba trash talk, mj trash talk, michael jordan magic johnson, michael jordan magic johnson trash talk, michael jordan reggie miller, reggie miller trash talk michael jordan, nba goat

Id: oaEwGn4s0Bw

Length: 10min 6sec (606 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 04 2023