Hoop Dreams 1

HOOP DreamsRead about Derrick Rose’s

upcoming to the NBA

Recap on the life of one of the greatest players of all

time Michael Jordan

2 Hoop Dreams

Table of ContentsRoad to the NBA Derrick Rose Edition Page 3

A Look At Greatness Page 6

Hoop Dreams 3

Road to the NBA

Derrick Rose Edition

Derrick Rose was born and raised in the Englewood area, one of the most dangerous neighborhoods on Chicago's South Side. He was Brenda Rose's fourth son after Dwayne, Reggie and Allan, but the first in seven years. All three were talented basketball play-ers who taught Rose the in and outs of basketball on nearby courts.

As his talent for the sport grew, Rose began to attract much more outside at-tention in Chicago's basketball circles, leading his mother and brothers to re-strict outside contact to him, fearing his road to the NBA would be exploited and derailed by outside parties such as street agents, such as with the case with former Chicago prospect Ronnie Fields. As his talent for the sport grew, Rose began to attract much more outside attention in

Chicago’s basketball circles, leading his mother and brothers to restrict outside contact to him.

High School CareerBy the time Rose enrolled at Simeon Career Academy in 2003, he was a hot commodity for collegiate coaches. De-spite his reputation, he played freshmen and JV basketball for the Wolverines. He wore No. 25 in honor of Ben "Benji" Wilson, a former promising player who was murdered by a gang member dur-ing his senior year in 1984. Rose wasn't allowed on varsity due to a long-stand-ing tradition that head coach Bob Ham-bric, who had been with the school since 1980 had: no freshman on the varsity team. That rule didn't lessen Rose's play and he went on to put up 18.5 points, 6.6 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game and led both the freshmen

Derrick Rose in the NBA

4 Hoop Dreams

the first three quarters, 17 overall in a 78–75 win. For his performance, USA Today named him their high school player of the week. Simeon went on to repeat as Public League champions and defended their state championship, de-feating O'Fallon High School 77–54. In doing so, Simeon became the first Chicago Public League school to win two straight state championships. In his final high school game, Rose scored 2 points, but pulled down 7 rebounds and totaled 8 assists. The Wolverines ended the season 33–2 and ranked 1st in the nation by Sports Illustrated and 6th on USA Today's Super 25. Rose averaged 25.2 points, 9.1 assists, 8.8 rebounds and 3.4 steals.

Overall Simeon's record while Rose played was 120–12. After his senior year, Rose was again All-State after be-ing named Illinois Mr. Basketball and was named to the McDonald's All-American team. He was also awarded with First Team honors by Parade se-lection and USA Today and USA To-day First Team All-American. Rose was selected to play in the Jordan Brand All-Star Game and Nike Hoop Sum-mit. In 2009, Rose was named the de-cade's third greatest high school point guard by ESPN RISE magazine behind Chris Paul and T.J. Ford, and had his jersey number (#25) retired along with Ben Wilson. The Wolverines, however,

and sophomores to city championships with a 24–1 record. Hambric softened his stance and allowed the freshman a chance to play on varsity in the state tournament, but Rose declined, want-ing the players to get due credit.The next year Hambric retired and Robert Smith was hired, opening the path to varsity. In Rose's much-publicized de-but, he had 22 points, 7 rebounds and 5 steals over Thornwood High School in a sold-out game filled with college scouts and coaches. He led the Wolverines to a 30–5 mark while averaging 19.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 2.4 steals but the season ended after a loss in state regionals. Rose's play garnered him his first national award: a Parade Third Team All-American spot.

During Rose's junior year in 2006, the Simeon Wolverines broke through and won the Chicago Public League cham-pionship held at the United Center where Rose starred with 25 points and crowd pleasing dunks. The team ad-vanced through the playoffs and earned a berth in the Class AA state champi-onship against Richwoods High School, where a fourth quarter buzzer beater by Richwood forced overtime. The score was knotted at 29 late in the ex-tra period when Rose stole the ball and buried the game winning jumper with 1.5 seconds remaining, giving Simeon its first state title since the Wilson-led Wolverines won in 1984. The team fin-ished 33–4, nationally ranked and Rose was awarded with an All-State Illinois mention, EA Sports All-American Sec-ond Team pick and another Parade All-American selection.

