NBA Archives Debunked: The Jordan Saga

Chapter 19 Lone Star (2)

The most important thing about getting along with Jordan is earning his respect, and Paxson did that when he was in college.At one point, Paxson and Jordan were selected to a certain college star team and went on a tour in Europe.In a game in Yugoslavia, Paxson hit the buzzer lore to win the team.Jordan seemed to always remember that ball, so he never treated Paxson as harshly as he treated most of his teammates. In the 1986-1987 season, Messi left, and Paxson played more time, and people felt that Paxson was better.He knows very well what he should do and what he should not do, and he always keeps within a moderate range.Pistons coach Chuck Daly once said of Paxson: "He was always in touch with Michael, like he was tied to a 12-foot rope, ready to catch the ball, ready to kill you at any time. preparation."

Klaus did a good job introducing Oakley and Paxson, but in the 1986 draft, Jordan was very dissatisfied with Klaus.The Bulls had the No. 9 pick at the time, and both Jordan and the Bulls coaching staff wanted Duke guard Johnny Dawkins, but Krause insisted on picking Ohio State forward Brad Seymour. Brad Sellers.Sellers is 7 feet (2.13 meters), weighs only 220 pounds (100 kilograms), has a long range, doesn't like confrontation at the basket, and looks like a small forward rather than a big man in the penalty area.Jordan has long believed that Cyrus is too soft to play, and the Bulls urgently need inside strength, but Klaus is the one who makes the decision, and he insists on going his own way.

Jordan and agent Falk (who also represented Dawkins) discovered that Krause had a weakness: In the draft, some players were clearly the best choice, and Krause was not happy because these players played well. , Others will not think that he, Klaus, has a good vision; Klaus loves to take risks and makes strange choices. Once the players selected in this way play well, he will be widely recognized as Bole.

After selecting Cyrus, Klaus also made a mistake. He desperately boasted in front of the players and coaches how good Cyrus is and how good he will be in the future, which aroused Jordan's disgust.Later, in training, Jordan was extremely cruel to Cyrus, and Cyrus failed to meet Klaus' expectations in the end, so Jordan kept mocking Klaus for his bragging.

What happened to Cyrus was a warning to Klaus.Krause realized that once Jordan didn't like a teammate, he would challenge him in practice to a degree that few could stand.Sometimes the coaches couldn't stand it and asked Jordan: Are you being too hard on your teammates?Jordan would say: If they can't even bear the pressure of training, how can they withstand the pressure of the playoffs?One preseason training camp, the old assistant coach Johnny Bach reminded Jordan that you were destroying the confidence of a teammate. Jordan replied coldly: "I have to prepare myself, Johnny."

In the 1987 draft, Krause completed his masterpiece of NBA general manager career, introducing two high-quality young forwards for the Bulls, one is Scottie Pippen from the University of Central Arkansas, and the other is from Horace Grant of Clemson University.This draft laid a solid foundation for the Bulls to win the first championship in team history and build a dynasty.

Scottie Pippen was born on September 1965, 9, the youngest of 25 children in his family.He grew up in Hamburg, Arkansas, which is a small town.In high school, Pippen played basketball well, served as a point guard, and had good vision, but he was not tall at 12 feet 6 inches (1 meters), and he was skinny and not fast.He showed no great athletic talent, so several nearby colleges were not interested in recruiting him, and assistant coaches from some colleges came to see him and were not impressed.

Eventually, because Pippen was such a good kid, his high school coach, Donald Wayne, called his college coach, Don Dyer, and asked Dyer to give Pippen Jr. a chance.Dell is currently teaching at the University of Central Arkansas.Wayne told Dell that he thought Pippen was a good guy if he wasn't a great basketball player, and he believed that a hard-working and good kid like this should get a chance to go to college.Dell liked Wayne so much he decided to listen to Wayne and give Pippen a chance.Dell didn't expect Pippen to be a good player, he just thought he was doing a good deed.Dell no longer has any athletic scholarships in his hands. When Pippen first arrived at the University of Central Arkansas, he was just an equipment administrator on the basketball team. scholarship.

Dale remembers Pippen starting out weighing just 140 pounds. His assistant, Arch Jones, said it might have been 64 pounds, but the skinny Pippen showed some talent.In his freshman year, Pippen played more and more minutes, and eventually even started.What's more, he started growing—sophomore, he grew to 130-foot-59 (6 m); junior, 3-foot-1.91 (6 m); rice).At the same time, the body also strengthened, and the weight increased to 6 pounds (1.98 kilograms).All of a sudden, Pippen improved in every direction and became Dell's best player.Dell used him to play three positions, two guards plus small forward, which helped him later in his career.

When he first entered college, Pippen wrote an article saying that he wanted to play in the NBA since he was a child. At that time, it seemed that this was an unrealistic dream.When he was in his junior year, his two coaches felt that Pippen's athletic ability was already at the NBA level, and they encouraged him: As long as he continues to work hard, playing in the NBA is achievable.However, due to the relatively weak sports league in which the University of Central Arkansas is located, Pippen has not competed with high-level opponents, so Dale and Archie Jones are also uncertain about the level of Pippen's level.

