"Ain't nobody celebrating his retirement" - Former Bulls star opens up locker room status after Michael Jordan retired for the first time in 1993
Michael Jordan shocked the world on October 6, 1993, when he announced his retirement. MJ was only 30 years old when he announced that he was leaving the NBA, saying he had nothing else to prove.
“His Airness” just led the Chicago Bulls to a three-peat and was considered by many to be the greatest player the league had ever seen.
One of Jordan’s former teammates, Scott Williams, opened up on the team’s atmosphere during that stunning event while speaking on “The Green Room”:
(33:10 mark)
“We had a press conference, and I think Jerry Reinsdorf, who was our president of the ball club, said it was a time of celebration. But you look at the players' faces - it was like a funeral. Ain't nobody celebrating his retirement.
“I felt bad because I knew what the pain was to lose a parent that was murdered. I felt in my heart that MJ stepping away from the game didn’t have to do with him not feeling like he had anything else to accomplish like he had said. ... I think he needed time to mourn the loss of his dad.”
James Jordan, the basketball superstar’s father, was robbed and then killed on July 23, 1993. Here are MJ’s words during his press conference:
“When I lose the sense of motivation and the sense of, to prove something as a basketball player, it's time for me to move away. It's not because I don't love the game. I always will. I just feel that I have reached the pinnacle of my career.”
October 6, 1993: Despite 7 consecutive scoring titles and 3 consecutive NBA championships, SG Michael Jordan decided to retire from the NBA and try his hand at baseball after his father passed away. He returned 18 months later with the words "I'm back."
https://t.co/W282sRyVsX
Michael Jordan also added that his father’s death made him realize “how short life is” and “how quickly things can end.”
Scott Williams was also dealing with a personal tragedy, which might have allowed him to connect with Jordan at the time. Williams’ father shot and killed his mother before committing suicide.
Here’s the Chicago Bulls’ former backup big man on his failure to reach out to Michael Jordan:
“I was so triggered by that event I didn’t know how to reach out to MJ and try to embrace him and let him know what I was going through. Hell, I’ve suppressed my feelings up until that point. I hadn’t really dealt with my own stuff. … It’s one of the biggest things I regret.”
Michael Jordan paved the way for Scott Williams to enter the NBA
Like Michael Jordan, Scott Williams played college basketball for North Carolina. He wasn’t the star that MJ was and wasn’t picked in the 1990 NBA Draft.
Still, the burly big man managed to carve a spot in the pro league:
(12:30 mark)
“Michael Jordan was playing in the camp in Greensborough for some underprivileged kids. I went down there and JR Reid, Kenny Gattison, Charles Oakley and bang with those cats.
“I was on Jordan’s team and I got an offensive rebound late in the basketball game. … I got an offensive rebound, found 23 [Jordan] in the corner and he hit the game-winner!
“After the game, he’s leaving and he calls Jerry Krause, ‘Hey, I think we should give Williams a tryout.’ Krause contacted my agent and I ended up trying out on the Summer League team and that’s kind of like the rest is history. Made the last spot on the team and rode MJ’s coattails to three championships.”
Michael Jordan helped get Scott Williams in the league.
New episode available: YouTube.com/DannyGreenxIns… https://t.co/30Qgals62t
Scott Williams became a crucial cog of Michael Jordan’s first three-peat Chicago Bulls team. He might not have even made it to the NBA had it not been for a pickup game in the summer of 1990.
Also read: "The year MJ retired, we had a pretty good season, winning 55 games" - Horace Grant looks back on leaving Chicago Bulls in 1994