The Trail Blazers are known as the biggest laughing stock in NBA draft history. They missed Jordan with the second pick.

On July 3, the 1984 NBA Draft was hailed as one of the most valuable draft years in history, and the choice made by the Portland Trail Blazers at this historic moment is still talked about by fans and the media - they missed Michael Jordan, who later became the god of basketball with the second pick. This decision is generally considered one of the most famous mistakes in the history of the NBA Draft. To understand the background and impact of this choice, we need to go back to that era when the basketball world has not been completely changed by Jordan.

The Trail Blazers' management was facing a seemingly reasonable dilemma: they already had All-Star Clyde Drexler on the back line. Drexler was later inducted into the Hall of Fame and won the Olympic gold medal with Jordan in 1992 as a member of the "Dream Team". Based on the traditional concept of "not selecting repetitive positions", the Trail Blazers finally chose center Sam Bowie, who is 2.16 meters tall. This decision was not unreasonable at the time - the NBA in the 1980s was still an era when those who had inside were winning the world, and outstanding big players were a scarce resource that teams rush to pursue. Bowie performed well in college and was considered an inside pillar that could change the team's fate.

However, the development of history played a cruel joke on this choice. Sam Bowie's career has been plagued by repeated injuries and never reached the expected heights, while Jordan quickly rose to become the league's most dominant player. What's even more ironic is that the Trail Blazers were not completely unaware of Jordan's talent at the time. According to the pre-draft report disclosed later, the team's scouts did notice Jordan's amazing athleticism and competitive awareness, but were eventually bound by the "already Drexler" mindset. Inman, then general manager of the Trail Blazers, later admitted: "What we need is a center, not another shooting guard. "

From a technical perspective, Jordan had shown comprehensive abilities beyond his peers in college. Although North Carolina's system limits his data performance, keen observers can see his amazing potential. In contrast, although Bowie has a standard center figure, he has obvious shortcomings in his mobility and basketball IQ. The Trail Blazers valued physical conditions too much and ignored the essence of basketball talent. This evaluation error became a classic case that various teams later learned from it.

The impact of this draft decision is much more than just missing a great player. Under Jordan's leadership, the Bulls established a dynasty in the 1990s, and although the Trail Blazers entered the Finals twice (1990 and 1992), they returned in vain - they were defeated by Jordan's Bulls in the 1992 Finals. It can be imagined that if the Trail Blazers chose Jordan at that time, the backcourt combination with Drexler might have created a completely different basketball era. Drexler later admitted: "Playing with Jordan? That would be fun. "

From a more macro perspective, this choice of the Trail Blazers also reflects the general dilemma in professional sports decision-making. Team management is often limited by current needs and it is difficult to evaluate player potential with a developmental perspective. In the mid-1980s, the NBA's tactical system was still relatively traditional, and few people foresee that outside players would become so important in the future. The Blazers’ mistake is that they look at the dynamic development trends of leagues with a static perspective, which is common in professional sports.

Interestingly, there are far more than just the Trail Blazers teams that made mistakes in the 1984 draft. The Rockets, who held the No. 1 pick, chose Hakeem Olajuwon (this choice is understandable, Olajuwon later became a historical center), but the third to fifth teams missed future Hall of Fame members such as Jordan and Stockton respectively. However, as the holders of the second pick, the Trail Blazers' "missing" is the most conspicuous and has endured the most criticism and jokes.

Today, more than thirty years later, this talent show has become a part of NBA culture. It has been re-mentioned countless times, which is not only a reflection on history, but also a warning to the future. Modern NBA teams will conduct more comprehensive and in-depth evaluations before the draft, partly because they have learned lessons like the Trail Blazers. The name Sam Bowie has unfortunately become synonymous with "draft parallels", although his career has been affected by injuries and is not entirely due to his own reasons.

From the perspective of basketball development, this "miss" of the Trail Blazers may also be inevitable. Jordan's appearance completely changed people's standards of cognition about the potential of basketball players. Before that, few teams believed that a 1.98-meter defender could become the absolute core of the team. The Trail Blazers' conservative choices reflect the cognitive limitations of the entire basketball world at that time. It is this collective "judgment mistake" that further highlights how extraordinary Jordan's achievements were.

Nowadays, when we look back on this history, in addition to ridicule the Trail Blazers, we should also see the complexity and uncertainty of professional sports decisions. Even the most professional management team cannot completely avoid mistakes in value judgment. This story of the Trail Blazers has also become an eternal warning in NBA history: in drafts, sometimes the safest choice may be the biggest adventure.