Nowadays most modern Chicago Bulls fans remember 1984 as the year of the Michael Jordan draft. That’s where the greatest era of basketball in history began. The year this franchise altered their fortunes and launched the coming of a dynasty in 1990s. Jordan became not just the greatest basketball player ever but one of the greatest athletes in the history of professional sports.
That part of history is well known. The highlights are there to prove it. What many fans don’t know, and may be stunned to hear is that the Bulls almost screwed it up. Shortly after the draft took place, then-GM Rod Thorn admitted he hadn’t planned to take Jordan if given his own personal choice.
Bernie Lincicome of the Chicago Tribune wrote about it and even back then he and others were stunned to hear the man admit that. Yet Thorn explained in so many details why he didn’t think Michael was the piece that could turn the franchise around. Proof once again that sometimes dumb luck is a greater factor in team success than good evaluation.
Michael Jordan was good but he wasn’t tall enough
“We wish he were seven feet, but he isn’t,” said Bulls general manager Rod Thorn.
Sigh.
“There just wasn’t a center available,” said Thorn. “What can you do?”
Counting your blessings doesn’t seem inappropriate.
“He’s only 6-5,” said Thorn, who must use a different yardstick than Dean Smith, the Carolina coach. Down where the tobacco grows, Jordan has always been 6-6, not that one inch ever stopped Jordan from crashing the boards, hitting from the outside or playing substantially above sea level. By the time he gets to Chicago, or when negotiations for his wages get sticky, Jordan may be the size of a jockey. The Bulls aren’t even sure where to play Jordan. “Big guard, small forward,” said coach Kevin Loughery. Decisions, decisions.
“When you win only 55 games in two years,” said Thorn, “you don’t get well all at once. Look, when Isiah Thomas went to Detroit, he improved them but it took two years to make the playoffs. We’ve taken a step in the right direction. Jordan isn’t going to turn this franchise around. I wouldn’t ask him to. I wouldn’t put that kind of pressure on him.”
“He’s a very good offensive player,” said Thorn. “But not an overpowering offensive player.”
Back then the general consensus was that teams needed a dominant center to truly build an NBA champion. It was true of Bill Russell and Robert Parrish in Boston. It was true of Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Los Angeles. Up to that point teams just didn’t win titles with athletic guards. Jordan was the man who changed all that.
Nobody could measure the heart
Thorn was proven dead wrong almost right away. Jordan was not a very good scorer. He was the best scoring guard of all-time. It didn’t take long for people to realize that it wasn’t Jordan’s athleticism that made him great. It was that gigantic heart and maniacal competitiveness. He took control of the franchise right away and put it on his back. They won 11 more games than the year before in his rookie season and made the playoffs.
From there people know what happened next. Chicago began to put better pieces around him and by 1989 they were playing in the Eastern Conference Finals. After some bitter wars with the Detroit Pistons, they finally broke through to win the first of six championships in eights seasons in 1991. Jordan would claim five MVP awards, six Finals MVP awards, 10 scoring titles, 14 All-Star game appearances and even a Defensive Player of the Year.
To quote former NBA commissioner Daniel Stern, ” You are, simply, the standard by which basketball excellence is measured.” Truer words were never spoken.
