On September 12, 1984, Michael Jordan signed his first NBA contract with the Chicago Bulls. This is a guaranteed five-year contract with a two-year option. The total is just over $6 million, including a $1 million signing bonus. At the time, it was the third-highest contract ever awarded to a rookie (behind only Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon).
But the NBA was not what we know today. In 1984, the entire team’s salary cap was only $3.8 million. Here we see the challenges general manager Rod Thorn and the Bulls faced in drafting Jordan. Let’s see, he didn’t sing or define anything on the night of June 19th. Without knowing it—or rather, without knowing much—they won the lottery.
Jordan’s fall in Chicago was undoubtedly a perfect game of fate. Because there is a series of events that must be connected together.
Let’s start with context: what the NBA draft was like that year. The first choice is determined by tossing a coin. Yes, as they read: flip a coin and fate will have it be. This was the last time this was done, but there have been famous cases before. One of them was Magic Johnson of the 1979 Lakers. His destination is Los Angeles, but it could also be…Chicago.
Everyone wants to sign Hakeem Olajuwon. In those years, it wasn’t Hakeem, it was Akeem. The Houston Rockets have gotten to this position through great defense. There are no penalties or embarrassments. It was normal in 1984: That’s how they won the No. 1 pick for the second straight year — after selecting the versatile Ralph Sampson with the No. 1 pick in 1983 — against the Portland Trail Blazers. The team wins the coin toss. The Trail Blazers moved up to this spot after trading with the Indiana Pacers for the legendary Tom Owens.
Former Bulls and Dallas Mavericks coach Dick Motta acknowledged that Chicago has also made a point of moving up in the draft. Then they started moving around to see what they could get for the third pick. Houston knew they were going to take Olajuwon, but if the coin didn’t help and they ended up with the second pick, it’s not like they wouldn’t go for Sam Bowie. If that happened, Bowie would go to Chicago.
Here’s what the move would look like: If the Bulls end up acquiring Bowie, they’ll trade him for Seattle SuperSonics intern Jake Sikma. The Eagles offered Terry Rollins the third overall pick. The San Diego Clippers have requested a trade for Chicago native Terry Cummings to the Bulls. But Thorne said no to both. They chose Jordan.
But wait, not that fast. Because the Rockets are only one step away from signing Jordan. The Trail Blazers had the Bulls’ luck and offered Houston an unbelievable package: sign Ralph Sampson. As? Like this: Olajuwon took No. 1 for the Rockets, and Sampson went to Portland and took No. 2 for Clyde Drexler. Can you imagine a team with Olajuwon, Drexler and Jordan together? It can pass. But that didn’t happen, because the Rockets were dazzled by the idea of twin towers: Sampson next to Olajuwon, and it finally happened.
Six championships, five MVPs, a Rookie of the Year trophy, ten-time leading scorer and, to many, the honorary title of the best player of all time. That’s what the Bulls won that night with Jordan, who didn’t even participate in the daytime draft, which, unlike what happened today, wasn’t in prime time.
As Olajuwon shook hands with David Stern and showed off the Rockets’ traditional red jacket with yellow lettering across the chest, Jordan was doing…Jordan. Away from the Madison Square Garden Forum, Mike is preparing for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics in Bloomington, Indiana.
Jordan and a group of players traveled to a TV studio in Bloomington to watch the draft live remotely, Sean Devaney of The Sporting News reported. Assistant coach George Raveling then took them to McDonald’s before returning to the Indiana University campus for practice.
Trail Blazers rookie Bowie has always been a big man with fragile legs. He had a decent career, but was far from stardom. He was injured in his second season with the Trail Blazers and never lived up to his promise.
“I still remember them testing me with a mallet, and when they hit me on my left shin, I said, ‘I don’t feel anything’. But deep down, it hurt me,” Bowie said years later in Documentary “Going to Greatness”. “Yes, I lied and it was wrong. But at the end of the day, your loved one needs help. I guess I did what any of us would do.”
The summer of 1984 was magical for Jordan and the Bulls. Young Mike competed in the Olympics and helped Team USA win the gold medal. Jordan quickly became Jordan, and Bulls general manager Rod Thorn knew he had made the right decision with Jordan.
Legendary coach Jack Ramsey said in the documentary “Going Big” that Jordan wasn’t even a consideration for Portland. There have been suggestions the Trail Blazers are more interested in Auburn’s strong forward Charles Barkley. The 1984 draft was an incredible one to air on the USA Network because it also included the selection of John Stockton.
Michael Jordan saved the Bulls in every way. Before their arrival, everything was chaos and trouble in Chicago, and the team was involved in all kinds of abuse, mostly against women and drugs. Quintin Dailey, who enlisted in the Army in 1982, faces serious charges for assaulting a nursing student while at university.
Daley never showed remorse, so a group of women organized protests at Bulls games to demand an explanation for retaining a player facing serious accusations. Additionally, some key Bulls players have publicly dealt with cocaine addiction, such as Orlando Woolridge, a phenom whose career has been embroiled in the scourge.
Jordan brought sunshine and light through so many storms. The Trail Blazers tried unsuccessfully to convince Patrick Ewing to leave Georgetown a year early — a fact that led to them being fined $250,000 by youngster David Stern — but they still made the case for Bowie. It’s not Jordan who gets the headache.
Brazilian Oscar Schmidt was also selected by the New Jersey Nets in the legendary 1984 draft, but he ultimately failed to make it to the NBA and everything changed the next year. After the draft lottery was set, the Clippers left San Diego for Los Angeles, and Ewing, who only wanted to go to the Lakers or Knicks, ended up in New York, where he became a franchise icon.
It might be Houston, it might be Portland, but ultimately it’s Chicago. The statue gleams at the entrance to the United Center, explaining the extraordinary consequences of Michael Jeffrey Jordan’s unforgettable years in the Windy City.
Information from Espn