A retired American professional basketball player and an active businessman in present times, Michael Jeffrey Jordan has been voted as the ‘greatest player of all time.’ Michael Jordan was born on 17 February 1963 to James R. Jordan, Sr. and Deborah Jordan at Brooklyn, New York. When Michael Jordan was still a child, his family shifted to Wilmington in North Carolina.

Michael happens to be the fourth of five children and has got two elder brothers and one elder and one younger sisters. Since Michael's father worked at an electric plant and his mother at a bank, his was not a rags-to-riches life story. The childhood of Michael Jordan was fairly comfortable and secure. He began his basketball career playing for Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina.  

Many would find this ironical, but this lad who was to later create history in the basketball game sphere was once cut out from the varsity team in his sophomore years. This happened because Michael Jordan’s height was just 5 feet 11 inches at that time, which was too short in order to be playing for that level. But he gained four inches by the following summer and having practiced robustly all the while, finally earned place in the varsity roster.   

The basketball record of Michael Jordan is simply out and out amazing. After his junior year, he was chosen with the third overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls. In the coming days, Michael Jordan went on to lead the Chicago Bulls to six NBA Championships in years 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997 and 1998. Furthermore, he was also entitled NBA Finals MVP during all his championship winning years.

Michael Jordan turned big with an excellent first season, bagging the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 1984-85. An injury in the foot caused him to stay away for 64 games in his second campaign, but he returned with a bang late in the year. Once back, Michael Jordan scored an NBA playoff-record 63 points in a first-round game against the Boston Celtics.

Beginning from the 1986-87 season, Jordan kick-started a career-long assault on the record book of NBA. Michael Jordan holds the single series NBA Finals record for highest PPG average. He name featured in the All-NBA First Team 10 times. He holds the record for leading the scoring in the maximum numbers of seasons "10". He turned the first player in NBA history to record 200 steals and 100 blocks in just one season.
 
NBA was aghast at Michael Jordan’s pronouncing his retirement prior to the 1993-94 season. Jordan said it was the murder of his father previous year that led to this decision. But he returned to basketball once again in the 1994-95 NBA season and tried carrying the Bulls to another title. But despite his presence, the Bulls failed to get past the Orlando Magic in the conference semifinals and lost to them in six games. In 1984 as well as 1992, he was member of the gold medal-winning United States Olympic Basketball Teams.

Michael Jordan's hunger for the championship got satiated the following season when his team experienced the most outstanding wins ever seen by any club. Chicago Bull’s joint record of 87-13 for the 1995-96 regular season as well as playoffs was the best in NBA history. Mid way, Jordan also bagged the MVP awards for the regular season, All-Star Game as well as Finals, joining Willis Reed (1970) as the only man to win all three titles the same season.

The Bulls disintegration by Jerry Krause caused Jordan's second retirement and he stated that he would play basketball only for than Phil Jackson. The great player also voiced his wish to spend more time with his family. Phil Jackson moved on to the L.A. Lakers that was like the revamping of the Chicago Bulls. This group had players like Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Rick Fox.

Michael Jordan in the meanwhile got associated with the Washington Wizards as President of Basketball Operations and its half owner in January 2000. But all his striving to spin the Washington Wizards out of the sidelines proved futile. Michael Jordan's deep craving to win caused him to return to basketball once again. At the same time, he also tried turning around the fate of the Wizards franchise.

Jordan started training, interacting with the media initially stating that he was only doing so in order to shed weight. During summer time, he gradually worked himself back into the basketball form by participating in many invitation-only camps of pickup games with other NBA players at a Chicago gym. As luck would have it, Michael Jordan proved unable to lead his Wizards into the postseason as a player. He retired for a third and final time after playing his final game on 16th April 2003.

Michael Jordan Facts

1963 - On 17 February, he was born to James R. Jordan, Sr. and Deborah Jordan at Brooklyn, New York

1970 – The entire Jordan family shifts to Wilmington, North Carolina.

