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Michael Jordan With Wife Juanita

Michael Jordan With Wife Juanita

Michael Jordan House

Michael Jordan House

Michael Jordan HD Wallpapers

Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan New Pictures 2011

Michael Jordan

Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a former American professional basketball player, active businessman, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. His biography on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.

After a standout career at the University 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 championship 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 championships (1996, 1997, and 1998) as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Washington Wizards.

Jordan's individual accolades and accomplishments include five MVP awards, ten All-NBA First Team designations, 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 season scoring average (30.12 points per game) and highest career playoff scoring 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 endorsements. 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 basketball operations for the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, having won a bidding war to buy controlling interest in the team from founding owner Robert L. Johnson.

During his first season in the NBA, Jordan averaged 28.2 ppg on 51.5% shooting. 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.[18] 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 playoffs. Jordan recovered in time to participate in the playoffs and performed well upon his return. Against a 1985–86 Boston Celtics team that is often considered one of the greatest in NBA history, Jordan set the still-unbroken record 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 other 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 defensive prowess, as he became the first player in NBA history to record 200 steals and 100 blocks in a season. Despite Jordan's success, Magic Johnson won the league's Most Valuable Player Award. The Bulls reached 40 wins, and advanced to the playoffs for the third consecutive year. However, they were again swept by the Celtics.

Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center. The team is well known for having one of the greatest dynasties in NBA and sports history during the 1990s, winning six championships in eight years with two three-peats. All six of those championship teams were led by Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and coach Phil Jackson. The first three championship teams included the likes of Bill Cartwright, Horace Grant, John Paxson and B.J. Armstrong, while the latter three championship teams had Luc Longley, Steve Kerr, Ron Harper, Toni Kukoč and Dennis Rodman on the roster. The Bulls won an NBA record 72 games during the 1995–96 NBA season and are the only team in NBA history to win 70 games or better in a single season. During the 1990s, the Bulls helped spread the popularity of the NBA around the world. The 1998 NBA Finals, the Bulls' most recent championship appearance, was the most watched championship series in NBA history. The Bulls have never lost an NBA Finals in their six appearances.

In the summer of 1984 the team's fortunes changed forever when it received the third pick of the 1984 NBA Draft, after Houston and Portland. The Rockets selected Hakeem Olajuwon, the Blazers jumped on Sam Bowie, and the Bulls grabbed shooting guard Michael Jordan out of the University of North Carolina. The team, with new management in owner Jerry Reinsdorf and General Manager Jerry Krause, decided to rebuild around Jordan. Jordan set franchise records during his rookie campaign for scoring (3rd in the league) and steals (4th in the league), and led the Bulls back to the playoffs, for which he was rewarded with a selection to the All-NBA second team and NBA Rookie of the Year Award.
In the following offseason, the team acquired point guard John Paxson and on draft day traded with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the rights to power forward Charles Oakley. Along with Jordan and center Dave Corzine, they provided much of the Bulls' offense for the next two years. After suffering a broken foot early in the 1985–86 season, Jordan finished second on the team to Woolridge in scoring. Jordan returned for the playoffs, and took the 8th-place Bulls up against the 67–15 Boston Celtics, led by Larry Bird. Though the Bulls were swept, Jordan recorded a playoff single-game record 63 points in Game 2, prompting Bird to call him 'God disguised as Michael Jordan.'

With a lineup of Harper, Jordan, Pippen, Rodman and Longley, and perhaps the league's best bench in Kerr, Kukoc, Wennington, Buechler, and guard Randy Brown the Bulls posted one of the best single-season improvements in league history and the best single-season record, moving from 47–35 to 72–10,[3] which remains the best record in NBA history. Jordan won his eighth scoring title, and Rodman his fifth straight rebounding title, while Kerr finished second in the league in three-point shooting percentage. Jordan garnered the elusive triple crown with the regular season MVP, All-star Game MVP, and Finals MVP. Krause was named Executive of the Year, Jackson Coach of the Year, and Kukoc the Sixth Man of the Year. Both Pippen and Jordan made the All-NBA First Team, and Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman made the All-Defensive First Team, making the Bulls the only team in history with three players on the All-Defensive First Team.
In addition, the 1995–96 squad holds several other records, including the best road record in a standard 41-road-game season (33–8), the all-time best start by a team (41–3), the longest home winning streak (44 games, 7 from previous season), and the best start at home (37–0). The Bulls also posted the second-best home record in history (39–2), behind only the 1985–86 Celtics 40–1 home mark, and the second-best point differential in history, trailing the 1972 Lakers by 3 points over the course of an entire season. The team triumphed over Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp and the Seattle SuperSonics for their fourth title. The 1995–96 Chicago Bulls are widely regarded as one of the greatest teams in the history of basketball.