Entering his senior year, Rose was ranked the fifth best prospect in the nation by Sports Illustrated. In Janu-ary 2007, Simeon traveled to Madison Square Garden in New York City in January 2007 to play Rice High School and star guard Kemba Walker. The Wolverines, however, lost 53–51.The season's highlight was a nationally tele-vised contest on ESPN against Virginia perennial power Oak Hill Academy two weeks later. Matched up with hyped junior guard Brandon Jennings, Rose had 28 points, 9 assists, and 8 rebounds and held Jennings to zero points in

Rose in a classroom at Simeon High School HS Accomplishments & Awards

High school Senior year (2006–2007)

Class AA State Championship Class AA Tournament MVP Illinois Mr. Basketball 2007

2007 McDonald's All-American USA Today 2007 All-USA First

Team Parade 2007 All-America First

Team EA Sports 2007 All-American

First TeamAll State Illinois 2007

MaxPreps.com All-America First Team

Slam Magazine 2007 First Team MidStateHoops.com 2007 Class

AA Player of the Year Junior year (2005–2006)

Class AA State Championship Class AA Tournament MVP

Parade 2006 All-American Fourth Team

All State Illinois 2006 EA Sports 2006 All-American

Second Team Sophomore year (2004–2005) Parade 2005 All-American Third

Team Chicago Sun-Times All-Area

Hoop Dreams 5

College CareerRose accepted a scholarship to play for the University of Memphis Tigers un-der John Calipari, who recruited him after seeing the high schooler play in an AAU game. Strong efforts were made by Indiana University and in-state Univer-sity of Illinois to sign Rose to their own programs. Illinois in particular planned to pair Rose and their five-star recruit Eric Gordon, who had played AAU basketball with Rose, together. Gordon however retracted his verbal commit-ment from the Fighting Illini, opting to play for Indiana, and Rose subsequently gave his verbal commitment before the start of his senior season. Rose chose Memphis because of the school's histo-ry of putting players in the NBA and the prospect of Rod Strickland, a 17 year veteran of the league, mentoring him. Rose switched to #23, due to the fact that #25 had been retired by the school in honor of Penny Hardaway.

With the addition of Rose and led by veteran upperclassmen Joey Dorsey and Chris Douglas-Roberts, the Tigers started out the season ranked third in the nation. Memphis sprinted to a 26–0 start and claimed the number one ranking in the country for the first time in over 25 years before falling to the University of Tennessee Volunteers 66–62 in February. Memphis was able to bounce back and capture the Con-ference USA Tournament to qualify for the "Big Dance" with a 33–1 record. Rose averaged 14.9 points per game, 4.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game dur-ing the regular season and earned All-American Third Team honors among others. He finished as a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award as well as the John R. Wooden Award.

Memphis was seeded No. 1 in the South Region and blew out most of its compe-tition on its way to the Final Four. Rose earned high praise for his increased fo-cus on defense, hounding Texas Long-horn guard D.J. Augustin into a low-percentage game in the Elite Eight. In a match-up against the UCLA in the Final Four, Rose finished with 25 points and 9 rebounds while putting tight pressure on Bruins' point Darren Col-lison to lead the Tigers to the NCAA

championship game against the Uni-versity of Kansas Jayhawks with a 85–67 victory. The win set a NCAA mark for most wins in a season (38). Against Kansas, Rose scored 17 points on 7–17 shooting, grabbed six rebounds and dished seven assists, but missed a criti-cal free throw at the end of the second half, and Memphis fell in overtime, 75–68. Memphis concluded the season 38–2. Rose was named to the All-Final Four team after averaging 20.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 6 assists during the tourney.

