Here are five key points from episodes 7 and 8 of “The Last Dance,” a documentary series focusing on Michael Jordan and the 1997-98 championship season of the Chicago Bulls:
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1. So that’s why he was a jerk
This wasn’t really a revelation, but rather a deep dive into Jordan’s psychology and driving forces. His tough approach to his Bulls teammates, harder than most Marine drill instructors dealing with new recruits, was indeed for his personal benefit. He needed to be certain that his team, the Jordanaires, were capable of securing championships.
However, it was also meant for them. We witnessed Jordan’s demands, mockings, and confrontations with his fellow Chicago players, showcasing some of the harshest “tough love” one could possibly imagine.
Finally, we have Jordan pulling back the curtain on it.
“Victory comes with a cost,” Jordan stated in his recent interviews with the documentary team. “So does leadership.”
“Once you joined the team, you had to live up to the certain standard I set when I played the game. I wouldn’t accept anything less.”
Bill Wennington, a center who joined the Bulls during Jordan’s first retirement, was given a straightforward welcome when Jordan returned. According to Wennington, Jordan instructed him, “I want you to jump on the cape. But you have to hold on.”
If that entailed physically confronting teammates like Will Perdue and Steve Kerr, verbally mistreating Scott Burrell, or reducing Dennis Hopson to tears (which happened in 1990-91, though not depicted in the documentary), then so it was.
“B.J. Armstrong stated, “he couldn’t be a nice guy with that kind of mentality he had.”
Adam Carolla, the renowned podcast king, often states that with Jordan, it wasn’t about you performing at your peak, but rather matching his level of excellence. He was very clear that he never expected a teammate to do something that he himself didn’t do.
He got very emotional too.
“Desiring victory, I also yearned for their participation in the win,” said Jordan, his voice growing heavy. “If you’re not inclined to play in that manner, then opt not to.”
He paused at this point and said, “Break,” thus signaling his own “cut” to the scene.
2. James Jordan never left his side
We were unavoidably led through the summer of 1993, a tragic period when James, Jordan’s father, was ruthlessly killed in an arbitrary attack on a Carolina highway. However, the seventh episode unveiled that Michael’s decision to retire wasn’t a direct result of his father’s tragic passing. He was contemplating retirement after winning the ’93 title, potentially since the autumn of 1992.
His venture into baseball was largely inspired by his father.
Michael's No. 1 fan from the beginning.#TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/nW4YeC1p7Y
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) May 11, 2020
Before his success in basketball skyrocketed, Jordan had a profound love for baseball. He had admired athletes like Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders, who had managed to juggle two-sport careers quite successfully. However, it was his family’s support for baseball and his father’s advice to pursue what brought him joy that led him to the decision of exposing himself to a doubtful sports world. He decided to move to Birmingham, Ala., to play for the Class AA Barons, a team in the Chicago White Sox system.
At his 1993 retirement press conference, 10 weeks following his father’s murder, Jordan made two comments that struck a chord. He first said, “The word ‘retire’ means you can do anything you want.” His second remark was, “He saw my last basketball game.”
As the documentary alternated between different time periods, James Jordan was constantly seen by his son’s side, serving as a wingman comparable to Scottie Pippen. This continued up until Game 6 of the 1996 Finals against Seattle. Those who reported on the championship series, where Chicago initially had a 3-0 lead but lost Games 4 and 5, prompting a return to the United Center, retrospectively questioned whether some unseen force was crafting a poignant narrative. The decisive game took place on Father’s Day, marking the first time Jordan and the Bulls won a title without Michael’s father being present.
We’ve witnessed NBA stars shed tears and show emotion when the realization of championship triumph hits them. However, the sight of Jordan on the trainer’s room floor, crying while clutching the basketball and attempting to avoid the cameras instead of seeking their attention, exhibited a completely different level of authenticity.
3. Pippen’s star turn, minus 1.8 seconds
At the time when Jordan first retired, he was working in Minneapolis. The cruel irony was immediately evident: The Timberwolves, who had been amusing but essentially terrible for their first four years, were finally going to rise to prominence by hosting the 1994 NBA All-Star Game in February.
And now, it was getting an All-Star Game without Michael Jordan, which was a bit nerve-racking.
Of course, that was a narrow-minded perspective. Consider the feelings of Bulls fans when the best player in the game retired while still at his peak. Both audiences were pleasantly taken aback.
Pippen had the most successful season of his career, guiding Chicago to an unexpected 55-27 season – especially considering the loss of Michael Jordan just before training camp. He secured third place in the MVP voting, trailing behind Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson. He also catered to the Twin Cities basketball enthusiasts by filling Jordan’s shoes as the superstar, and even won the All-Star MVP trophy.
