Per-game stats: 28.2 PTS, 6.5 REB, 5.9 AST, 2.4 STL, 0.8 BLK, 51.5 FG%
Michael Jordan was the No. 3 pick in the 1984 NBA draft, but he didn't take long to start proving why that was a mistake. He ranked third leaguewide in scoring as a rookie, trailing only Bernard King and Larry Bird, and he helped guide the Chicago Bulls to the playoffs to break a three-year postseason drought.
Jordan debuted with a quiet 16 points on 5-of-16 shooting against the then-Washington Bullets, but it didn't take much time for him to heat up. In his third career game, he torched the Milwaukee Bucks with 37 points, six steals, five assists, four rebounds and two blocks in a six-point Bulls win. It was wheels up from there.
Jordan finished the year ranked second leaguewide in PER, BPM and VORP, trailing only Bird in all three categories. That well-rounded production helped him earn an All-Star nod, finish sixth in MVP voting and get named to the All-NBA second team. He also won Rookie of the Year after receiving 57.5 first-place votes compared to 20.5 for No. 1 overall pick Hakeem Olajuwon.
To this day, Jordan remains the only rookie since the NBA/ABA merger to average at least 25 points per game. His Airness also ranks first all-time among qualified rookies since the merger in BPM and VORP, and he's second behind David Robinson in PER.
The Bulls didn't take the same year-over-year leap in Jordan's rookie season that the Spurs did with Robinson, but they proceeded to make the playoffs for 14 straight years, winning six championships along the way. Meanwhile, Jordan went on to rack up six Finals MVPs, five regular-season MVPs, 14 All-Star selections and 11 All-NBA nods.
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