Rose earned high praise for his in-creased focus on defense, hounding Texas Longhorn guard D.J. Augustin into a low-percentage game in the Elite Eight. In a match-up against the UCLA in the Final Four, Rose finished with 25 points and 9 rebounds while putting tight pressure on Bruins’ point Dar-ren Collison to lead the Tigers to the

NCAA championship game against the University of Kansas Jayhawks with a 85–67 victory. He finished as a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award as well as the John R. Wooden Award.

Rose at the University of Memphis

Rose was drafted number one in the 2008 NBA draft by his

home team The Chicago Bulls

On April 15, Rose declared for the 2008 NBA Draft.

College Freshman year (2007–2008)NCAA Tournament All-Final

Four Team NCAA Tournament South Re-

gion MVP NABC 3rd Team All-Ameri-

can NABC All-District 7 First

Team All-Conference USA First

Team Conference USA Freshman of

the Year Conference USA All Fresh-

man Team 1st Team Sporting News All-Freshman

Team Conference USA Player of the

Week for games between Decem-ber 17 through the 23rd

2K Sports College Hoops Classic MVP

2K Sports College Hoops Classic All-Tournament Team

College Achievements & Awards

6 Hoop Dreams

“My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weak-ness, then I will turn that perceived

weakness into a strength.”

A Look at

Greatness

Hoop Dreams 7

Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born Febru-ary 17, 1963) is a retired American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. His biography on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basket-ball player of all time." Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed ath-letes of his generation and was consid-ered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.

After a three-season career at the Uni-versity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Tar Heels' national championship team in 1982, Jordan joined the NBA's Chicago Bulls in 1984. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball. In 1991, he won his first NBA champion-ship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat". Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball at the beginning of the 1993–94 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball, he rejoined the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three additional champion-ships (1996, 1997, and 1998) as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan re-tired for a second time in 1999, but re-turned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Wash-ington Wizards.

Jordan's individual accolades and ac-complishments include five MVP awards, ten All-NBA First Team desig-nations, nine All-Defensive First Team honors, fourteen NBA All-Star Game appearances, three All-Star Game MVP awards, ten scoring titles, three steals titles, six NBA Finals MVP awards, and the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. He holds the NBA records for highest career regular sea-son scoring average (30.12 points per game) and highest career playoff scor-

ing average (33.45 points per game). In 1999, he was named the greatest North American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN, and was second to Babe Ruth on the Associated Press's list of athletes of the century. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.

Jordan is also noted for his product en-dorsements. He fueled the success of Nike's Air Jordan sneakers, which were introduced in 1985 and remain popular today. Jordan also starred in the 1996 feature film Space Jam as himself. He is the majority owner and head of basket-ball operations for the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, having won a bidding war to buy controlling interest in the team from founding owner Robert L. John-son.

Jordan is sometimes referred to simply by his initials MJ.

Early YearsAs a youngster, Michael immediately became interested in sports. However, it was baseball not basketball that was his first love. He would play catch in the yard with his father, who loved baseball. He soon started to play basketball to try and follow in the footsteps of his older brother, Larry, whom he idolized grow-ing up.

At Laney High School, as a sophomore, he decided to try out for the varsity team but was cut because he was raw and undersized. The following summer, he grew four inches and practiced tire-

lessly. The hard work paid off as he aver-aged 25 points per game in his last two years and was selected to the McDon-ald’s All-American Team as a senior.

Following high school, he earned a bas-ketball scholarship from North Caro-lina University where he would play under legendary coach Dean Smith. In his first year, he was named ACC Fresh-man of the Year. He would help lead the Tarheels to the 1982 NCAA Champion-ship, making the game-winning shot.

After winning the Naismith College Player of the Year award in 1984, Jor-dan decided to leave North Carolina to enter the NBA draft. Although he de-cided to leave college early, he would later return to the university in 1986 to complete his degree in geography.