During the 2004 offseason, Paxson traded a 2005 draft pick to the Phoenix Suns in return for an additional pick in the 2004 NBA Draft. He used the picks to select Connecticut guard Ben Gordon and Duke small forward Luol Deng in the first round, and Duke point guard Chris Duhon in the second. Paxson also signed free agent small forward Andrés Nocioni, who had recently won an Olympic gold medal as a member of the Argentine national team. After losing the first nine games of the season, the Bulls began to show signs of improvement behind their improved team defense and clutch fourth-quarter play from Gordon. The Bulls, who were 0–9 to start the season, finished the regular season 47–35, with the third-best record in the Eastern Conference and advanced to the NBA playoffs for the first time since Jordan's departure. In the first round, the 4th-seeded Bulls played the Washington Wizards. The Bulls opened the series with two wins at home, but lost the next four games and the series. After the season, Ben Gordon became the first rookie to win the NBA Sixth Man Award and the first Bull to win the award since 1996 with Toni Kukoc,

Jimmer Fredette Biography

Jimmer Fredette Biography

Jimmer Fredette

James Taft "Jimmer" Fredette (born February 25, 1989) is an American basketball player who gained national fame during his college career at Brigham Young University. In 2011, he was the leading scorer in NCAA Division I basketball, and earned several National Player of the Year honors, including the Wooden Award, the Naismith Award, the Adolph Rupp Trophy, and the Oscar Robertson Trophy.Fredette is a native of Glens Falls, New York.

Early life

Fredette was born February 25, 1989, in Glens Falls, New York, to Al and Kay Fredette, the youngest of three children. Named James Taft, Fredette later received the nickname "Jimmer" from his mother.

From his early childhood, he showed unusual dedication to athletics, his older brother TJ recalling, "He was the most determined, competitive four-year-old I had ever seen." TJ, an aspiring rapper, helped train him for his basketball career since before kindergarten. He regularly played with TJ, seven years older, and TJ's friends on the family's backyard court. Fredette was able to hit three-pointers at age 5, and developed moves to get around his larger opponents. TJ also remembered that his brother "willed himself to find ways to win, even if he was physically outmatched. From the time he was 10, I was telling everybody he was going to make the NBA."

Other family members assisted Fredette in his development. His father, a financial adviser, introduced Jimmer to schoolyard competition against adults at age 8. As Jimmer developed, his father took him on occasional road trips to Hartford and New York City for more intense competition, and also helped to coach his AAU teams. His mother allowed him to bounce basketballs throughout the house, and even built a dribbling studio for him in their basement. Her brother Lee Taft, a personal trainer who now operates a speed training school in Indianapolis, started him on running drills as a 5-year-old, and still works with Fredette.

Jimmer also has an older sister, Lindsay, Miss Teen New York 1998. Fredette's father became a Mormon at the age of 18 after meeting missionary Kimball Rogers—the father of Fredette's BYU teammate Stephen Rogers—while his mother is a Catholic. Fredette, along with his two older siblings, chose to become Mormons after their parents allowed them to choose their religion.

Playing style and personality

In a January 2011 article, Sports Illustrated writer Kelli Anderson said about Fredette's playing style,

“ Facing the opposition's best defender (or, more often, defenders), he pulls up going right or going left. He shoots off the dribble, off the wrong foot, off balance, off the glass. He finishes in traffic with a dozen deft moves, including a funky scoop shot, originating from his waist, that he can make with either hand.”

He has even been noted by several collegiate and NBA players across the country. Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder posted on his Twitter account that "Jimmer Fredette is the greatest scorer in the world!!", while Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns tweeted "Jimmer Fredette? Man, that name's straight outta Hoosiers. No wonder he never misses...". Jared Sullinger, a forward at Ohio State University, said "Yooo Jimmer is going off right now. Pure scorer."

Other facets of his personality have been noted by other college coaches. Former Utah coach Jim Boylen has cited "swagger and confidence" as Fredette's biggest weapons, and Villanova's Jay Wright has also remarked favorably on Fredette's on-court aggressiveness, comparing him to Pete Maravich in that respect. However, according to Anderson, Fredette "is fiercely competitive while remaining unassuming and likable," noting that Arizona coach Sean Miller hugged Fredette after he scored 49 on the Wildcats, and the Utah fans who saw Fredette score 47 on the Utes in January 2011 gave him an ovation as he left the court.

Jimmer describes his older brother TJ as his biggest fan and supporter. TJ, whose song "Amazing" was written for his brother, said, "I see him play, and it gives me chills sometimes when he hits some of those big shots and the crowd is going crazy."

In an article published in Sports Illustrated, Marcus Morris, a forward at KU, noted the work ethic and moral character Fredette exhibited while at USA Basketball camp. Said he, "He’s got heart. You can see he has a feel for the game, and he can SHOOT IT from anywhere. Even if you try to box-and-one the guy, he brings it up and just pulls up from the hashmark. That’s tough to guard."

An unusual set of Fredette fans reside in the Mount McGregor Correctional Facility, a medium security prison, where he and his older brother played games with the inmates. Fredette credits these experiences as helping with his focus in rough situations.