SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- He was the one who stole our breath. When one of Michael Jordan's dagger-like shots floated in the air -- or when, just as often, he did -- the loudest of gyms fell silent. Time stopped.
Now, on a day that brings finality to what everyone but Jordan regards as the greatest basketball career ever, Jordan set out to stop one more thing.
His Airness has spoken: Stop looking for the next Michael Jordan.
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| 'You didn't have to find me,' Michael Jordan says, 'and you won't have to find that next person.' (AP) |
Jordan, 46, has lost the flawless physique that inspired the Jumpman logo, fueled six NBA championships and changed the way basketball is played, sold and marketed. But he has not lost his competitive fire, nor the unmistakable gait and presence that announce his arrival in any room.
In this room, beneath a rotunda decorated by glowing black-and-white images of every Hall of Famer who came before him, Jordan rejected the notion that he was the best ever. But he could not hide from the fact that he was -- and will always be -- one of a kind.
"I never played against Jerry West," Jordan said. "I never played against Elgin Baylor or Wilt Chamberlain. Yeah, I would've loved to. But to say that I'm better than those guys is not for me to decide. It's too much for me to ask and too much for me to accept."
• Class of 2009 | 
Jordan | Robinson | Stockton
He has never looked comfortable in retirement. But finally Friday, Jordan seemed to accept the notion that his time has passed and that it will never be duplicated.
"Times are different, the game is different, experiences are different," Jordan said. "The desire we have as players is different. You guys want us to be constantly trying to find the next Michael Jordan, and you won't. First of all, you didn't find me. I just happened to come along. You didn't have to find me, and you won't have to find that next person. It's gonna happen. You guys will recognize it. If you haven't already, in due time you will."
And that is how we know what this inevitable Hall of Fame enshrinement meant to Jordan: It's finally over. Never, ever would he show weakness to a contemporary. Not an ounce of effort would he expend on showering compliments on opponents. But when you are middle-aged and pudgy and taking out your competitive zeal only when armed with weapons like a sand wedge, a competitive sociopath like Jordan can finally find the strength to soften up.
"That's the evolution of the game of basketball," Jordan said. "When I was coming up, you saw a resemblance of Dr. J. I was a big Walter Davis fan. You guys know my relationship with David Thompson. How could you not see a semblance of yourself in Kobe Bryant and LeBron James? ... I think those guys have a strong potential to be better than Michael Jordan down the road. They're gonna create their own name, their own persona. Give it time."
Jordan wouldn't do what everyone wants him to do, and that's pick one moment, one memory that stood out. "I had so many big plays and game-winning shots," he said, "that it's hard for me to pick out one. If I started with 1982 at UNC, I could end with the shot against Utah."
But he did circle back to his 63 points against the Celtics in the 1986 playoffs, a performance that inspired Larry Bird to proclaim, "I think it's just God disguised as Michael Jordan." That expression of appreciation and acceptance from one of his contemporaries, Jordan said, propelled him.
"Up to that point, there were so many media guys saying, 'Yeah, he's good, but he's not in the same class as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird,'" Jordan said. "And here in that game, I earned Larry Bird's respect. And to me, that said I was on the right track to becoming a better basketball player. ... He gave me the type of confidence that I needed at that level from a player. That to me was the biggest compliment I had at that particular time.
"After the so-called freeze-out [at the 1985 All-Star Game] and a lot of other things and a lot of competitive jealousies within the league," Jordan said, "coming from him, that said I was doing the right things on the basketball court."
Maybe it was that coronation from Bird that inspired Jordan on Friday to invite Kobe and LeBron to walk with him on rarefied air, and to aspire to greater things than even he accomplished. Entering the league in the shadow of Magic and Bird, Jordan understood the value of their acceptance. And he can see as well as anyone that there is no contemporary with enough stature to sanctify Bryant's greatness in the same way. Once Bryant is gone, LeBron will have no one to validate him except a bald guy pushing 50 who used to soar through the air.
"They're gonna be fine," Jordan said. "The game's gonna be fine."
Absolutely, it will. Especially if we take Jordan's advice and call off the search for the next one.
