Tag: Michael Jordan

Kendrick Perkins: LeBron James wants more Olympic gold medals than Michael Jordan

One of LeBron James’ former teammates feels the Lakers superstar has some added motivation in the upcoming Summer Olympics.

The path to LeBron James solidifying his argument as being perhaps the greatest basketball player ever is narrowing as his career starts to wind down. While he’s still playing at about as high a level as he always has, minus the defensive end of the court, he is 39 years of age.

He recently signed a two-year contract to remain with the Los Angeles Lakers, with the second year of that deal being a player option. In a recent interview with ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, he admitted it could be his final NBA contract.

For those eager to proclaim James as the greatest to ever play the game, his best argument is his longevity rather than peak performance. Just days from now, he will begin his quest for his third Olympic gold medal, which would break a tie he holds with Michael Jordan, the man many consider the greatest of all time (G.O.A.T.).

Former teammate Kendrick Perkins says it’s something James wants to add to his legacy (h/t Cavaliers Nation).

James picked and chose his spots in Team USA’s first three exhibition games, but in the last two, he turned it up with a combined 45 points to carry his squad to victory in crunch time versus South Sudan and Germany.

It’s debatable how much a third gold medal would help James’ argument as the GOAT in the court of public opinion. On the other hand, he won a bronze medal with Team USA in the 2004 Olympics, as well as another one at the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

It should be noted that Kevin Durant, who is currently sidelined with a calf strain, would win his fourth gold medal, which would be an all-time record for USA men’s basketball, if the squad goes all the way in the next few weeks.

Jayson Tatum opens up about how spilled wine opened Jordan Brand doors

Sometimes, moments that might ruin an important path in one’s career can have the opposite effect instead.

Sometimes, moments that might ruin an important path in one’s career can have the opposite effect instead, creating a bond due to the absurdity of a situation. And that is how star Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum saw his first introduction to the G.O.A.T. himself, Michael Jeffrey Jordan, go.

The St. Louis native recently re-told the tale on a recent episode of the Wave Sports and Entertainment Original “7 PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony and The Kid Mero” podcast, shedding some light on how his meeting to join the Jordan Brand family nearly went sideways in a major way. Tatum somehow managed to knock a glass of red wine over, making a huge mess as he went to shake his Airness’ hand. “He let me live,” joked Tatum. “This was back in 2019 … in Paris.”

“That’s when I first got introduced with the brand and signed with him,” he continued. “We had dinner that night and I remember I was nervous as (expletive). I got there a little early before everybody else and I see him, his wife, Spike Lee, and they were all sitting at the table across the room.”

“I had just sat down like they probably (were) busy, I don’t want to interrupt them. My mom was like, ‘Yo, just go say what’s up, they invited you out here,’ and I’m like alright,” said Tatum, sharing how much he was sweating.

“So I get up, and I’m like, ‘Yo, Mike, what up?’ The wine glass … I just … knocked it over, and it broke … He was like, ‘Yo young fella, you’re alright, go sit back down, you’re good’ – but ever since then we’ve been locked in and that’s another person that I will text, I will call.”

And Tatum leaned into that connection, picking MJ’s brain ahead of the 2022 NBA Finals. “I was like, ‘Yo, how’s this going to be? What is it like being in the finals? What should I expect?’

“We talked for a long time, and he’s somebody that he’ll text me after games,” said JT. “So I got his name in my phone as Uncle Mike — that’s my man.”

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Why did former 3-star recruit Keon Coleman say that Kobe Bryant was the best player in NBA history?

Keon Coleman has a bold take on the best player in NBA history.

Count Buffalo Bills wide receiver Keon Coleman as having that Mamba Mentality. The Buffalo Bills wide receiver, a former three-star recruit, is on the record as saying that the late Kobe Bryant is the best player in NBA history.

And while Coleman is clearly wrong about this (it is Michael Jordan first followed by LeBron James, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Oscar Roberton…in that order!), it is still a bold take from Coleman.

That’s right, Bryant isn’t even in the top five! This is said with all due respect, of course.

