Michael Jordan got a special haircut and pregame meal, Charles Oakley pumped some iron and John Paxson got a good night`s rest.
That`s the way three key Bulls prepared themselves for Saturday night`s season opener at the Stadium against the Philadelphia 76ers.
It has become Jordan`s custom to get his ”little-boy cut,” where his head is shorn to the bone, before a season opener. Each year on the eve before the first game, Jordan visits a couple on the West Side near the Stadium where the husband runs a barber shop and the wife a down-home, soul-food restaurant next door.
Oakley is doing the barbell routine in anticipation of his battle with 76er muscleman Charles Barkley. Barkley and Oakley were 1-2 in rebounding in the National Basketball Association last season and get into some pretty physical shoving matches whenever they collide.
”Scottie Pippen and Brad Sellers are going to guard Barkley at first,”
Oakley said. ”But if anything goes off, I will be there. Barkley and Sedale Threatt played together in Philly, and Sedale is always telling me how Barkley wants every rebound. I told Sedale, `He won`t get every rebound when I`m around.` We`ll be battling the whole game.
”He`ll push and shove and talk trash. But he knows I`m not the kind of guy to mess around with. He knows who to talk to and who not to talk to.”
Paxson can expect to be pressured all night. Word around the league is the best way to disrupt the Bulls` offense and sabotage Air Jordan is to pressure the point guard. The 76ers have an excellent pressing team, utilizing guards Maurice Cheeks, David Wingate, Steve Colter and forwards Barkley and Roy Hinson.
”You have to be smart enough to get to your spot, move the ball and attack the press,” Paxson said. ”We have guys on our team like Jordan and Pippen who can come flying in for a dunk after we break a press.
”We`ve been working on that a lot the last four days. Sure, we`re a young team, but this is when you let your basketball instincts take over. You can`t be intimidated by the pressure. If we break their press and score three or four times in a row, they`ll back off a little.”
Jordan seems ready to provide an encore to last season, when he became the first player in 24 years to score 3,000 points in a season. He is beginning to adust to a changing role in which he not only piles up the points but also sets up his teammates by penetrating and passing off.
”I`m feeling fine,” Jordan said. ”I`d rather for us to be a secret so that as a team we can sneak up on other teams. We have players as good or better than most other people think. Confidence and enthusiasm, I sensed that from Day 1.”
A standing-room-only crowd will be watching to see if this team can live up to some pretty high expectations.
”Last year, we were picked to win 25, 30 games,” said Oakley, who wants to average 14 rebounds a game and lead the league this season. ”This year, we`re being picked to win 50. I think we`re ready as a team to take the challenge.”
Starting center Artis Gilmore will return to the Stadium after playing in San Antonio the last five years. Gilmore`s best years in the NBA were with the Bulls from 1976 to 1982, when he was traded for Dave Corzine and Mark Olberding. How big a contribution can he provide at 38 years of age?
”I think Artis can be a big help,” Paxson said. ”He gives us a threat inside. He`s a big guy who can sit on the block, and when we throw it into him, he can put it in the basket. Last year, a majority of the time we relied on the perimeter game and Michael. At least now, teams have someone else to be aware of.”
The Bulls enter this season with four rookies on their roster: Pippen, Horace Grant, Tony White and Rickie Winslow. Only two players, Gilmore and Corzine, have more than five years` experience.
”Bringing in five new guys (Gilmore and four rookies), it will take time to adjust,” Paxson said. ”I think we`ve made ourselves into a better team. Our schedule is difficult the first month, so it`s important for us to stick together and play well.”
After playing four of the first six at home, the Bulls have nine of the next 11 on the road, including an eight-game, two-week trip.
