Jordan, four others elected to basketball Hall of Fame
 

Michael Jordan was elected to the class of 2009 on Monday, set for induction in Septemeber with his Dream Team counterparts David Robinson and John Stockton. Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan and Rutgers women's coach C. Vivian Stringer are also part of a class announced in Detroit, site of the men's Final Four.

Induction is Sept. 10-12 in Springfield, Mass., home of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

"I don't like being up here for the Hall of Fame because at that time your basketball career is completely over," Jordan said. "I was hoping this day would be 20 more years, or actually go in when I'm dead and gone."

Jordan's Hall of Fame selection was a slam dunk after he retired as perhaps the greatest player in history. And he gave much of the credit Monday to his college coach.

"There's no way you guys would have got a chance to see Michael Jordan play without Dean Smith," he said.

His soaring dunks, Nike commercials and "Air Jordan" nickname helped stamp him as one the most recognizable athletes around the world. He finished a 15-year career with the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards with 32,292 points - the third-highest total in league history, behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone. His final career average of 30.12 goes down as the best, just ahead of Wilt Chamberlain's 30.07.

"Simply the greatest to ever play the game of basketball. He is the one player that each young person in this league should emulate and aspire to become. His work ethic, drive, skill level and competitive spirit were unmatched," Jordan's former Bulls teammate and now team GM, John Paxson said.

Jordan was a five-time NBA MVP, won six championships with the Bulls and another in college with North Carolina. The Tar Heels play Michigan State in the national championship game Monday night.

Jordan will root on the Tar Heels, but had no plans to give them a pep talk.

Tar Heels coach Roy Williams was an assistant with Carolina on that 1982 championship team and was at Monday's induction, where Ty Lawson won the Bob Cousy award as the nation's top point guard.

Jordan retired twice during his career. He first came back to the Bulls in 1994 and won three more championships before retiring again in 1998, then had an ill-fated two-year stint with the Washington Wizards before calling it quits for good in 2003. He's now managing partner of the Charlotte Bobcats.

On Monday, he joked that when he saw Stockton and Robinson he was ready to put his shorts on again.

"I always want to be able to have you thinking I can always go back and play the game of basketball and put your shorts on," Jordan said. "Hall of Fame to me is like, OK, it's over and done with."

Jordan won two of his titles in the 1990s against Sloan, Stockton and the Jazz. Stockton spent his entire career with Utah and finished with 19,711 points, and holds NBA records 15,806 assists and 3,265 steals. He also holds NBA records for most assists in a season (1,164 in 1990-91) and highest assist average in a season (14.5 in 1989-90).

"Growing up I never thought about the Hall of Fame," Stockton said. "All I wanted was a chance to go to college."

Utah took Stockton in the first round of the 1984 draft, using the No. 16 pick on a relatively unknown player from Gonzaga who became one of the top point guards.

"I haven't given this much thought over the course of a lifetime," he said. "I'm not sure it quite strikes home until you're standing here."

Robinson, who earned the nickname "The Admiral" from his college career at Navy, joined Stockton and Jordan as members of the NBA's 50th anniversary team.

He had a stellar 14-year career with the San Antonio Spurs that included two NBA championships, an MVP season, a rookie of the year award, 10 all-star selections, a scoring title and two Olympic gold medals. Unlike Jordan's inability to stay home after his final shot in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals, Robinson was content to retire after winning a second title with the Spurs in 2003.

"If I had to pick one night in my career, it would probably be walking off the court as a champion and knowing that was going to be my last memory of basketball," Robinson said.

Sloan, who did not attend the ceremony, is the longest tenured head coach in major league sports with a single franchise. Sloan is the only NBA coach to win more than 1,000 games with a single team and has the Jazz in seventh place in the Western Conference going into Monday night's games.

"I've been very lucky to have such great players, especially John, who is very deserving of this honour," Sloan said. "I've also been fortunate to be with such a tremendous organization for the past 20-plus years and am extremely grateful to the (Larry H.) Miller family for all of their support."

Sloan was missed on Monday by Stockton.

"He's not only a coach and a mentor, but a friend," Stockton said. "I enjoy him very much. The honour to share it with him, terrific."

Stringer has led three separate schools to the Final Four in her 38-year career and has an 825-280 mark spanning four decades. She trails only Pat Summitt and Jody Conradt on the career wins list, and guided Rutgers to its fifth straight regional semifinals trip this season.

"My knees are weak, and to think I would be standing here with these great, great, men of basketball," Stringer said. "It's not ever about me. It's about the players who all make it happen."

Stringer got her start in 1973 at Cheyney State, where Hall of Famer John Chaney was the men's coach, and took the school to the Final Four in 1982. She also took Iowa to the Final Four, the only women's coach to take three teams there.

"I am very happy and elated that she was selected to the Hall of Fame this year," Chaney said. "I would think not many, if any, Division II school has its former men's and women's coaches in the Hall of Fame.
http://tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=273980

im so glad i got to grow up watching Jordan as my favorite player and watch his career with the bulls. Ill never forget the last 2 championships especially.