The two coaches began to actively recommend Pippen to the outside world.Dell knew Bob Bass, who worked in the front office of the Spurs. He contacted Bass and wrote to the Dallas Mavericks, but he didn't get a response.Meanwhile, Jones picked up the phone one day and called NBA scouting director Marty Blake, who said, "Marty, you don't know me or the league I'm in. But I have a kid here who is a very good player, and I think he can play in the NBA." Blake was very interested in hearing Jones' detailed description of Pippen's situation, and agreed to send a scout to take a look.Since then, Pippen has entered the NBA's field of vision.

The first time Krause heard about Pippen was from Marty Blake.Blake called Krause and told him there was a game in Arkansas that Pippen would be at, possibly with other scouts, and that he should keep an eye out because Pippen could be a very special athlete.Blake and Krause specifically mentioned two points, one is Pippen's explosive power, and the other is Pippen's long arms.So Krause sent Billy McKinney over.But at the time, McKinney was just starting out in the scouting business, hadn't seen much in the secondary leagues, and didn't know how to judge exactly what he saw.The next day, Krause asked McKinney: What do you think of Pippen?McKinney said: "I don't know very well.Klaus felt strange: What do you mean that you can't tell?McKinney said: Pippen is a good athlete with really long arms, but the technical level is quite poor.

Later, Krause and McKinney went to the Portsmouth Invitational, where many of the young men who were going to enter the NBA draft would show up.Seeing a skinny guy come onto the court, Klaus patted McKinney and said, "That must be Pippen." McKinney asked: How do you know?"That's the longest arm I've ever seen," Krause said.

Klaus couldn't contain his inner excitement. He thought Pippen would be very good in the future.Pippen is very thin, but his body is strong; Pippen's shooting is still poor, but he has big hands and long fingers, which will be of great help to improve the stability of shooting in the future, because he can easily control the ball; Pippen, like Jordan, Can play three positions in the NBA; Pippen still has enough talent to be an outstanding defensive player.

At Portsmouth, Pippen performed very well.Back at school, he said to Archie Jones, "Coach, I think I'm doing really well, and they want me to go to the next tryout in Hawaii." Now, for Krause, Pippen The problem arises: He is no longer a secret, more and more people know about him, his value starts to rise sharply, and he can not only be selected in the first round, but also may enter the lottery.In Hawaii, Pippen's performance became more and more eye-catching, and then there was the Chicago United tryout.

Neither Pippen's newly chosen agent, Jimmy Sexton nor Kyle Rote Jr., want Pippen to participate in another Chicago Combine workout because Krause is included. The general managers of several teams in the United States are already salivating on him. If he does not perform well in the Chicago United trial, it will lower his worth.Krause also held the same attitude, but Krause just didn't want Pippen to be seen by more people.The only person who disagreed was Pippen himself.Pippen has been playing relatively low-level games before, and now he meets high-level opponents, and he enjoys this kind of competition.What's more, after competing with high-level opponents, he found that he was not only as good as them, but also better than many of them. The satisfaction was self-evident.In addition, unlike players from elite basketball schools, Pippen had never flown to a game before, and he felt fresh.In the end, against the opposition of others, Pippen resolutely went to Chicago for a tryout and became the best player there.Interestingly, Coach Dale found Bob Buss of the Spurs in the stands, and Bass looked at Dale and said, "Well, he's the one you want to recommend to me, right?"

Krause was getting more and more nervous. He hoped that Sexton and Root would restrict Pippen from going to each team for individual tryouts.Pippen himself didn't like the process of flying around, meeting people, and answering questions everywhere, so he asked Sexton to arrange it for him.Before going to Chicago to meet with Krause and Doug Collins, Pippen had been to Indiana and Phoenix, but not to New Jersey and Cleveland. Krause was very happy because the Nets and Cavaliers had high draft picks. It is possible to steal Pippen before the Bulls.

Collins became the key to the Bulls' attraction to Pippen.As the head coach, Collins is young, passionate, and full of charisma. He said to Pippen: You can play with Michael Jordan, and the two of you can work together for ten years. This young team will have a bright future. It's as simple as winning a championship, and it's a lot of championships-Collins didn't use the word "Dynasty" (Dynasty), but that's what he meant.Pippen was fascinated by Collins' words. He liked Chicago, Collins, and the idea of ​​playing with Jordan for a long time.Once the meeting with the Bulls was over, Pippen told Sexton that he didn't want to try out anywhere else and would love to play in Chicago if possible.

The Bulls have a dedicated physical strength training team, which was ahead of the league at that time.Krause and Collins took Pippen to meet with the program's director, Al Vermeil. Vermeil saw from the beginning that Pippen's physical condition was extraordinary, and he told Krause: Pippen Full of elasticity, when he is running, he does not need to consume as much energy as other players.At the time, Pippen was 6-foot-7 and weighed about 2 pounds (0 kilograms), and Vermeer judged that he could add another 0 to 91 pounds (20 to 25 kilograms) without speed. decline.

(End of this chapter)