In the 1984 NBA draft, he was selected with the third overall pick by the Chi-cago Bulls. As a rookie for the Bulls, he made an immediate impact, aver-aging an amazing 28.2 points a game, including six games where he scored 40+ points. He was selected to the NBA All-Star Game and named Rookie of the Year. This would just be the begin-ning of a career filled with awards and accolades. In the upcoming years, he would go on to win five regular season MVP awards, six NBA championships, six NBA finals MVP awards, three All-Star game MVP awards, and a defensive player of the year award.

Following high school, he earned a bas-ketball scholarship from North Caro-

Michael Jordan dunking

8 Hoop Dreams

lina University where he would play under legendary coach Dean Smith. In his first year, he was named ACC Fresh-man of the Year. He would help lead the Tarheels to the 1982 NCAA Champion-ship, making the game-winning shot.

After winning the Naismith College Player of the Year award in 1984, Jor-dan decided to leave North Carolina to enter the NBA draft. Although he de-cided to leave college early, he would later return to the university in 1986 to complete his degree in geography.

In the 1984 NBA draft, he was selected with the third overall pick by the Chi-cago Bulls. As a rookie for the Bulls, he made an immediate impact, aver-aging an amazing 28.2 points a game, including six games where he scored 40+ points. He was selected to the NBA All-Star Game and named Rookie of the Year. This would just be the begin-ning of a career filled with awards and accolades. In the upcoming years, he would go on to win five regular season MVP awards, six NBA championships, six NBA finals MVP awards, three All-Star game MVP awards, and a defensive player of the year award.

At Laney High School, as a sophomore, he decided to try out for the varsity team but was cut because he was raw and undersized. The following summer, he grew four inches and practiced tire-lessly. The hard work paid off as he aver-aged 25 points per game in his last two

Professional CareerDuring his first season in the NBA, Jor-dan averaged 28.2 ppg on 51.5% shoot-ing. He quickly became a fan favorite even in opposing arenas, and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the heading "A Star is Born" just over a month into his professional career. Jordan was also voted in as an All-Star starter by the fans in his rookie season. Controversy arose before the All-Star game when word surfaced that several veteran players, led by Isiah Thomas, were upset by the amount of attention Jordan was receiving. This led to a so called "freeze-out" on Jordan, where players refused to pass him the ball throughout the game. The controversy left Jordan relatively unaffected when

he returned to regular season play, and he would go on to be voted Rookie of the Year. The Bulls finished the season 38–44, and lost in the first round of the playoffs in four games to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Jordan's second season was cut short by a broken foot which caused him to miss 64 games. Despite Jordan's injury and a 30–52 record, the Bulls made the play-offs. Jordan recovered in time to par-ticipate in the playoffs and performed well upon his return. Against a 1985–86 Boston Celtics team that is often con-sidered one of the greatest in NBA his-tory, Jordan set the still-unbroken re-cord for points in a playoff game with 63 in Game 2. The Celtics, however, managed to sweep the series.

Jordan had recovered completely by the 1986–87 season, and had one of the most prolific scoring seasons in NBA history. He became the only player oth-er than Wilt Chamberlain to score 3,000 points in a season, averaging a league high 37.1 points on 48.2% shooting. In addition, Jordan demonstrated his de-fensive prowess, as he became the first player in NBA history to record 200 steals and 100 blocks in a season. De-spite Jordan's success, Magic Johnson won the league's Most Valuable Player Award. advanced to the playoffs.

Jordan on the sideline with his broken foot.

Jordan led the league in scoring again in the 1987–88 season, averaging 35.0 ppg on 53.5% shooting and won his first league MVP award. He was also named the Defensive Player of the Year, as he had averaged 1.6 blocks and a league high 3.16 steals per game.