^ Ditto

Jordan is the best. Bull's vs. Utah series' those were the shit. Bulls vs Sonics back in the day with Kemp and Payton was pretty good too.

jordan is beast

Kobe > All

Defense during Jordan's era was a couple level lowers compared to nowadays.

sonics vs bulls was a great series, i wanted the sonics to win so bad though :(

I was too young to understand basketball when Jordan was at his prime :/

just wait for lebron and wade

^ Lebron is a good player but he's a pussy disloyal sellout with no heart. Watch him closely and I mean very closely when his team is losing, the look in his eyes tells it all, the look says he wants the game to be over so he can go home to his multi million dollar life. Goes and sits on his bench with the look of a confused child on his face. Now for a comparison on what a great player should act like when his team is losing, look at Jordan or even Gilbert Arenas. Those guys would and have put their teammates in tears in order to get back into the game.

Oh and by sellout and disloyal I mean what he called his "little brother" Daniel Gibson last season was his main man, this season a better player and shooter Mo Williams took not only Gibson's starting spot, but also James' affection as he totally ditched Gibson for Williams as his main man.



you're wrong about defense being softer back then, it was actually harder because guys had to work harder to make up for their lack of athleticism that players today have much more of. Players today rely too much on their athleticism for defense which makes them shittier defenders.


And Jordan was double and triple teamed waaaay more than Kobe ever will be.
And look at Kobe right now for example, his current Lakers are easily a much better team than Jordan's Bulls ever were. He doesn't have to do everything himself like Jordan did, and whats it say about Kobe not being able to win championships with a better team while Jordan owned the league for years wit a shittier team. Same coach by the way (Phil Jackson) so that plays into what I'm saying.

The biggest reason in my opinion Kobe doesnt > Jordan would be the following.

Jordan would never let his team get blown out by 40 points in a Finals game like Kobe did last year to the Celtics, I shit you not he would start punching players out before letting that happen.
Jordan is simply too competitive and has too much heart for that shit. Dude was so competitive he had to find an outlet to his competitiveness other than playing and secretly gambled away millions of dollars.

And the look on Kobe's face when they were losing that game to the Celts wasn't the look of a warrior, it was the look of a helpless child. Kobe ain't got no heart whatsoever, just raw skill and talent.

on the other hand I remember Jordan scoring 33 points on the Jazz with a massive fever in the Finals, he couldn't stand on his own two feet at the end of the game, had to be helped off the court.

NBA never had a Hall of Fame? WTF?

3 great players!!!

Players must be retired for 5 years. MJ's last game was in '03.

I actually thought Jordan was nominated long ago...
but this is great news regardless.

Whats with you and the look on players face's when there teams are being destroyed? lol, I think it is completely normal for a player to be upset and disgruntled the way Kobe was when a team with the star power of the Celtics cut down the 20 point lead. I can understand where you coming from and saying MJ wouldn't have let it happen. And with Lebron, I think he is a great team player, it doesn't matter who his "main man" or best friend is on the team, he shares the ball often enough that he doesn't even need to play in the 4th quarter. Also just because Williams took over Gibson's starting role, I don't think Lebron treats either of them differently. He always jokes around with all his teammates, and don't forget just recently put up a ridiculous effort against the Clippers, in which the Cavs were down 19 in the 4th quarter and came back to win the game and obviously you can't forget his performance in game 5 against the Pistons in 2007.

woah woah woah..... Jordans teammates on the Bulls were top tier players what the hell are ye talkin about the entire team worked perfectly, if it wasnt for all the teammates scoring so many baskets Jordan would have had way more 50+ point games

other than that agree :)

Pfft... they should have given him an exemption, just like NHL did for Gretzky. He was immediately inducted after he retired...

Hard to compare. The NBA let more grabbing and harder fouls. These days, a slight bump and it's a foul. Look at Detroit with Isiah. If you thought Bruce Bowen was a dirty player, check out that early pistons team. Also, when you you're in the key back then, your ass is going to get handed to you. It was much tougher to drive to the net - none of that half circle area under the hoop.

suns-bulls finals series for the win. I still have that on tape (game 6 at least). I was 10 back then.

An astounding level of ignorance is being posted here

Technically, no. Nor does the NHL or MLB.

The basketball hall of fame, hockey hall of fame, and National Baseball Hall of Fame all operating independent from their respective major leagues.

I like Kobe as well but this Defense comment is just stupid.. sorry...so you are saying that Jordan will be a bust if he is just on his prime now? lol..makes me wonder why all superstars say Jordan was their fav. player..

And I agree.. Phoenix/Bulls was great..

I'm a jordan fan but I'm a bigger iverson/kobe fan. Glad I was able to see jordan play. IMO he is the best basketball player ever, he's just not my favorite :)

no way kobe could have made that dunk on the aliens to win the game for the loony toons.

please :gtfo: