Michael Jordan grew up idolizing fellow Carolina Tar Heel swingman and 6-time All-Star with the Suns – Walter Davis.
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Michael Jordan is one of the greatest athletes the world of sports has ever seen. The Chicago Bulls leader’s insane competitiveness and a crazy drive to be the best helped him succeed like no other player during his era.
Over the span of a 15-year career, MJ was able to achieve all the possible silverware. By the conclusion of his illustrious career, Mike retired as one of the most decorated superstars in NBA history. Jordan’s astonishingly long list of achievements includes – 14 All-Star selections, 11 All-NBA selections, 10 scoring titles, 5 MVPs, 6 championships, and 6 Finals MVPs, among a whole bunch of others.
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Apart from being of one the best megastars, the league has ever seen, MJ was even a global icon, that kids from around the world idolized. Similarly, there was one player that “His Airness” grew up idolizing – Walter Davis.
Michael Jordan was once ignored by Walter Davis
Even before his Tar Heels days, the $2.2 billion worth Jordan looked up to Walter Davis. Davis, who was a sharpshooter, even attended UNC 8 years before Michael went to the Carolina-based university.
The 6-time NBA All-Star even helped the then-phenom work on his mid-range jumpers, a shot that eventually led the Tar Heels to win a national championship in 1982.
“I worked with him on the jab-step and the pump fake, which were some of my favorite moves,” Davis once said, according to Basketball Network. “The mid-range shot was something I emphasized, I remember telling him that it was important to make that shot. When he helped us win the 82 national championships, that was a midrange shot. Michael had a lot of natural ability with that shot.”
Jordan was so in awe of Davis, that the former even tried to recruit the 6-foot-6 pure scorer on his Chicago Bulls squad. As stated by “The Chicago Tribune”, MJ made several calls to his childhood hero, however, Davis never attended to MJ’s calls.
Instead, Walt ended up signing with the Nuggets, where he played the last season of his career during the 1991-1992 campaign.
It would’ve been pretty crazy had MJ led his childhood hero to his only NBA championship.
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