1975 - He was named Jordan Mr. Baseball among North Carolina 12-year-olds by the Dixie Youth Baseball Association.

1978 – Jordan in his sophomore years was chucked out of the varsity basketball team due to his short height.  

1982 - Freshman Jordan wins the national championship for North Carolina at the Superdome in New Orleans.

1984 - Chicago Bulls pick Jordan third overall in the NBA Draft.

1984 - Co - captain of U.S. gold medal- winning Olympic basketball team.

1985 - Jordan was named NBA Rookie of the Year after averaging 28.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 2.4 steals.

1985 - In the third game of his sophomore season, Jordan injures his foot and misses 64 games.  

1986 - Jordan makes a return to basketball.

1987 - With 61 points in a 117-114 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, Jordan becomes the first NBA player to score 3,000 points in a season since Wilt Chamberlain in 1962-63.

1988 - Jordan is named NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the first time after averaging 35.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 3.2 steals. This made him the first player to earn MVP and Defensive Player of the Year titles the same season.

1989 - In Las Vegas, Jordan marries Juanita Vanoy.

1991 - Jordan is named MVP for the second time after averaging 31.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.8 steals.

1992 - Jordan is named MVP for the third time after averaging 30.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 2.3 steals.

1992 – He was member of US gold medal winning Olympic team at Barcelona Olympics.

1992 - Forbes magazine state Jordan the highest-paid athlete in the world.

1993 – On 6 October, Jordan shocks the world by announcing his retirement from the NBA

1995 - Jordan issues a press release that states simply, "I'm back." He returns to the NBA and dons Jersey No. 45.

1996 – In May, Jordan is named MVP for the fourth time after averaging 30.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.2 steals in his first full season after comeback.  

1997 – On 9 February, Michael Jordan becomes the first player in All-Star Game history to record a triple-double, finishing with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in a 132-120 East victory in Cleveland.

1998 – In May, Jordan is named MVP for the fifth time after averaging 28.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.7 steals.

2000 - Michael Jordan gets associated with the Washington Wizards as President of Basketball Operations and its half owner in January.

2003 - He retired for a third and final time after playing his final game on 16th April 2003.


Michael Jordan Biography


Name :        Michael Jordan

Birth Date :     February 17, 1963

Birth Place :     Brooklyn, New York

Birth Name :     Michael Jeffry Jordan

Height :         6' 6''

Education :     Laney H.S. in Wilmington, NC North Carolina 1985

Wife :         Juanita Vanoy Jordan

Nationality :     American

Best Known As :     The world's most famous basketball player

NBA Experience :     13 seasons

This is something that even NBA players themselves cannot answer fully but can be simplified. Success is based on a variety of things and upon all else, luck. You may be the most talented basketball player ever but if luck doesn’t work in your favor, you can find yourself on a tough road. The NBA has a collection of great players, some that decide to resort to lesser roles for the team’s benefit, while others take it upon themselves to take over. A great NBA player doesn’t have to win anything and can always be on a losing team. However, their inability to win will make others question whether they are a good player at all.

Here are several key things in order to become a good player:

1) Drive: Good players are motivated to be better and to do things that others normally cannot. Those that have a drive to do things get more done. Those that want the things the most in life grab for them and sometimes push others and stand on them to get it.

2) Skill: In order to be able to do anything, you have to hold top notch skills where you can actually perform daily. This is something that certain people are lucky enough to be born with, something that makes them stand out. This is something natural can never be fully developed.

3) Patience: Even the best have to wait for things that they believe should be done quickly. Those that can wait have a good chance to accomplish things that they dream of.

4) Practice: If you do not practice the normal fundamentals of the game, you cannot be good because there are people that are going to be skilled and hard working. All of the skills that go along with basketball rely on how much they are used. This is why the term, practice makes perfect is used so often.