Keep in mind that while Coleman is wrong about this, he is very right about buying coats out of season for next year. So he won’t get ribbed here for his horrible ranking of all-time NBA greats.

(Just a reminder once again that the correct order is Jordan, James, Russell and Robertson followed by Bryant).

It’s a bold opinion from Coleman, who was asked which NBA player, Jordan or James, was the greatest of all time.

Now, Coleman’s take is largely built on Bryant’s infamous work ethic. Bryant was known for not just being a workout warrior but also a perfectionist.

And that is what is spurring Coleman’s pick of Bryant. He truly admired the legend and sees his incredible work ethic as setting Bryant apart in NBA history.

 

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If Coleman brings that similar mentality to his NFL career, then there is no doubt he will be among the best wide receivers in Bills history and perhaps even his generation.

Coleman has shown some grit in his career so far, going from being a three-star recruit out of Louisiana to Michigan State and then on to Florida State on his way to becoming a second-round pick in this spring’s NFL draft.

Last season for Florida State, Coleman had 50 catches for 658 receiving yards with 11 touchdowns.

And maybe someday, some young football player, when asked the greatest wide receiver of all time, will answer simply:

“Keon Coleman.”

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An iconic Michael Jordan photo will be on Tyler Reddick’s car as he races through Chicago

The photo that inspired the Air Jordan logo will speed through NASCAR’s 2024 Chicago Street Race this weekend.

NASCAR returns to the Windy City this weekend for the 2024 Chicago Street Race, with Cup Series drivers starting their engines on Sunday.

One driver, Tyler Reddick of the No. 45 Toyota Camry, will pay homage to perhaps the greatest athlete in the history of professional sports in Chicago – who also happens to own the team Reddick races for.

Reddick’s paint scheme for Sunday’s competition is splashed with purple on the roof and features a young, dunking Michael Jordan on the sides and hood of the car. It’s borrowing from the iconic 1985 poster – which shows Jordan in his unmistakable Jumpman pose – dunking over the Chicago skyline at sunset.

The image was part of Nike’s marketing promotion for the original Air Jordan sneakers. The silhouette of Jordan in that photo later turned into the Jumpman logo.

Among Jordan’s various other business ventures, he co-owns the 23XI Racing team with Denny Hamlin, which has Reddick and Bubba Wallace competing for it in NASCAR’s highest level. Former 23XI Racing driver Kurt Busch once raced with a cool Jordan-inspired scheme too.

Reddick’s usual paint scheme is centered around his main sponsor, Monster Energy, while the Jumpman logo is typically featured on his passenger-side rear panel.

But this week, Reddick’s car is all Jordan. Fittingly so for a race in Chicago.

Reddick finished 28th at Chicago last year, but he’s been racing exceptionally well lately, finishing in the top 10 in five of his last six races, and winning at Talladega back in April.

Jayda Coleman, Kinzie Hansen appear in Rawlings commercial

Jayda Coleman, Kinzie Hansen commercial pays tribute to Michael Jordan and Larry Bird classic commercial for McDonald’s

Two of college softball’s biggest stars over the last few years have taken their games to the professional level with the Oklahoma City Spark. [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag] and [autotag]Kinzie Hansen[/autotag] will continue to ply their craft in the Softball Capitol of the World.

Over their careers at Oklahoma, Coleman and Hansen became known for clutch performances in the field, earning Gold Gloves and Defensive Player of the Year awards. But even more important was their work at the plate as both came through in clutch situations time after time during the Sooners’ historic four-straight national championships.

And the former Sooners stars and two of the best ambassadors of the sport starred in a new commercial for Rawlings softball.

The commercial is a fun tribute to the McDonald’s classic featuring Larry Bird and Michael Jordan in a game of HORSE. Instead of playing for a Big Mac, Hansen and Coleman have a home run-hitting contest for Rawlings’ new “Mantra” bat.

The two go back and forth, even attempting to switch hit, with relative success.

