“We knew Michael was good,” Fred Lynch, the Laney assistant coach, said later, “but we wanted him to play more and we thought the jayvee was better for him.” He easily became the best player on the jayvee that year. He simply dominated the play, and he did it not by size but with quickness. There were games in which he would score forty points. He was so good, in fact, that the jayvee games became quite popular. The entire varsity began to come early so they could watch him play in the jayvee games.

兰尼的助理教练雷德·里奇后来说：“我们知道迈克尔很出色，但我们想让他多练练，所以觉得二队更适合他。”那一年他轻松地成了二队中最出色的队员。凭借着敏捷而并非身高，他在队中就已举足轻重。许多比赛他都能得到四十分。实际上他突出的表现使二队的比赛倍受欢迎。为了能看到有他参加的二队比赛，整个校队的队员都开始提早到场。

Smith noticed that while Jordan had been wildly competitive before he had been cut, after the cut he seemed even more competitive than ever, as if determined that it would never happen again. His coaches noticed it, too. “The first time I ever saw him, I had no idea who Michael Jordan was. I was helping to coach the Laney varsity,” said Ron Coley. “We went over to Goldsboro, which was our big rival, and I entered the gym when the jayvee game was just ending up. There were nine players on the court just coasting, but there was one kid playing his heart out. The way he was playing I thought his team was down one point with two minutes to play. So I looked up at the clock and his team was down twenty points and there was only one minute to play. It was Michael, and I quickly learned he was always like that.”

史密斯发现在乔丹被筛选掉之前是不甘于人后的，而在落选之后他的好胜心似乎有过之而不及，好像决心不让历史再次重演。他的教练们也注意到了这一点。罗·康利说：“我一直帮忙在兰尼的运动队做教教练，当我第一次看到迈克尔·乔丹时，还不知道他是谁。我们去与劲敌哥尔兹保罗队打比赛，当我进到体育馆时，二队的比赛就要结束了。场上的九名队员都已无心恋战，只剩下一个孩子还在竭尽全力。看他打球的样子我想他们队在剩下的两分钟里一定只落后了一分，可当我抬头看计时钟时，他们队在最后的一分钟里竟落后了二十分。这就是迈克尔，我很快就得知他一贯如此。”

Between the time he was cut and the start of basketball in his junior year, Jordan grew about four inches. The speed had always been there, and now he was stronger, and he could dunk .His hands had gotten much bigger, Smith noticed. He was as driven as ever, the hardest-working player on the team in practice. If he thought that his teammates were not working hard enough, he would get on them himself, and on occasion he pushed the coaches to get on them. Suddenly Laney High had the beginning of a very good basketball team, and its rising star was Michael Jordan.  
”

从乔丹少年时开始打篮球到被筛选掉的这段时间，他长了四英寸。他的速度仍然是那么快，只是现在他健壮了许多并且也能扣篮了。史密斯注意到，他的手也大了不少。他一直都充满着紧迫感，他是队中最勤于练球的队员。倘若他发现队友不够努力，他就会亲自去说服他们，或者鼓动教练去。一时间兰尼中学出了一个非常优秀的篮球队，迈克尔·乔丹成了冉冉升起的明星。

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