In the 1984 NBA draft, he was selected with the third overall pick by the Chi-cago Bulls. As a rookie for the Bulls, he made an immediate impact, aver-aging an amazing 28.2 points a game, including six games where he scored 40+ points. He was selected to the NBA All-Star Game and named Rookie of the Year. This would just be the begin-ning of a career filled with awards and accolades. In the upcoming years, he would go on to win five regular season MVP awards, six NBA championships, six NBA finals MVP awards, three All-Star game MVP awards, and a defensive player of the year award.

The Bulls reached 40 wins, and ad-vanced to the playoffs for the third con-secutive year. However, they were again swept by the Celtics.

Jordan in College

Hoop Dreams 9

First three-peatIn the 1990–91 season, Jordan won his second MVP award after averaging 31.5 ppg on 53.9% shooting, 6.0 rpg, and 5.5 apg for the regular season. The Bulls finished in first place in their divi-sion for the first time in 16 years and set a franchise record with 61 wins in the regular season. With Scottie Pip-pen developing into an All-Star, the Bulls had elevated their play. The Bulls defeated the New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers in the opening two rounds of the playoffs. They advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals where their rival, the Detroit Pistons, awaited them. However, this time the Bulls beat the Pistons in a surprising sweep. In an unusual ending to the fourth and final game, Isiah Thomas led his team off the court before the final seconds had concluded. Most of the Pistons went directly to their locker room instead of shaking hands with the Bulls.

The Bulls compiled an outstanding 15–2 record during the playoffs, and advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, where they beat the Los Angeles Lakers four games to one. Perhaps the best known moment of the series came in Game 2 when, attempting a dunk, Jordan avoid-ed a potential Sam Perkins block by switching the ball from his right hand to his left in mid-air to lay the shot in. In his first Finals appearance, Jordan posted per game averages of 31.2 points on 56% shooting from the field, 11.4 assists, 6.6 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 1.4 blocks. Jordan won his first NBA Finals MVP award, and he cried while holding the NBA Finals trophy.

Jordan and the Bulls continued their dominance in the 1991–92 season, establishing a 67–15 record, topping their franchise record from 1990 to 91. Jordan won his second consecu-tive MVP award with averages of 30.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game on 52% shooting. After winning a physical 7-game series over the New York Knicks in the second round of the playoffs and finishing off the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Conference Finals in 6 games, the Bulls met Clyde Drexler and the Portland Trail Blazers in the Finals.

The media, hoping to recreate a Magic-Bird rivalry, highlighted the similarities between "Air" Jordan and Clyde "The Glide" during the pre-Finals hype. In the first game, Jordan scored a Finals-record 35 points in the first half, includ-ing a record-setting six three-point field goals. After the sixth three-pointer, he jogged down the court shrugging as he looked courtside. Marv Albert, who broadcast the game, later stated that it was as if Jordan was saying, "I can't be-lieve I'm doing this." The Bulls went on to win Game 1, and defeat the Blazers in six games. Jordan was named Finals MVP for the second year in a row and finished the series averaging 35.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, and 6.5 apg, while shooting 53% from the floor.

In 1992–93, despite a 32.6 ppg, 6.7 rpg and 5.5 apg campaign, Jordan's streak of consecutive MVP seasons ended as he lost the award to his friend Charles Barkley. Coincidentally, Jordan and the Bulls met Barkley and his Phoenix Suns in the 1993 NBA Finals. The Bulls captured their third consecutive NBA championship on a game-winning shot by John Paxson and a last-second block by Horace Grant, but Jordan was once again Chicago's catalyst. He averaged a Finals-record 41.0 ppg during the six-game series, and became the first player in NBA history to win three straight Fi-nals MVP awards. He scored more than 30 points in every game of the series, including 40 or more points in 4 con-secutive games. With his third Finals

triumph, Jordan capped off a seven-year run where he attained seven scor-ing titles and three championships, but there were signs that Jordan was tiring of his massive celebrity and all of the non-basketball hassles in his life. Three months later on October 6, 1993, fol-lowing a run of three consecutive NBA championships, Jordan announced his retirement from basketball citing that “he no longer had the desire to play.”

