Michael Jordan was told by his UNC head coach Dean Smith that he was to join the NBA a year early.
Michael Jordan warned the whole nation when he decided to take the knockout blow in his freshman year in the NCAA Championship game against Georgetown. That 1982 championship would be one of UNC’s most iconic races because of that one-shot that turned MJ from “Mike” to “Michael.”
He would maintain his offensive and defensive productivity in his sophomore and junior years. However, UNC would not win another championship in those 2 years. While Jordan was playing at Chapel Hill, he was being scouted heavily by NBA scouts and by the time he finished his sophomore year he was in the top 3-5 picks on everyone’s fake drafts.
The final touch for him to be a highly touted rookie was the 1984 Olympics. It was there that Michael Jordan established himself as a borderline household name, bringing home gold for the United States.
When the time came for him to declare for the NBA Draft or return to UNC for his senior year, his head coach didn’t give him many choices at the time.
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Dean Smith advised Michael Jordan to skip his senior season.
Dean Smith is as closely tied to the University of North Carolina as Michael Jordan is to the Chicago Bulls. Smith coached the Chapel Hill boys for 36 years from 1961 to 1997, winning two NCAA championships in the process. So, with Jordan being a main factor in him getting his first title, Smith always had a soft spot for him.
Dean’s affection for MJ was so great that he actually told him to skip his senior year of prom and jump straight into the NBA in the 1984 draft. would prevent getting injured before entering the league, which would reduce his chances of cashing in.
In an interview with Cigar Aficionado in 2005, Jordan said:
“It was Coach Smith’s call. I relied on his knowledge so much. The NBA was an area I didn’t know too much about. My parents didn’t know either. And it was a great opportunity. Coach Smith felt this would be the best opportunity for me to succeed in professional basketball. Once he studied the situation to know where I would go in the draft, I started to weigh the pros and cons.
Jordan would go on to praise him for making such a selfless call, as UNC would have to wait another 11 years to win a championship game after he left. However, in hindsight, it was the absolute best choice to make as Jordan made $550,000 in his freshman year and then, well, he became the greatest player of all time.
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