Before today, the earliest footage of Michael Jordan playing in the NBA were from his first regular season game. Adam Ryan, a Jordan-era specialist who hosts a podcast called InAllAirness, posted this video with highlights of an October 7, 1984 preseason game against the Sacramento Kings in St. Louis.
The footage was from an October 19, 1984 episode of “Time Out,” a weekly sports program on PBS station WTTW. It was a show hosted by Chicago area journalists and sportscasters but this clip mostly features the predictions for Jordan’s career from NBA legends.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Walt Frazier, John “Red” Kerr, Mark Eaton, Bernard King, Al Attles, and Bob Lanier gave their take on the young Michael Jordan. The funniest take has to be Walt “Clyde” Frazier.
“Michael’s got to realize that he’s not seven foot, so he’s not going to carry a team in the NBA. I think he will be a great addition to the Bulls and should draw fans to the game, but it takes more than one guy to win games.”
Looking back it seems like a silly thing to say, but at the time 7 footers were seen as the future of basketball. Just ask the Portland Trail Blazers why they selected Sam Bowie ahead of Michael Jordan in 1984.
Frazier did come back to redeem himself to end the video by saying, “I’m sure that one day, he (Michael Jordan) should be in the Hall of Fame.”
That’s for sure.
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