NBA Archives Debunked: The Jordan Saga

Chapter 9 North Carolina (3)

After two and a half hours in the NCAA National Finals, especially after making the most important goal, Jordan's whole person is completely different, and friends and coaches can feel it.He was still youthful and self-righteous, but now there was a firmer confidence in his arrogance, as if he had suddenly realized that he might not just be good but be great.

North Carolina won the championship at the end of March. Less than half a year later, by September, everyone could see that Jordan's level had reached a new height.It was the free time before the start of the training camp for the new season. The new and old players of North Carolina—including everyone in the lineup of last season, the new recruits, plus some graduates who have already played in the NBA—gathered in Carmichael every day. In the gymnasium, they competed and played with each other.James Worthy, who has become the No. 3 pick in the NBA, is there, as are Sam Perkins, Mike O'Collen, El Wood, and Walter Davis.In the first few days, Jordan was just one of the best players on the court. After about a week, he suddenly took off.Jordan was just about to enter his sophomore year at this time, but he didn't suffer at all against professional players who had been established in the NBA for a long time.He became a dominant player on the court, scoring in front of whomever he wanted.

New teammate Steve Hale noticed that even in unofficial games, Jordan had a level of purpose, which was rare.This kind of game that everyone is playing for fun, without a coach, players generally do what they are best at, making use of their strengths and avoiding their weaknesses.Jordan was different.In these games, Hale found, Jordan was always using a relatively weak part of his game and trying to strengthen it.It was a sign of Jordan's determination to be the best player.

On October 1982, 10, the North Carolina training camp opened. Dean Smith likes to measure some basic data on this day and record the changes of the players.A year earlier, Roy Williams had measured Jordan as a freshman at 15 feet 6 inches (4.5 meters), and at this moment, Jordan had grown to 1.94 feet 6 inches (6 meters) as a sophomore.

He grew taller, stronger, and even faster.The 40-yard sprint last year, Jordan's score was 4.55 seconds, which is already very good, but this time, Roy Williams' watch was 4.39 seconds, a coach got a slightly slower value, but The time pinched out by others was faster, and finally the coaching staff decided to adopt 4.39 seconds. 40 yards, about 36.6 meters, and run in 4.39 seconds. Only the fastest runners in the world, such as Olympic-level sprinters, can match this speed.

Dean Smith is happy to see Jordan's progress.Height and speed cannot be taught by coaches, they are gifts from God.Jordan has both, and is very "coachable" (coachable), as Worthy said, he is like a sponge that can absorb everything it touches.Coach Smith was pleased to find that in practice, Jordan was becoming a dominant player.In one-on-one practice, Jordan has basically never lost; in five-on-five games, Jordan's side can always win.

Of course, the North Carolina coaching staff will continue to hone Jordan's skills.After the freshman season, Dean Smith took Jordan to watch a video, which showed that he often relaxed on the defensive end.Dean Smith asks, "Michael, do you realize how good you can be defensively?" Smith tells Jordan that if he works on his defense, he can be an all-around player, not just in college but in the pros So is basketball.Smith told Jordan not to forget that there is a basic principle on the basketball court: In the end, the defense always wins the game.The offense will turn your back on you at some point, but the defense is based on hard work, and as long as you are willing to defend well, the defense will rarely fail.So in Jordan's sophomore year, his teammates discovered that in some games, Jordan was more interested in defense than offense, and he would concentrate on staring at his own people.

Within a year, Jordan's progress was so obvious that it was obvious to all.Dean Smith's earliest favorite student, Billy Cunningham (Billy Cunningham), who was coaching the Philadelphia 76ers at the time, returned to his alma mater to visit, watched a team training, and immediately said to Dean Smith: "Coach , he's going to be the greatest player in North Carolina history."

Dean Smith quickly interrupted him, retorting: "No! We have a lot of great players here, and Michael is just one of them."

Dean Smith did this because he was afraid that Jordan would be destroyed by excessive external evaluation, and at the same time he was afraid that the atmosphere of equality within North Carolina would be broken.Smith was right, of course, but Cunningham believed he was speaking the truth, that Jordan was simply better than everyone else, and he did things that only a handful of pros could do.

The improvement of technology and fame did not reduce Jordan's arrogance.On the contrary, Jordan's trash talk has continued.