As softball continues to grow, this is just another step in the right direction by using two of the sport’s biggest stars to be ambassadors for one of the biggest brands in diamond sports.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on X @john9williams.

Caleb Williams will not follow in Michael Jordan’s footsteps

Michael Jordan played pro baseball in Alabama. We won’t have to worry about that for Caleb Williams.

The recent Major League Baseball game at Rickwood Field in Alabama recalled a number of baseball memories and moments, one of them being that Michael Jordan played pro baseball in Alabama for the Birmingham Barons. Caleb Williams will not be playing pro baseball in Alabama or anywhere else, a reality underscored when Caleb struggled with his baseball swing. The internet had a lot of fun with Caleb’s batting-cage moment.

Fighting Irish Wire celebrated Caleb Williams’ NFL draft by recalling how he swung and missed — metaphorically speaking — against Notre Dame last season:

Williams led an unbeaten USC squad into South Bend to take on Notre Dame on Oct. 14 last year. The high-powered Trojans offense was held to six first-half points in a game that was essentially over at halftime. Williams finished 23 of 37 passing for 199 yards, one touchdown and a career high three interceptions. It began a downward spiral for USC, which started the year 6-0 and finished the regular season 7-5.

That said, the fall clearly wasn’t the fault of Williams, who still put up fantastic numbers. It wasn’t his fault USC’s defense couldn’t stop a nosebleed. Check out our friends at Bears Wire and Trojans Wire for more on the Williams selection.

You won’t have to follow Trojans Wire for more on Caleb Williams’ forays into baseball. They won’t happen.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire. Follow our newest sites, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.

Check out more NFL draft coverage with the USA TODAY Sports NFL Draft Hub.

Why Michael Jordan’s controversial 1988 Defensive Player of the Year Award is suddenly being questioned

Michael Jordan was so great people are STILL debating one of his awards.

In the NBA’s never-ending “GOAT” debate, Michael Jordan holds one eternal trump card over his fellow offensively-oriented peers — he has a Defensive Player of the Year Award to his name.

But in a new report from Yahoo Sports’ Tom Haberstroh, the validity of Jordan’s 1988 defensive honors is questioned. It’s a bit sticky and is a good reminder that Jordan was so special that people would even talk about a random achievement of his over a quarter-century-old.

Why is one of Jordan’s more impressive honors being debated?

According to Alex Rucker, a one-time NBA scorekeeper, Jordan’s off-the-charts steals and blocks numbers that effectively won him that year’s DPOY had a massive home-to-road disparity. That means scorekeepers when Jordan played at home were seemingly a bit more generous with their definition of highlight statistics, especially during that fateful 1987-1988 NBA season.

This tracks with data analysis that inspired Haberstroh’s report:

As Rucker once learned, this is apparently a common practice when it comes to marketing some of the league’s bigger names. In the end, it was seemingly more about selling mythology and entertainment than the competition on the court.

More from Haberstroh and Yahoo Sports:

“I [Rucker] left there [an NBA scorekeeper training session] clearly understanding that, yes, we are supposed to present the most accurate representation that we can, but the NBA is also an entertainment business,” Rucker told me. “And it’s up to us, in a very small part as statisticians, to support or reinforce stars and excitement and fun. And that message was definitely reinforced internally within the Grizzlies …”

“… Rucker explained that, from his experience, subjective stats — primarily blocks, steals and assists, and sometimes rebounds — were a way to give star treatment. If a player tried to block a shot and the ball fell short, maybe give him the benefit of the doubt on a 50-50 play — block. If a pass was deflected by one defender and recovered by another, choose wisely as to which defender to award the steal. Assists were a thing of beauty, left to the eye of the beholder. To Rucker, it was an unspoken part of the NBA’s marketing machine, a way to get on “SportsCenter” in front of a national audience and grab attention.”

Well, if true, that’s not really surprising, now is it?

