Michael Jordan was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in the 1984 NBA Draft. The Bulls selected MJ using the third overall pick in the draft, and it turned out to be the best decision made by the organization. During his career with the Bulls, Jordan helped the team in winning six NBA Championships.
Moreover, thanks to the insane popularity of Jordan, the Bulls became one of the most well-known basketball teams around the globe. After all, he is considered the best player to ever play in the league by most NBA fans.
During Mike’s time with the Bulls, the franchise never missed the NBA playoffs, which is a testament to Jordan’s talent. But prior to MJ’s arrival, that wasn’t the case for the Bulls.
Michael Jordan Names Qualifying For The NBA Playoffs As The Happiest Moment Of His Chicago Bulls Career
In an old interview, MJ talked about the happiest moment of his career with the Bulls. He revealed it was changing the attitude of the fans towards leaving games early due to a lack of playoff success prior to his arrival.
Via Cigar Aficionado:
My happiest moment? There were so many. Do you want me to start early in my career? Making the playoffs the first time was the biggest thing for me because that franchise hadn’t experienced the playoffs in a long, long time. The fans’ attitude was “wait until next year, wait till next year.”
In the third game of my career, we were playing Milwaukee, and we were down 16 points going into the fourth quarter. People started to leave. That was their whole attitude. The game was over. I’d never experienced people leaving a game like that. It was something new. Everybody at North Carolina stayed until the end of the game, out of respect to the team.
Most of my teammates in Chicago had adapted to the fans leaving and just figured. The game must be over. I’m saying, No, it’s not over until there are triple zeros on the scoreboard. I got a burst of energy and started to lead the charge. I got the opportunity to prove it’s never really over. We came from 16 points down to win the game. That’s when the city of Chicago started to say, OK, something’s starting to happen, something is changing. There’s no give-up in this kid, no matter what. He’s going to keep fighting and fighting and fighting until we win or lose. That’s how my first season went. That was the biggest plus for me when we made the playoffs that year.
In the last 10 seasons before MJ became a member of the Bulls, the organization qualified for the playoffs just three times. So it’s no surprise that fans were fed up with the team. Thankfully, Jordan changed that and carried the team to the postseason year after year and ultimately brought six NBA titles to the city of Chicago.
