On February 8, 1998, in Madison Square Garden, the last NBA All-Star Game season of Michael Jordan was held.
Kobe Bryant was introduced as the youngest All-Star in history, the next “Michael Jordan” in the NBA. Michael and Kobe had a chance to match up in the NBA All-Star Game.
“I grew up watching Michael on TV, and now you got a chance to go face-to-face with him. You get a chance to really see and touch and feel the strength, speed, quickness and uh…. It was fun to be out there.”
During their All-Star Game, Kobe Bryant had a chance to talk and ask questions to the great king of the All-Star Game, Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan gave Kobe Bryant detailed answers to his questions. Michael said to the young Kobe Bryant, “If you ever need anything, give me a call.” Kobe treated Michael Jordan like his big brother.
Kobe hates having discussions about beating Michael Jordan in a one-on-one game.
“What you get from me is from him. I don’t get five championships here without him, ‘cause he guided me so much and he gave me so much great advice.” – Kobe Bryant
On March 8, 1998, New York Knicks versus Chicago Bulls matched in the Madison Square Garden and this is the last dance of Michael Jordan, Madison Square Garden is the favorite place of Michael to play. Michael wore his first shoe that he used when he first played in the Garden and wanted it to be his last shoe that he’d play. During the halftime of the game, Jordan’s feet were bleeding but he did not want to take it off.
Before Michael had his own shoe line, David Falk became Michael Jordan’s agent. In where he worked in a firm, ProServ, with a lot of very high-profile tennis clients. David Falk was trying to have a different path on taking Michael Jordan to be a model of a shoe. Nike Shoes was still a rising shoe company at that time, Jordan wanted to work with Adidas but his parents wanted him to give an opportunity to Nike. Even though Michael Jordan was still a rookie at that time, David Falk negotiated with Nike.
“You’re a small company, and if you want Michael Jordan, he’s gotta have his own shoe line.” – David Falk
Nike came out with their new technology for their running shoes called Air Soles, just like Michael Jordan plays in the air, David Falk renamed it as “Air Jordan”. Nike’s expectation on the deal was at the end of year four, they hoped to sell $3 Million worth of Air Jordans. But they were stunned when in their year one, they sold more than what they expected, $126 Million. Michael Jordan was still a rookie at that time but ever since he got his own shoe line, endorsements came endlessly.
“Before Michael Jordan, sneakers were just for playing basketball. And all of a sudden, sneakers became fashion and culture.”- Roy Johnson, Fortune Magazine
In the 1990 NBA Draft, Toni Kukoc from the Croatia Basketball Team was picked by the Chicago Bulls. After he was picked, the situation in their house was not so great because of the bloody civil war that happened in Croatia and Slovenia in which he lives. They considered Toni Kukoc as the future of the Chicago Bulls.
Before that, Jerry Krause was so busy hunting on Toni Kukoc. The day came when the Dream Team (USA’s Olympic Team), in which Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were chosen to be part of the team, had a match with Croatia, Michael and Scottie planned to take over Toni Kukoc during the game. Toni Kukoc had no idea on what was happening between Jerry and its team players, Michael and Scottie. Toni Kukoc had a zero score and zero rebound during that game, Michael and Scottie were over him at that time.
“Toni Kukoc became a great teammate and I love Toni Kukoc for who he is, but the way he was introduced to me and Scottie was… I didn’t appreciate it and it drove my energy.” – Michael Jordan
Scottie Pippen mentioned that they did everything to make Jerry look bad and it was not anything personally about Toni. In their second game, Toni Kukoc played harder than they’d expected.
Since then, after the Olympics, Michael became the face of basketball all over the world and was set as an inspiration for the youth. Even the politics at that time wanted Michael Jordan to do a commercial for them. Michael refused to do a commercial to support Harvey Gantt who is going to be the first black in the politics but Michael was showing off how his personal wealth is more important than his politics as it pertains to the issue of race. Michael’s mom asked him to do a PSA for Harvey Gantt but Michael Jordan said, “I’m not speaking out of pocket about someone I don’t know, but I will send a contribution to support him.”
Everybody in the world respected Muhammad Ali because he stood for something unlike Michael Jordan.
“I do commend Muhammad Ali for standing up for what he believed in, but I never thought of myself as an activist. I thought of myself as a basketball player.” – Michael Jordan