Dean Smith has a one-on-one training program that focuses on explosive power.The offensive player has the ball 15 feet away from the basket, and the defensive player has to prevent him from scoring.Most of the team enjoyed this session because they could see Jordan's performance and creativity up close, and witness the process of perfecting his personal skills.But for those assigned to guard Jordan, it's not so good.Steve Hale, Buzz Peterson, Jim Braddock, no one wants to be Jordan's opponent, not only because Jordan cannot be guarded one-on-one, but also because every time he loses to him Afterwards, he returned to the locker room and wrote their names on the blackboard one by one, and marked them with Roman numerals Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ, Ⅳ, which means that during training, he is on your head Deducted once, twice, three times or four times.

Teammates got to know Jordan better and better.They don't want to be Jordan's opponent. Another important reason is: Jordan's competitive spirit is too strong. He hates losing. He will be happy only when he wins, so if you accidentally let him lose, it will be a fire.

Every athlete does not admit defeat, and the players who can enter the North Carolina school team, at least until high school, are the hardest-working ones among their peers, and among such a group of people, Jordan's competitive spirit is still the strongest.Major games, ordinary games, training, playing with friends, he can't tolerate losing.Even when playing cards or billiards, Jordan's enthusiasm for winning is obvious.In fact, in order to ensure that he wins, he even tampered with the rules. For example, when playing billiards, if he missed a shot, he would say that someone suddenly spoke when he was about to hit the shot, which interfered with his performance, and it was not counted. have to do it all over again.

Once, North Carolina went to Virginia to play an away game. In their spare time, everyone gathered in the entertainment room to kill time.Jordan challenged his teammates to a game of pool.He boasted that no matter who he fought, he could win.Matt Doherty accepted the challenge, and to Jordan's surprise, Doherty won.Jordan dropped the cue, looked at the table carefully for a while, and announced to everyone: "This table is not of standard size." After speaking, he left.

That's it, he hates even the slightest bit of failure.If he loses a game, he will want to keep playing until he wins.In his sophomore year, North Carolina went to Atlanta to play a game against Georgia Tech. Roy Williams was in charge of night rounds. He knew the players were in the hotel's recreation room, so he went there to find them.Jordan is there, having fun.This time he was still playing billiards, he was in good shape, he won all the people in front of him over and over again, and he was extremely proud.Roy Williams saw the players getting along so well, and was also infected, and joined in the jokes. At this time, Jordan challenged him: "You are laughing, coach. I can fix you too. Come on Come on, get a club."

Roy Williams' billiard level is quite high, they played three sets, Williams won all.By the end of the final set, Jordan had stopped speaking to Williams.Everyone broke up and went back to their rooms to sleep, and Jordan didn't say good night to the coach.Even at breakfast the next day, Jordan ignored Williams.

An hour later, the whole team got on the bus for training.Jordan walked up to the car, Roy Williams sat on one side of the aisle, Eddie Fogler sat on the other side of the aisle, Jordan walked past the two assistant coaches, Fogler obviously felt that the atmosphere was not right, Jordan looked With a cold appearance, it seems that the anger is still lingering.

"Hey, Michael, what's going on?" Fogler asked. "Did Coach Williams beat you at pool last night?"

Jordan was furious. He turned to Roy Williams and said loudly, "You told everyone!"

Fogler smiled. "Michael, Roy didn't tell anyone anything. As soon as I saw you, I knew what was going on. Failure was written all over your face."

That year, Jordan was still learning to play golf, and his competitiveness was brought to the golf course.One day he went to play with Peterson, Dougherty and David Hart.Hart is North Carolina's equipment administrator and Jordan's roommate, and Jordan is with him.The competition was fierce, and the two sides kept bickering. At the last hole, whoever wins can win the whole game. The loser has to buy Coke and be ridiculed by the opponent.Four teed off, and all three hit the green. Only Jordan did, and it went over the green and landed behind the hole.Now the situation is clear, and everything depends on Jordan's hit on the green.As a beginner, he simply needed a miracle.As a result, a miracle happened. Jordan actually hit a nearly perfect shot, and he and Hart won.The four of them returned to the dormitory after playing. Hart congratulated Jordan for hitting such a beautiful shot and asked him how he did it. Jordan looked back to make sure no one was eavesdropping, and then told Hart in a low voice: "I Didn't hit the ball at all, I just threw it on the green!"

(End of this chapter)