The Bulls compiled an outstanding 15–2 record during the playoffs, and advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, where they beat the Los Angeles Lakers four games to one. Perhaps the best known moment of the series came in Game 2 when, attempting a dunk, Jordan avoid-ed a potential Sam Perkins block by switching the ball from his right hand to his left in mid-air to lay the shot in. In his first Finals appearance, Jordan posted per game averages of 31.2 points on 56% shooting from the field, 11.4 assists, 6.6 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 1.4 blocks. Jordan won his first NBA Finals MVP award, and he cried while holding the NBA Finals trophy.

They advanced to the Eastern Confer-ence Finals where their rival, the De-troit Pistons, awaited them. However, this time the Bulls beat the Pistons in a surprising sweep. In an unusual end-ing to the fourth and final game, Isiah Thomas led his team off the court be-fore the final seconds had concluded.

Jordan and his first NBA finals trophy

10 Hoop Dreams

Retired LifeNow "retired" at age 33, it was uncertain what Jordan would do next. Would he take a year off out of the public eye to grieve and then come back to the Bulls? Would he go out and look for a white collar job in the field of geography, his college major? Or would he take up a completely different hobby like golf?

He’s Back!!In the 1993–94 season, the Bulls, without Jordan, achieved a 55–27 record, and lost to the New York Knicks in the second round of the playoffs. But the 1994–95 version of the Bulls was a shell of the championship squad of just two years ear-lier. Struggling at mid-season to ensure a spot in the playoffs, Chicago was 31–31 at one point in mid-March. The team received a lift, however, when Jordan de-cided to return to the NBA for the Bulls.

On March 18, 1995, Jordan announced his return to the NBA through a 2-word press release: "I'm back." The next day, Jordan donned jersey number 45 (his number with the Barons), as his familiar 23 had been retired in his honor following his first retirement. He took to the court with the Bulls to face the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis, scoring 19 points. The game had the highest Nielsen rating of a regular season NBA game since 1975.

Although he hadn't played an NBA game in a year and a half, Jordan played well upon his return, making a game-winning jump shot against Atlanta in his fourth

1984 Olympics Stats Jordan played on two Olympic gold medal-winning American basketball teams. As a college player he participated, and won the gold, in the 1984 Summer Olympics. Jordan led the team in scoring averaging 17.1 ppg for the tournament.

Games 8Field Goals Made - Field Goal Attempted

60-110

PCT .545Free Throws Made - Free Throws Attempted

17-25

PCT .680REB/AVG 24/3.0PTS/AVG 137/17.1AT 16Blocks 7Steals 12

Michael Jordan- Guard Height- 6-5 Weight- 199 Age- 21 College- North Carolina Hometown- Wilmington, NC

In early 1994, Jordan decided to take up a new hobby alright. However, it wasn't golf. It was baseball. Despite not play-ing baseball since high school some 13 years ago, he signed a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox in 1994. He played one unspectacular season for the Double-A Birmingham Barons.

In early 1994, Jordan decided to take up a new hobby alright. However, it wasn’t golf. It was baseball. Despite not play-ing baseball since high school some 13 years ago, he signed a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox in 1994. He played one unspectacular season for the Double-A Birmingham Barons.

Would he take a year off out of the pub-lic eye to grieve and then come back to the Bulls?

Jordan in the outfield as a baseball player for the Barons

game back. He then scored 55 points in the next game against the Knicks at Madi-son Square Garden on March 28, 1995 (his first appearance at Madison Square Gar-den since retiring). Boosted by Jordan's comeback, the Bulls went 13-4 to make the playoffs and advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Orlan-do Magic. Though at the end of Game 1, Orlando's Nick Anderson stripped Jordan from behind, leading to the game-win-ning basket for the Magic; he would later comment that Jordan "didn't look like the old Michael Jordan", after which Jordan returned to wearing his old number. Jor-dan averaged 31 points per game in the series, but Orlando prevailed in 6 games. It was obvious that Jordan was still the same superstar player. He would go on to lead the Bulls to three more consecutive NBA championships and etch his place in the history as the “NBA’s greatest player of all-time”.

