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Michael Jordan Documentary.

nuraman00

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Nike underestimated Jordan too.

They thought they would sell $3M of shoes at the end of year 4. They sold $126M in Year 1.

Also, these were the terms Jordan had to fulfill, otherwise the deal would be pulled 2 years early.

1) Win Rookie Of The Year

OR

2) Make an All-Star Game

OR

3) Average 20 ppg

OR

4) Sell $4M in shoes in his 3rd year.

He not only did all 4 of them, he did all 4 of them in Year 1.

To them, selling about $3M in year 1, and then $4M in year 3, would have been satisfying progress.
 
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nuraman00

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So I think there's a few things going on.

* Converse passed because they already had Bird and Magic.

* Adidas passed because he wasn't a big man like Abdul-Jabbar.

* Portland passed because he wasn't a big man.

* Even Chicago was surprised at how good he was. The didn't know until those first practices after he was drafted.

* Nike wasn't sure about him because he wasn't a big man. Sonny Vacarro had to convince them.


You might even say that had they gone with Olajuwon, Bowie, and Barkley, they would have been doing what the smart thing at the time was, which was to go after big men. That's what had worked.

Spend $500M on one player who is a guard, or 3 players which include a few big men? The latter seemed like the smarter move, and was the conventional move at the time. And if they had wanted a guard, Stockton seemed like an ok choice. The risk wasn't as much, as they weren't expecting as much. And at least they would have had 2 big men with their other two players they targeted. They thought maybe Stockton was a good pick because he went to Gonzaga, and at least they weren't spending all of their money on 1 guard.

Then Nike thought, if we're going to go after Jordan, we better put in some clauses that allows us to terminate it early. He's probably not even going to meet some of these.
 

MHSL82

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I wasn't sure what this part of your sentence meant.

Jordan used everything to motivate himself. His not being picked number one overall. Or at least number two. Used little snubs here and there. It’s hard for me to imagine that the thing that would have pushed him to 7+ versus the 6 he won would be picking Bowie for Nike. I felt that he already gave his all and the six championships he got was the max he could have gotten regardless (absent him not retiring).

In fact, some obscure motivation in knowing that Tom Brady would win six Super Bowls would be a bigger motivation because it may have caused him to stay another year. I’m not saying it would, I’m just saying that a Nike snub would be even less significant.
 

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Why do people buy (star) shoes? That would answer my question on why bigs were targeted for sale shoes. Bigs are talented and can win, but they aren’t “athletic” and it seems like shoes should make you athletic even though no one thinks it actually makes them like Mike.

Or rather, I shouldn’t say they aren’t athletic because obviously, there’s some intrigue with Abdul-Jabbar, etc. But I don’t think it was anything in those shoes that set him apart. I’ve never thought of him because of the shoes but that might because I’m not as big of an aficionado as you are.

I guess my question is what makes you buy a shoe from a star when it doesn’t reflect and ability gained from doing so versus buying a star sponsored and watch or going to a restaurant a star recommends are using a lotion that’s good for skin but nothing to do with basketball.

I also believe that Jordan was unique and perhaps some of my assumptions on guards being more physically athletic to be to hindsight thanking. I can academically understand how big were more successful, and they can be upper body physical. But as far as shoes doing anything or being evidence of an advantage, guards, specifically shooting guards benefit the most.

Of course, again, I’m not suggesting that anyone thought that they would become a good basketball player by purchasing the shoes. If it’s style, it shouldn’t really matter whether it’s a big man or a guard unless you think a winner chooses better style... and only bigs won.
 

nuraman00

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Jordan used everything to motivate himself. His not being picked number one overall. Or at least number two. Used little snubs here and there. It’s hard for me to imagine that the thing that would have pushed him to 7+ versus the 6 he won would be picking Bowie for Nike. I felt that he already gave his all and the six championships he got was the max he could have gotten regardless (absent him not retiring).

In fact, some obscure motivation in knowing that Tom Brady would win six Super Bowls would be a bigger motivation because it may have caused him to stay another year. I’m not saying it would, I’m just saying that a Nike snub would be even less significant.

The Tom Brady thing would kind of be cool, if Jordan ever admitted it.

What if Brady had 6 before 2001, and Jordan came back to the Wizards then to try and get one more?
 

nuraman00

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Why do people buy (star) shoes? That would answer my question on why bigs were targeted for sale shoes. Bigs are talented and can win, but they aren’t “athletic” and it seems like shoes should make you athletic even though no one thinks it actually makes them like Mike.

Or rather, I shouldn’t say they aren’t athletic because obviously, there’s some intrigue with Abdul-Jabbar, etc. But I don’t think it was anything in those shoes that set him apart. I’ve never thought of him because of the shoes but that might because I’m not as big of an aficionado as you are.

