Shannon Sharpe points out to Skip Bayless that Michael Jordan brought the person who beat him for the last spot on the Varsity team, to his HOF ceremony.
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The LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan debate has become a staple for Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless’s show Undisputed. The former is always taking LeBron’s side while the latter swears by Jordan and his greatness.
In another heated instalment to this age old debate, Skip Bayless talks about how LeBron James shouldn’t have felt ‘hurt’ by Kyrie Irving’s comments towards him. As expected, Skip brought the 5x MVP into this.
Skip said, “Can you imagine MJ taking anything seriously or personally?” To this, Shannon Sharpe replied, “Yes! He brought the guy who beat him out for varsity squad, 25 years prior, to his Hall of Fame ceremony.”
The story behind Michael Jordan not making his high school basketball team
Technically, Jordan did make the high school team, but he didn’t make varsity. When he applied to be on the varsity team at Emsley A. Laney High School, Jordan was merely a sophomore and was only 5’10.
This prompted coach Clifton “Pop” Herring to choose 6’7″ Leroy Smith over Jordan to fill out the roster. An enraged Jordan decided to go all out on his JV team, dropping 40 pieces on the regular.
This prompted Jordan eventually getting bumped to the varsity. Growing to a respectable 6’3 also helped with this.
So when Michael Jordan was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, he invited the man who beat him out for that final roster spot (Leroy Smith) to watch him give his speech.
Was this move by Jordan out of spite?
Shannon used this as an argument against Skip as to why LeBron should be able to feel hurt by Kyrie’s comments.
This is a valid point made by Sharpe as Skip was trying to portray Jordan as someone who didn’t feel a certain type of way when he didn’t receive the validation he deserved.