On January 13, 1999, Jordan re-an-nounced his retirement, saying that “he was 99.9 percent sure that he would never play again”. Soon after, Jordan became part owner of the Washington Wizards.

Hoop Dreams 11

Media figure & business interestsJordan is one of the most marketed sports figures in history. He has been a major spokesman for such brands as Nike, Coca-Cola, Chevrolet, Gatorade, McDonald's, Ball Park Franks, Rayovac, Wheaties, Hanes, and MCI. Jordan has had a long relationship with Gatorade, appearing in over 20 commercials for the company since 1991, including the "Like Mike" commercials in which a song was sung by children wishing to be like Jordan.[

Nike created a signature shoe for him, called the Air Jordan. One of Jordan's more popular commercials for the shoe involved Spike Lee playing the part of Mars Blackmon. In the commercials Lee, as Blackmon, attempted to find the source of Jordan's abilities and became convinced that "it's gotta be the shoes". The hype and demand for the shoes even brought on a spate of "shoe-jackings" where people were robbed of their sneak-ers at gunpoint. Subsequently Nike spun off the Jordan line into its own division named the "Jordan Brand". The company features an impressive list of athletes and celebrities as endorsers. The brand has also sponsored college sports programs such as those of North Carolina, Cin-cinnati, Cal, St. John's, Georgetown, and North Carolina A&T.

Jordan also has been associated with the Looney Tunes cartoon characters. A Nike commercial shown during the 1993 Super Bowl XXVII featured Jordan and Bugs Bunny playing basketball against a group of Martian characters. The Super Bowl commercial inspired the 1996 live action/animated movie Space Jam, which starred Jordan and Bugs in a fictional story set during his first retirement. They have subsequently appeared together in several commercials for MCI.

Jordan's yearly income from the endorse-ments is estimated to be over forty million dollars. In addition, when Jordan's power at the ticket gates was at its highest point the Bulls regularly sold out every game they played in, whether home or away. Due to this, Jordan set records in player salary by signing annual contracts worth in excess of $30 million US$ per season.

An academic study found that Jordan’s first NBA comeback resulted in an in-crease in the market capitalization of his client firms of more than $1 billion.

Most of Jordan's endorsement deals, in-cluding the first deal with Nike, were en-gineered by his agent, David Falk. Jordan has said of Falk that "he's the best at what he does", and that "marketing-wise, he's great. He's the one who came up with the concept of 'Air Jordan.'"

In June 2010, Jordan was ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 20th most power-ful celebrity in the world with $55 million earned between June 2009 and June 2010. According to the Forbes article, Brand Jordan generates $1 billion in sales for Nike.

Naismith Memorial Basket-ball Hall of Fame Class of 2009 2 Olympic Gold Medals – 1984, 1992 6× NBA Champion 6× NBA Finals MVP 5× NBA MVP 10 NBA Scoring Titles 3× steals leader 3× minutes leader 14 NBA All-Star Selec-tions 3× NBA All-Star Game MVP 11 All-NBA Selections 9 All-Defensive First Team Selections 2× NBA Slam Dunk Con-test Champion – 1987, 1988 NBA Rookie of the Year – 1984–85 NBA Defensive Player of the Year – 1987–88 NCAA National Champi-onship – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: 1981–82 ACC Freshman of the Year – 1981–82 2× Consensus NCAA All-American First Team – 1982–83, 1983–84 ACC Men's Basketball Player of the Year – 1983–84

Few Achievements of his life

The Jumpman picture that later became the logo for

Mike’s company

The famous logo used on all Jordan products

12 Hoop Dreams

ROAD TO THE NBA FINALS BEGINS APRIL 28