I guess my question is what makes you buy a shoe from a star when it doesn’t reflect and ability gained from doing so versus buying a star sponsored and watch or going to a restaurant a star recommends are using a lotion that’s good for skin but nothing to do with basketball.

I also believe that Jordan was unique and perhaps some of my assumptions on guards being more physically athletic to be to hindsight thanking. I can academically understand how big were more successful, and they can be upper body physical. But as far as shoes doing anything or being evidence of an advantage, guards, specifically shooting guards benefit the most.

Of course, again, I’m not suggesting that anyone thought that they would become a good basketball player by purchasing the shoes. If it’s style, it shouldn’t really matter whether it’s a big man or a guard unless you think a winner chooses better style... and only bigs won.

In the late 80s, when the Air Jordans came out, people bought them for fashion.

I believe that was also the case with some tennis players. A lot of people have no idea who tennis star Stan Smith actually was, they just know they like his shoes. They still sell well today.

How Stan Smiths Became One Of Fashion’s Most Iconic Sneakers |

If that was the case before Jordan, with respect to basketball players, then maybe people also bought shoes for fashion too.

Well, this article mentions Abdul-Jabbar as a part of fashion history, so maybe it's true?

Timeline: Highlights from a century of signature kicks

In some cases, I don't even think it's about being a star. It's just about coming out with a fashionable shoe.

Several years ago, Steph Curry came out with an all-white shoe. He was panned, because social media said it looked like something old people would wear.

So here's a case of someone being a star player, and his shoe getting ridiculed.

So, I'm thinking that to an extent, the name isn't even as important. It can help, but coming out with a fashionable shoe is important.

With Nike's decision, if they had gone the route of 3 NBA players instead of one, I don't think they would have given either of those players their own shoe line. But, if those players were shown wearing one of the more fashionable Nikes, then that's all that would have mattered.

So even in Stockton's case, as long as he picked one of the existing Nikes that was deemed more fashionable, that's all it would take to sell shoes.

In my case, I don't buy shoes for fashion. But, I would have used Nike's promoting of 3 rookies from the same draft class, to follow their journeys. I would have liked how they came from different backgrounds, so each would have had a unique story.

Maybe if they happened to wear a Nike hat or Nike shirt or something off the court, and I liked one of those, then I might have bought that. But not a shoe, I look for comfort first.

So even in Stockton's case, he wouldn't even have had to wear a fashionable Nike shirt off the court. If it was funny or something, or maybe just a nice casual look, I might have tried to get the same one.
 

nuraman00

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So bigs were probably targeted more, because they both won, and because their shoes sold well, because they made wise fashion decisions.

Neither of Olajuwon, Barkley, or Stockton would have been given his own shoe, but if they just picked one of the existing, more fashionable deemed shoes to wear, that's all that would have mattered.

In Jordan's case, people really like the fashion of his shoes. It's not as much about his ability, although that helped.

Chris Webber told a story of how in middle school, he saw the popular kids come to school one day with the Air Jordan 1's, and they looked so cool wearing them, that he then wanted one.

So again, it was more about fashion. Having cool kids wear them.

As I mentioned in Stan Smith's case, most people don't even know about his athletic achievements in tennis. But they love his shoes.

There's even a French rapper who wrote a song, "Stan Smith", about the shoes.
 

nuraman00

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I did want some of the Karl Malone LA Gear shoes, because they looked cool. And he's Malone.

But I wasn't going to ask ask my Mom to spend that much on shoes.

So my next idea was for Hakeem's shoes, because they were $35. Olajuwon said he didn't want his shoes priced higher, because he wanted them affordable.

But I never saw his shoes at the Nike stores, so I never tried them on. I didn't try looking at other stores (Foot Locker, etc.)

The affordable Hakeem shoes were something I could have asked for, if I had seen them in the stores.
 

nuraman00

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Continuing the 1990 Bulls-Pistons series.

Game 4:

The Pistons looked out of it for most of the game.

Down 19, early in the 3rd.

Their first truly bad game. I thought it was going to stay that way.

They cut it to 3 by the end of the 3rd. I thought they had a chance then.

The Bulls pulled away early in the 4th.

I'm unimpressed with Jordan's defense in this series. For someone who made All Defensive teams and won Defensive Player Of The Year, he's spending most of the series off the ball.

Rodman with an impressive 20 point, 20 rebound game. Even though the Pistons lost, nice to see some fight.

Edward's FT bricking is getting annoying.

Thomas was very fast and aggressive in the 4th.

Game 5:

Jordan's defense was more useful. He guarded Dumars for many possessions.

During a 4th quarter sequence, Dumars has his back to Jordan, and is dribbling the ball. Jordan pantes him. Looks intentional.

Bob Neal: This is X-Rated.

Doug Collins: "Moon" over Detroit there.

