Good Guy Michael Jordan

[RidonKs]

Always a fan of a good "got 'em" story (like the one where Jordan supposedly sent Darrick Martin back to the CBA) but I've never bought the Bogues story in full.

I don't doubt he probably said something to Muggsy about his height, and perhaps in a very crucial situation. But for starters, I'm sure Bogues getting crap about his height was nothing new. To imagine, after eight years in the NBA and four years playing major college ball, that Bogues never got offensively ridiculed about his height and skills, or that he couldn't handle such criticism, is awfully far-fetched.

Moreover, Bogues only played six games the following season due to a knee injury. However, he came back in '97 and not only did he still shoot well from the field, but he set a career-high in three-point percentage (.417), along with leading the league in assist-to-turnover ratio. Granted, his shooting prowess was on a shorter line but even then, if his shot never recovered, as the story says, even a short-lined .417 would have never happened.

As for his career

This is probably one of my least favorite Jordan myths because it's not even clever, but people eat it up.

lame story op but worthwhile for 19 clips posted by other guy

[Dro]

That Mugsy story is old but I believe but just like anything else, Jordan used anything to motivate himself. I doubt he even actually meant it, he just knew it would work probably.

I do believe that might the be first time anybody in the NBA ever got on Mugsy for his height...I mean think of all the short players. Your Nate Robinsons, Earl Boykins, etc....It would be pretty mean to call them a midget or something but how Jordan said it, most players wouldn't say that because it is pretty disrespectful...

[Rake2204]

That Mugsy story is old but I believe but just like anything else, Jordan used anything to motivate himself. I doubt he even actually meant it, he just knew it would work probably.

I do believe that might the be first time anybody in the NBA ever got on Mugsy for his height...I mean think of all the short players. Your Nate Robinsons, Earl Boykins, etc....It would be pretty mean to call them a midget or something but how Jordan said it, most players wouldn't say that because it is pretty disrespectful...

I suppose there's no way of knowing, but I have an extremely difficult time believing Bogues' height wasn't a lightning rod for trash talk during his entire career. It's low-hanging fruit (no pun intended) but then again, that's a lot of what trash talking is composed of. I'd guess he fed off of it, and shut a lot of people up in the process.

I'd even put a healthy amount of money on the prospect of Bogues catching flak for his height all the way back to high school (when his teammates were the slightly more vertically inclined Reggie Williams, David Wingate, and Reggie Lewis). One way or another, this Jordan story almost seems to suggest his comment to Bogues was the first time Muggsy ever realized he was 5'3''. Someone called him a short guy that couldn't shoot... not the craziest thing he'd probably ever heard up to that point. In fact, it was probably the most common barb thrown out about his game throughout his entire career.

[Stringer Bell]

The Mugsy story is BS. I believe some of the crazy Jordan stories, but do people actually believe that Bogues was so mentally fragile that some trash talk from Jordan ruined his jumper (which was never good to begin with)?

Bogues is 5'3. He made it through numerous levels of basketball, going against the odds and surely had to have a lot of self confidence to reach the NBA being so short. He grew up in some of the worst projects in Baltimore. No one there, at school, the playgrounds, teased him for his height? People in HS, college, and the NBA didn't trash talk him about his height until he was 30 years old??

Furthermore, Bogues missed almost all the 1995-96 season with injuries. He suddenly became a good 3 point shooter in 1996-97. This wasn't a case of the shortened 3 point line, because they moved it before the 1994-95 season, and he hardly made any 3s that year.

That is hardly the case of a jumper disappearing. And his 1996-97 2-pt shooting stats were only slightly down from 1994-95.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...l?mobile=false

[Mr Feeny]

Jordan