5) Help: Players that are good still need some form of assistance in what they do. If it was not for their coaching staff or their trainers, nothing will be done to the best. Even players that are the most talented of all are taught new things everyday by people who are better than them. When someone starts out, they are helped achieve things and need to repay others afterward.

6) Passion: Those that have all of the above, will not be able to be a good player if they do not love the game. When you love the game, you have another reason to play, not for money but for pure enjoyment. Only when you do things for several reasons, can you become fully connected.

7) Learner: Every great player started from somewhere, on the ball court, in the gym, but need to learn more things everyday. When you learn new things, you become better, you build new things into your work field. This allows you to act like a student, who routinely gets better grades.

Learning how to play basketball takes passion, commitment and talent.

When I was in college young players would always ask ways that I got good at handling the ball or if there were any drills that I used to get better. I love teaching ball handling and thought it would be a great topic to cover in this article.

Of all the coaches I was taught by the most memorable one was Rick Majerus. This man is amazing. Not only is he funny but he called me names that to this day I don't know what they are. I could listen to his stories for hours but he was an absolutely incredible teacher. He told me something one day about a player that he coached while he was an assistant at Marquette under Al McGuire, Doc Rivers. Young guys bear with me. Yes, the coach of the Celtics. Doc Rivers was a great point guard in the NBA and in college. Coach Majerus would tell me stories about Doc Rivers and his work ethic and I couldn't get enough. He told me stories of Doc and the drills he would do before and after every practice. He was consumed with being better than anyone else but mainly to be more prepared than anyone else. One of the drills Doc would do went something like this:

• Run the ball to half court on the right out of bounds line.

• Take the ball and do what Doc would call as the push-pull where you push the ball forward with your right hand and then pull it back with your right hand.

• This had to be done 50 times with the ball going no higher than your knee and at game speed. If you mess up you start all over again.

• Once you get to 50, then explode with two hard dribbles using an inside out move. This move is done by taking the ball in your right hand and pushing it to the left side of the out of bounds line. It feels awkward at first. The key is to sell that you are going to go left when in reality you are just going to keep going right.

• Maintain the line with low dribbles until you reach the corner end-line. Once at the corner immediately use a spin move. This is done by keeping the ball in your right hand and spinning, keeping your hand on top of the ball so as not to get called for carrying the ball. Once you spin, the ball will naturally be in your left hand.

• Take two hard dribbles with your left hand and use a step back move. This is done by going forward quickly with the two dribbles and then immediately backing up with two hard dribbles to create space. I call this backing the ball off.

• Immediately drive to the basket and finish with a right hand lay-up. Now sprint to the left sideline and do it all left handed.

It seems so easy, but you'll get tired. I will go for 5 times each side without an error before I will quit. If I mess up I'll start again. I am the type that wants to do it right so I need to practice it correctly.

Other drills I love to use are drills that involve two balls. By using two balls you will improve your hand eye coordination and gain confidence. Try these drills wherever you can: Take two balls and dribble them in front of you. Now simply go between your legs one ball at a time. You will notice that you have to switch hands to be able to do this. You can go around the back or between the legs or crossover in front of you. Key thing here is to remember to keep your head up at all times. No player should do any of these drills with their head watching the ball. This drill is simple enough but you will notice immediate results by practicing this way. When I was young, we had an unfinished basement and I would take the two balls down there and do this for fun.

Lastly, I'll share a drill I used that I still do today when I have an hour to spend on a court. Take the ball and find the nearest wall. Turn sideways and simply pass the ball behind your back at the wall. The trick is to only catch it with one hand and go immediately around your back again. You want to do this with both hands, but I would always start with 50 each hand or simply go until I messed up. The reason I liked it was because of the instant repetition that it formed. I felt the ball with each pass and my coordination was getting better. It's just a great drill that can help anyone with confidence and getting a feel for ball handling.

About the Author:
Brian Schofield is the Sr. writer for HoopSkills.com. Visit this site for more basketball drills & instruction