Why Bryon Russell STILL hasn’t had enough of Michael Jordan

As my talented colleague Chris Sells reported, Byron Russell hasn’t had enough of Michael Jordan.

Years ago, Russell became part of NBA history when Jordan nailed a championship winning buzzer-beater on his head. Of course, ‘His Airness’ brought up some ancient trash talk and that epic shot during last week’s Hall of Fame speech.

Russell, right or wrong, didn’t back down, immediately calling out Jordan to print reporters and challenging him to a game of one-on-one:

“Out of all the people (Jordan) came across, he thought about me. I’m happy to be in his Hall of Fame speech.”

“To me, that’s the greatest play in basketball history. It will stay that way because (Jordan) will always be the greatest player to play the game. I didn’t mind. But the referees didn’t make the call on the push off. It’s long done and gone. It was a call that wasn’t made on a play that was great.” 

“I’ll play his ass right now. This is a call-out for him to come play me. He can come out here in his private jet and come play. He’s got millions of dollars. He can pay for the jet. He can meet me at the Recreation Center in Calabasas. We can have Mark Jackson do the commenting. We can have Mitch Richmond do the officiating. We can put it on T.V. and see if Michael’s still got it.” (found on Sells, HoopsVibe via Yahoo sports)  

It appears Russell still hasn’t had enough of Jordan. A few days after these comments, the veteran upped the ante by taunting his former foe in an ESPN television interview, even using props like orange Gatorade and a hand-towel to convey his point.

This is all publicity. Russell, who has been scheming on a comeback for years, is trying to leverage the situation into a tryout. For instance, instead of wearing a suit or even a golf shirt for a nationally televised interview, Russell specifically sported a cut-off ‘tee’ because he likely wanted to give the impression he’s in shape.

Clearly, Russell hasn’t had enough of Jordan. But has the NBA had enough of Russell?

Watch the clip and get at us with thoughts on the purpose behind this interview in the comment box below.




Follow Oly’s work on HoopsVibe and Twitter. Photo courtesy of mjlsha.