The Three Greatest Basketball Players of All-Time During the past 30 years, the National Basketball Association has helped many players become famous and wealthy. For some, if they were not a part of this association, may have ended up in jail, prison or even dead. The National Basketball Association (NBA) has basically been a tool for many African-American males to have a better way of life. Among the leading players in the history of the NBA are three African-American males: Michael Jordan, Ko9be Bryant, and LeBron James. Michael Jordan tried out for his high school basketball team and was cut because he was too short.
Now we can add Michael Jordan name to the list of players I just named. Jordan is being inducted into the Hall of Fame today due to his great basketball skills on the court and all of the things he accomplished in fifteen seasons in the NBA. As a child Jordan basketball career had some ups and downs. According to ESPN, “during his sophomore year at Laney, a 5’9 Michael Jordan tried out for the basketball team. He was passed over for the final spot on the varsity team.” He took that as motivation and dominated on the junior varsity team.
With five seniors graduating, many critics expected an immediate decline in Duke's basketball winnings, but Krzyzewski's 1987 Devils won 24 games and made it to the Sweet 16, losing to Indiana, who went on to win the national championship. From 1988 to 1992, he led his team to the Final Four, five consecutive seasons. UCLA's legendary John Wooden is the only other coach in the history of the tournament to accomplish such greatness. "Leadership is getting people to buy into something, making them feel vested in the whole decision-making process," said Grant Hill, an All-American who helped Duke to two national titles. "Coach K is remarkable at doing that."
Michael was born February 17, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York. Jordan became a star of Laney’s junior varsity squad and recorded several 40 point games. In 1981, Jordan earned a basketball scholarship to University of North Carolina, where he studied cultural geography. He received several accolades as member of the North Carolina Tarheels. He was named ACC Freshman of the Year in 1981.
Dwayne Wade is my definition of a hero. You may know him from when he drives to the basket or pulls up a last second buzzer beater, but he’s a lot more than a basketball star. He’s a role model. Growing up, Dwayne had to deal with divorced parents. He lived with his mother until he was eight and then moved in with his dad.
Early in the NBA’s existence, the NBA and the NBA Players Association (NBAPA) followed a rule that prevented an athlete from being drafted until four years after he had graduated from high school. It wasn’t until 1971 that the rule was challenged in federal court by a 19-year old named Spencer Haywood. Haywood was raised in extreme poverty roughly an hour outside of Jackson, Mississippi. A talented basketball player, as a teenager, he helped the 1968 United States Olympic basketball team win a gold medal. Then in 1970, just three years out of high school, Haywood signed a six-year contract with the Seattle Supersonics worth $15 million.
First of all, Kobe Bryant holds the record for most three- pointers made with twelve in one game, on January 7th, 2003 vs. the Seattle SuperSonics. Hitting 12 threes is scoring 36 points from beyond the arc. For a shooting guard who isn’t known as a pure three point shooter like Ray Allen, or Rashard Lewis-- holding the record is an amazing accomplishment especially since Mr. Bryant had been 24 years old at the time. This record can only add on to Kobe’s legacy of being an assassin on the court when it comes to basketball. Meanwhile, on January 22nd, 2006
Phil Jackson Phillip “Phil” Jackson was born on September 17, 1945 in Montana to his parents Charles and Elizibith Funk. Phil has two brothers and an half sister. Phil is a retired NBA coach and formal player. He played varsity basketball throught highschool and led his team to two state titles. Phil also played baseball for his highschool team.
Some similarities are they both play professional basketball, both drafted out of high school into the NBA, and both have won Olympic gold medals in 2008. The differences are Kobe has been in the league for 15 years and LeBron for 9 years. Since in the NBA, LeBron has played for two teams and Kobe only one. Nevertheless if these two great athletes played a game against each other, the stats at the end of the game would determine who might be the better player for just that game. People may say LeBron was better because he has more power, better vision, bigger, faster, stronger, and he over powers people.
He is 6’11” tall; He comes armed with a 7’6” wingspan and a 40” vertical (“nba.com”). Shaq on the other hand is 7’1” tall; He has a 7’7” wingspan and a 32” vertical leap (“Players”). Dwight Howard was the youngest player ever to 7,000 rebounds (“Latest Headlines-NBA news”). Howard accomplished this at the young age of twenty-five years and eighty-three days. At this pace he will easily amass Shaq’s career total of 13,089 rebounds before he is finished (“Players”).