In an era without improved access to technology, of course scorekeepers would skew more toward helping sell the legend of the NBA. It’s not ethical and probably shouldn’t be repeated these days, but it’s not this major transgression. Let’s be serious, everyone. When we remember that this also happened in the late 1980s NBA, it’s likely better that folks were more preoccupied with selling the clear face of the league during a much-needed time of growth.

Making a younger Jordan seem more dominant was in the best interest of the league’s long-term health during that era. It just was.

It’s also hard to question the validity of Jordan’s DPOY award for something where most modern stars probably still benefit from home cooking, just to a lesser extent. If you don’t think guys like LeBron James and Nikola Jokic occasionally get the benefit of the doubt on 50-50 assists or rebounds, I have a bridge to sell you. They might not be absurdly inflated, but there is almost certainly an interest in making them seem exceptional at all costs whenever possible.

Jordan earned his 1988 Defensive Player of the Year Award. I know that mostly because we had to revisit this discussion 26 years later.

NBA fans chimed in accordingly on the Jordan DPOY debate

Angel Reese wore the coldest Michael Jordan-themed top ahead of her Wings-Sky matchup

Drop the details, Angel! Where can we get this?!

Chicago Sky star Angel Reese wore a Michael Jordan-inspired top to her Thursday matchup against the Dallas Wings, and it’s one of the coldest things we’ve ever seen.

Reese isn’t new to fashion. She stole the orange carpet at the 2024 WNBA Draft, went to the Met Gala weeks later, has a campaign with Good American Denimn and the list goes on. She’s even made an appearance on our WNBA fits of the week.

So, it shouldn’t shock anyone that Reese — who has mentioned she would like to meet Michael Jordan before — wore a Michael Jordan-inspired Chicago Bulls woven top to her game Thursday. Reese’s amazing top paid homage to Michael Jordan and shows him with the Larry O’Brien trophy shortly after the Chicago Bulls pulled off a historic three-peat.

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Playoff MVPs: Choosing the best player in each postseason in NBA history

HoopsHype chooses an NBA Playoffs MVP for every postseason, including LeBron James, Michael Jordan and many more all-timers.

In the NBA, there is a regular season MVP and a Finals MVP, but no award for the best player of the postseason, which is odd if you think about it. Hell, we even had a bubble MVP that one time.

No worries, though, because we are here to right that wrong by naming a Playoff MVP for every postseason dating back all the way to the BAA days. There’s a bit of overlap between Finals MVP and our pick for Playoff MVP but there are also many years in which our Playoff MVP pick didn’t even see his team win the championship.

With so many players to discuss and so many Playoff MVP awards to hand out, let’s get right to it.

(You can go to the bottom of the page to see how many times each legend is selected).

Xander Schauffele learns the hard way going against Michael Jordan

How much trash talk did Michael Jordan save for Xander Schauffele on the golf course?

Xander Schauffele was able to capture his first major title with a win at the PGA Championship last month and is now looking to make it two in a row at the U.S. Open this week.

But as Schauffele and the golfers battle it out at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina, he recently shared a story about a round of golf he had against the GOAT Michael Jordan.

Per NBC Sports Chicago, Schauffele was in the middle of a practice round at Memorial Tournament last week when he was asked by Cole Knost if he had ever played a round with Jordan. And the conversation directed to Jordan’s trash talk:

“It’s really hard to talk s— to him,” Knost said.

Schauffele agreed and said he gave Jordan his “best version” of trash talk.

“And then he beat me,” Schauffele said. “Straight up, which is embarrassing.”

A shocked Knost asked him to elaborate.

“In the last three holes, yeah,” Schauffele said. “I pancaked him on his stroke holes, and I started talking s— to him. He got all quiet and focused, and then he birdied, like, 15-16, no strokes.”

https://twitter.com/GolfonCBS/status/1800248867218510054

If there’s one thing we should have learned from “The Last Dance” documentary, it’s that you should never EVER talk trash to Jordan no matter the circumstance. Jordan takes it personal and will use everything in his power to make it against you.

The 30-year-old Schauffele doesn’t have to worry about Jordan at Pinehurst this weekend but winning a major is tough enough.

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