What’s your best Michael Jordan story? We asked the people who know best. They said...
With the 2019 NBA All-Star Game coming to Charlotte, there is one figure who has been at the center of the city’s planning efforts: Charlotte Hornets owner and 14-time All-Star Michael Jordan.
The Observer asked several of the people who know Jordan best — former teammates, current players and coaches — the same question:
What is your best Michael Jordan story?
Boy, did they ever have some to share:
Kenny Smith, former UNC teammate and current NBA analyst: I’m gonna give you a non-basketball one. So him being from Wilmington and me being from New York City and being a freshman — New York City at the time, this was before Foot Locker and the Big 5, all the big sporting goods stores. So New York City was really the only place you could get multiple colors of shoes and clothes. So every time I would go home, Michael would give me $200 to go shopping. I was his personal shopper my freshman year (laughs). Bring back things you couldn’t get in North Carolina.
It was funny because I was always like, ‘What do you want?’ And he’d go, ‘Whatever you think! Just stuff that we don’t have here.’ He would trust me and I’d come back with different things, belts and shoes, sneakers, whatever it is.
Kemba Walker, three-time All-Star and the Hornets’ all-time leading scorer: He was at my draft workout. It was the first time I met him. I remember we were doing this drill – I guess to show our athleticism? – where we were taking one dribble from the 3-point line and then laying the ball up. So I was doing it and I was kind of getting high on my layups, and he’s like, ‘If you can dunk it, dunk it.’
Well, I can dunk! Then I went up… and I missed it. I missed the dunk (laughs). He started laughing. I’m embarrassed, and he’s over there laughing. I don’t have too many stories. It’s just really cool when he’s around.
Every time, even to this day, it’s still kind of surreal (talking to him). We’ve got a good relationship, but still, it’s MJ.
Buzz Peterson, former UNC teammate/roommate and current Hornets assistant general manager: I’ve got so many stories on Michael... The biggest thing about Michael is I was roommates with him there at Carolina for two of the three years — I roomed with Brad (Daugherty) one year because Brad and I grew up kind of together in the Asheville area and he was only 16 when he came to Carolina.
One of the better stories probably is in ‘84 when he got all these awards and he was popping through — he’d go in there, accept the award, all this stuff — he came through one day and he says, ‘Hey, I’m gonna tell you what,’ in his little cocky way, and goes, ‘Buzz, you better get some Nike stock.’ And I said, ‘Why Michael?’ And he says, ‘Because they’re gonna name a shoe after me.’
And I said, ‘Name a shoe after you? There’s Larry Bird, there’s Magic Johnson, they’re Converse. ...Why do you think they’re going to name a shoe after you?’
He said, ‘I’m just telling you — if you’ve got enough money, I’d buy some stock now.’ And I sit back and I think that if I had enough there, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here now (laughs). I’d be playing golf somewhere.
And at that time, I’m thinking there’s no way. There’s no way. I said, ‘Michael, what’re they gonna call that shoe?’
He said, ‘The Air Jordan.’
I was like, ‘Oh my god (laughs) — how arrogant are you?’ Really?
And sure enough, as years went on and on, now it’s crazy how people are nuts over the shoe. Waiting in line for it, and I sit back and I just laugh about how all this has come together. He took off.
Tony Parker, six-time All-Star and current Hornets point guard: I was just happy to meet him when I was 14 years old because he was my idol growing up. I went to a Bulls game – it was a family gift – and it was just awesome to meet him. He was great.
Then when I made the NBA, French TV did like a documentary on me, and so they showed him the picture – it was in 2009. It’s always crazy when you see a picture like that with a little kid and now he’s in the NBA. It was funny to see his reaction. He was just surprised, but I’m sure that (sort of thing) happened to him a lot.
Peterson: We were roommates and we always kind of wore the same clothes. I’d never been around anybody who would iron jeans — he would iron jeans — but the one thing I had an issue with was the shoes.
I’d go home, I could get me two pair of Bally’s at the Tops for Shoes there on Coxe Avenue in Asheville. But my mom would buy me two pairs, because coach (Dean) Smith made us dress up. Bally’s have soft leather. Well, Michael’s a 13 pancake-wide foot. I’m more of a 13 1/2 narrow shoe.
So when he would wear that Bally shoe, it would stretch the leather. Well, in order for me to get in that shoe, I would have to put in an insole, an athletic sock on, then a dress shoe on to wear that shoe, and scrunch my toes. So the next year I go and see my mom, I told her I needed some new shoes. She says, ‘Hun, I just bought you two last year.’ So I told her the story and she said, ‘Well, you can’t let him wear those shoes then!’