Watch from 0:10 - 0:56.


When Chicago was resting Jordan early in the 4th, Detroit pulled away. However, Detroit was without Laimbeer and Thomas, they were resting due to foul trouble. So it was Detroit's bench that outplayed Chicago's bench, just like in game 1.

Laimbeer went from 4 points combined in games 3 and 4, to a 15 point game.

Rodman made a bank shot early in the game.

Detroit won fairly comfortable, a nice all around game.
 

nuraman00

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Game 6:

This was a close game in the first half.

If I didn't know there was going to be a game 7, I would had the feeling that the Pistons were going to pull ahead.

Chicago's bigs were in foul trouble in the first half.

Detroit was also hitting a ton of 3's in the first half.

In the 2nd half, Chicago hit 3's.

It wasn't that close by the end.
 

nuraman00

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Game 7 of Bulls vs. Pistons 1990:

From having heard all about this Migraine game, for many years, they made it seem like Pippen's physical ailment was a main reason why the Bulls lost.

That's not the case.

The Bulls gave up 80% FG in the 2nd quarter, and a combined 70% FG% in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

(I saw this from the broadcast, but can't find a way to verify this from box scores).

That ineffective defense was the reason why they lost, and got blown out.

Pippen also wasn't the same force he would be in later years. So even if he was healthy, he wasn't as much of a reliable difference maker yet.

And, that kind of defense is a team loss.

I've seen games where I felt a physical ailment affected the outcome. For example, in game 6 of the 2003 Finals, Kenyon Martin had the flu. He shot 3-23. Still, the Nets had a double digit 4th quarter lead, and lost the game.

THAT game, if Martin was healthy, probably would have had a different outcome.

This 1990 Pistons vs. Bulls game 7? The Bulls had to find a way to stop the Pistons, as a team. That's why they lost this game. Not because of Pippen's migraine.

Mark Aguirre also had a double double off the bench. If a team has a player getting a double double off the bench, they're probably going to be in a good position to win the game.
 

MHSL82

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Just so you know. I’m not interested at all in the Last Dance coverage of our Finals. Either resigned Woulda Lost in Seven if No Pushoff or What-Ifs bug me. So pass. I will skip whatever great analysis you’d have like you did with the Pistons series. Sorry. Not a masochist.
 

nuraman00

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Just so you know. I’m not interested at all in the Last Dance coverage of our Finals. Either resigned Woulda Lost in Seven if No Pushoff or What-Ifs bug me. So pass. I will skip whatever great analysis you’d have like you did with the Pistons series. Sorry. Not a masochist.

I don't have great analysis.

It wasn't that good of a documentary, outside of a few moments that had nothing to do with the game being played.

(Marketing, and a moment with a security guard).

What analysis did I have with the Pistons series, and which series was this? Oh, you mean that Pistons vs. Bulls series. I was just commenting on it, because it was my first time watching it.
 

MHSL82

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I don't have great analysis.

It wasn't that good of a documentary, outside of a few moments that had nothing to do with the game being played.

(Marketing, and a moment with a security guard).

What analysis did I have with the Pistons series, and which series was this? Oh, you mean that Pistons vs. Bulls series. I was just commenting on it, because it was my first time watching it.

Yes, the Bulls-Pistons series.
 

nuraman00

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I will skip whatever great analysis you’d have like you did with the Pistons series. Sorry. Not a masochist.

Does this mean you read my posts regarding the Pistons vs. Bulls series, and you think it's great analysis?

Or did you not read those posts (maybe because you didn't want to), but just assume it's great analysis, based on my reputation?

Yes, I'm also asking you "do you think I'm pretty?"
 

nuraman00

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MHSL82

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Horace Grant is mad at Jordan for calling him a snitch. He says he didn't tell Sam Smith anything, for Smith's book, "The Jordan Rules".

Grant rips Jordan over 'so-called documentary'

Michael Jordan spit on pizza so no one else would eat it.

He ended up getting food poisoning from the pizza.

Michael Jordan spit on pizza to ensure no one else would eat it ahead of 'Flu Game' in NBA Finals vs. Jazz

If somebody spit on pizza so no one else could have it, I’d throw it in the garbage can. Well, not if he were Michael Jordan. Or my boss.

My theory is he had the flu (without symptoms) and he spit on the pizza and blamed the pizza instead of the flu.
 

MHSL82

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Does this mean you read my posts regarding the Pistons vs. Bulls series, and you think it's great analysis?

Or did you not read those posts (maybe because you didn't want to), but just assume it's great analysis, based on my reputation?

Yes, I'm also asking you "do you think I'm pretty?"

I read it and thought it was good... but I have low standards. I have to be honest, I do sometimes determine something to be better than it is or worse than it is based on whether I agree (and it could be something that author did not or could not convince me).
 
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