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Juwan Howard’s Amazing Michael Jordan Story From 1995
Every NBA player of the 80s and 90s has at least one great Michael Jordan story. You just haven’t heard it yet.
Former NBA All-Star Juwan Howard once shared his personal MJ story during his appearance on The Dan Patrick Show. The former member of the Fab 5 member and current Michigan head coach recalled the time he moved into Jordan’s Los Angeles house while the two were training together with the same coach during the NBA summer.
“It was the summer of ’95, MJ had the Space Jam movie that he was shooting up in L.A. And they built a dome for him [to train in]. Tim Grover was his trainer at the time. Tim was leaving Chicago, and I was training with Tim. This was going to be my second summer training with Tim Grover, because I had hired his services. So he told me, ‘well I’m leaving for LA for the summer to go work with Michael… and I’m thinking like ‘who am I going to have to work with me? I need to get better.’
Tim didn’t offer the invite, but I said ‘you know what? I’m going to LA. So I picked up my bags, moved to LA for the summer, and my plan was to stay in a hotel. Something like an Embassy Suites, something that is very inexpensive – but I knew I would pay a lot of money. And I knew I probably didn’t have the money to pay for a hotel for the entire summer. But I was going to give it a try.
The first day I traveled to LA, I got to the gym, and MJ had heard I was going to be there, he was looking forward to me working out with him. So he offered to give me a room in his house that he was staying at. And I’m like, ‘you know, I don’t want to impose on you.’ He’s like ‘no, you know what, my wife is leaving, I have plenty of room, you can stay with us. I just appreciate the fact that you flew all the way here to come work out.’
…. That was just so nice and kind for MJ to do that. I will never, ever forget that. I got a chance to work out with him the entire summer…. MJ is that type of guy. He’ll give you the shirt off his back, but when it comes time to lace up on the court and you’re standing side-by-side and you’re on the opposite team, you better believe he’s going to do whatever it takes to win.”
Taking that chance and working out with Jordan definitely was the right move for Howard, as the following season turned out to be the best season in his NBA career. He averaged over 22 points per game, became an All-Star and made the All-NBA third team.
