“It’s very hard for Bulls to be respected like the Lakers and Celtics but not impossible”: When Michael Jordan broke down his NBA goals on Draft night

Michael Jordan wanted the Chicago Bulls to be respected just as the Lakers, Celtics, and Sixers were when he joined the league in 1984. 

Dean Smith pushed Michael Jordan into declaring for the NBA Draft a year earlier as there were rumblings that he would be a top 3-5 pick in 1984. Despite Jordan claiming in a speech after winning the NCAA Championship in 1982 as a freshman that he would finish all 4 years at Chapel Hill, MJ made the jump. 

The Chicago Bulls lucked out with the Portland Trailblazers taking Sam Bowie with the 2nd pick in the 1984 NBA Draft. With them already having a budding superstar at the 2 guard position in Clyde Drexler at the time, they felt as though they had no need for yet another shooting guard.

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This led to the Bulls happily picking Michael Jordan with their 3rd pick of the draft as a junior out of UNC. The Chicago Bulls didn’t exactly have that great of an image, as explained by GM Rod Thorn who was there from 1979-85. 

This of course, changed with the arrival of ‘His Airness’. 

Michael Jordan was motivated to get the Bulls a high level of respect. 

Michael Jordan was raring to go from the day he got drafted. An interview of his on draft night showed that the junior out of Chapel Hill wanted to achieve something with the Chicago Bulls that would put them on the same level playing field as juggernauts such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, and the Philadelphia 76ers.

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“I just want the franchise and the Chicago Bulls to be respected as a team like the Lakers or the Philadelphia 76ers or the Boston Celtics. It’s very hard for something like that to happen, but it’s not impossible. Hopefully I and this team and this whole organization can build a program like that.”

In hindsight, Michael Jordan did more than just get the Bulls respect on the level of what the Celtics and Lakers had. He ignited a fierce and passionate basketball culture in a city that was having an indoor soccer team sell more tickets than the Bulls in the early 80s. 

Jordan’s 6 rings mean more to a city than any other ring has meant to any other city throughout the 75 years that the NBA has existed.