The murder of his father also played a significant role in his decision to retire. However, that was more of a final straw as opposed to the sole determining factor. Given all this, if Jordan actually stayed in the NBA, then he probably would not have been the same player. He needed that year and a half off to recharge his basketball batteries, so to speak, and this resulted in a rejuvenated MJ who went on to lead the Bulls to three more titles upon his return.
The next important factor we need to look at is how the Bulls would have performed in those two seasons if Jordan was still on board the entire time. You have to note that Jordan made his announcement to retire on Oct. At that point, the Bulls pretty much had their lineup in place, and they would have fielded the same team with or without MJ. That season, Chicago fell to the New York Knicks in the second round of the playoffs, as they struggled to provide an answer for Patrick Ewing.
The NBA season has passed the middle mark and teams are now starting to scratch and claw for every win, board battle and possession possible, with the end goal hopefully being the last team standing. One team that went from being the king of the mountain to just a kind of contender were the Chicago Bulls from to When Michael Jordan retired to fulfill his and his father's dream of playing professional baseball, Chicago lost a player who won those possessions and games almost single-handedly.
At the time of his departure, MJ was averaging a robust 32 points, 5. Not only is that hard to replicate for one player, but that one player was the main piece of a championship team.
With all that in mind, what would the Bulls have accomplished if His Airness never took off? Hypotheticals are fun. Not only is a hypothetical based on stats and "what if's," but it never accounts for injury, chemistry and all the fun distractions one could get caught up in. The biggest question mark, if Jordan had stayed on the hard court, would have been whether or not he would be completely there to continue to lead the only team he had played for.
The change to baseball was for his father, not just him. Would staying with the Bulls be considered a dishonor to MJ, especially with the esteem he held for his father?
Well, let's assume the switch never happened and Jordan was OK with never picking up a bat. The competition in the Eastern Conference, let alone the entire NBA, was nothing short of fierce: 10 teams won at least 50 games, with one Seattle SuperSonics winning over With Jordan, one could think 60 wins would be in the realm of possibility. The Milwaukee Bucks however, would make short work of them, winning Regardless of how good Hakeem Olajuwon was in his rookie season, it was clear that Jordan would run away with the ROTY honors at the end of the season.
Jordan was always quick with the jokes throughout his career and this was evident in his Rookie of the Year speech, where he hilariously claimed he would retire after 2 seasons in the NBA if he did not play as well in his sophomore year. Somehow, with a record, the Chicago Bulls qualified for the postseason where they were quickly swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round.
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