I bought two more pair... He got back in ‘em.
Every year, I used to go to Chicago for the playoffs whenever they were in. It was automatic, I’d get two pairs of dress shoes to take home with me. ...But the funny thing about it is, probably a couple months ago I get a lot of boxes that come to the house, all with dress shoes. He’d sent me a bunch of dress shoes because he doesn’t wear them much anymore (laughs).
My mom was like, ‘I’m not going to keep buying these shoes for you.’ But now they’ve paid off. I’ve got ‘em all back.
We used to get in arguments because I would go to my closet and he’d have the shirt and the shoes already picked out what to wear the next day. I was one of these guys who could wake up, take a shower, and get my clothes on, find something. No, he’d have it laid out neatly the night before, ironing, I was like, ‘Come on!’ But it’s been one of those relationships.
Glen Rice, three-time All-Star and MVP of the 1997 NBA All-Star Game: It’s funny, because each All-Star Game I made, the very person that made me feel comfortable was Michael Jordan. My first All-Star Game, walking down the hall with me, telling me, ‘Hey, look, don’t go out there and shoot an air ball.’ But it put me in a comfortable place, and I was like, ‘No, I won’t!’
Then afterward, he’s like, ‘I hope you enjoyed the first one.’
The second one, I’m sitting there thinking, ‘OK, this man’s got a triple-double, he’s the best player in the world – he’s probably got MVP in a wrap.’ But because he got so many assists – he was throwing it to me, thank God (laughs) – he was a part of that.
And then how ironic is this? I finally get a Glen Rice Day – first time ever for me – and there’s Michael Jordan. Mind you, because we played against each other so much, that competitiveness and the respect we had, it carries us to here.
Peterson: We came out of high school together in ‘81. We went to Carolina camp — first time we’d met each other — and we just kind of hit it off. We didn’t know each other at all before that camp, not going into our senior year. I never played with him that week at Carolina camp. I played with his high school teammate Leroy Smith and Michael played with my high school teammate Randy Shepherd, and I kept asking Randy what kind of player he is. He said, ‘He’s athletic. Easy to throw alley-oops to, but he’s more of an inside guy. He’ll take some outside shots, but he’s more of an inside.’
And we just decided we wanted to go play together — I’d have still gone. I was about to go to Kentucky, looked at Duke a little bit, but he kept bugging me because he committed in November. I didn’t commit until January, and there was only one signing period back then in April. He kept saying, ‘I thought we’re going to play together,’ and I said, ‘We are, we are, we are.’ Finally, I said I’m going (to UNC), but I didn’t know he was going to be one of the best of all time. I had no clue.
Roy Williams, UNC head coach and former assistant: He’s the most competitive person I’ve ever been with in my life. We do enjoy being on the golf course together, and I think he’s the greatest basketball player that ever played because he was more focused and did a better job of trying to make himself a better player every year.
Peterson: Coach John Thompson (of Georgetown) knew what we were running (in the 1982 NCAA championship game). Coach Thompson was coach Smith’s assistant in the (1976) Olympics, so he went to zone. Knows we’re going to run the T-game offense (which relies on strong post players), and the shots you’re going to give up are the elbows and the corner. That’s where Sam (Perkins) and James (Worthy) were. James was having a career night, so they really locked those up.
And what was open? A freshman hits the shot on the weak side, that’s what it gives up. That’s what a zone is for, to force the outside shot. He took it. A line drive, went right in. He was always confident.
Mike Krzyzewski, 1992 Olympic assistant and current Duke head coach: Being around all those players (on the 1992 Olympic team), they were true professionals. They helped make the NBA what it is. And I would say the best player on that team was Michael.
I was amazed with how he knew the history of the game. He understood that Magic and Larry were at the end of their careers and what they had done for the NBA. He allowed them to have their place there. Literally, he could have been the captain of the team. He told Chuck Daly, he said, ‘You know, I shouldn’t be the captain. They should be the captains.’
I could tell numerous things during that Olympic experience like that. Even though he was the best player, and probably is the best player of all time, he understood team. He also understood he had to have a relationship with Chuck Daly, who was the ‘Bad Boy’ Pistons coach, who tried to beat the heck out of him for a couple of years. He wanted to win the gold and represent the United States.
With me being the Duke coach, I was the bottom guy on the totem pole. He made me feel — and my family feel — like a million bucks every day. I love Michael. We’re friends now. But I love Michael Jordan.
This story was originally published February 12, 2019 at 6:35 PM with the headline "What’s your best Michael Jordan story? We asked the people who know best. They said...."