Pippen was not the same type of player as Jordan, and he had a distinct personality that resonated well with his teammates. However, we have been so focused on Jordan’s aggressive, demanding, and relentless approach to pushing his teammates that some of those Bulls may seem somewhat soft for appreciating the relief.
Nonetheless, the entire dynamics of the team significantly shifted within a time span of 1.8 seconds when Pippen decided not to participate in the final moments of the East semifinals series’ Game 3 against New York. Phil Jackson, the coach, had planned for Toni Kukoc to make the final shot, without even using Pippen on the court as a decoy. Instead, he assigned Pippen, the team’s most proficient passer, the task of inbounding the ball.
After years of playing second fiddle to Jordan and eventually climbing the ranks, Pippen found himself, as he perceived, playing a supporting role again, this time to rookie Kukoc. Kukoc was a European discovery by General Manager Jerry Krause, who was already a source of annoyance to Pippen.
Despite how correct his reasons may seem currently, he was absolutely incorrect. It was captivating to watch on Sunday night, the footage from ’94 and the retrospective views from various Bulls members on how adults reacted following a betrayal by a teammate. This, mind you, occurred after Kukoc successfully made the buzzer beater, temporarily holding off the Knicks.
Steve Kerr stated, “He abandoned us. It was devastating.”
Bill Cartwright, the center, was so upset when he confronted Pippen in the locker room that he cried.
Pippen immediately apologized and Kerr stated that the team accepted his apology. He played fiercely in the last three games of the series, however, the Bulls were still eliminated.
Pippen’s legacy is firmly established. He has been inducted into the Hall of Fame, was declared one of the Top 50 players in NBA history in 1997 (even with another seven seasons still left in his career), and is broadly regarded as the most significant No. 2 player in the history of NBA teams.
Even today, in Chicago, you can find replica jerseys that display “Pippen 1.8” instead of his usual number 33.
4. Comparing Jordan’s ‘bodies’ of work
The NBA’s top player took a season off to play minor league baseball and might have continued, if not for the extended labor dispute in the sport that continued into the spring of 1995.
Seeing Jordan swing his bat at curveballs was a change from seeing his tongue wagging during slam dunks. However, he maintained his usual demeanor, reflecting on this diversion and reviewing the footage on Sunday.
However, he wasn’t. He had exchanged his exceptional basketball physique for one more appropriate for baseball, and… was there much talk about this at the time?
In retrospect, that brief period from March 1995 through the Bulls’ defeat by Orlando seemed significant primarily for Jordan’s impressive performances during his comeback. This period was also marked by his temporary switch from his iconic 23 to 45 on his Bulls jersey. However, it turns out that Jordan’s seemingly rusty or unfamiliar performance wasn’t a mere adjustment to the revised Chicago roster.
Jordan had trained to become a baseball player instead of a basketball player, and he had to undergo a physical transformation to return to his original state.
Good Guys Wear Black (& Red) #TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/gi6LnaJL3W
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) May 11, 2020
“Reflecting on it, I didn’t have sufficient time to regain my basketball physique,” said Jordan.
Not to disrespect young Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway or ex-Bull Horace Grant, but it would be a challenge to get Jordan to admit it.
Tim Grover, Jordan’s personal trainer, and Chip Schaefer of the Bulls supported that explanation. The reflexes, strength, and agility required for one sport differed significantly from the other. It may not have been as noticeable as transforming Yankees hitter Aaron Judge, who stands at 6-foot-7 and weighs 280 pounds, into a functional NBA power forward. Nonetheless, it was a genuine difference.
This section of the document highlighted Jordan embracing his part in “Space Jam” in the summer of 1995 and his determination to get back in shape. To facilitate his two-hour daily workouts, he requested the movie studio to build the “Jordan Dome,” a full court and gym on its premises. Moreover, in the evenings, he orchestrated high-level pickup basketball games with NBA players, sharpening his skills while studying theirs.
5. Don’t look, talk or even breathe at Jordan
If you want any possibility of defeating him, be careful. Jordan’s habit of transforming perceived insults – whether genuine or fabricated – into intense motivation was completely on display this Sunday.
It is often said in sports that players and teams can sometimes tap into their hidden potential, utilize their skills to the fullest at the right moments, and occasionally extend their zone of optimum performance during concentrated periods. However, they are not expected to instantly boost their performance, like triggering a nitrous oxide system on a drag racing car.
Apparently, Jordan was the exception. He had a knack for transforming immediate resentments into exceptional performances and even seemed to magically conjure them. It was as if he was Bruce Banner morphing into the Hulk in full force.
The LaBradford Smith story was early legend. That’s when Jordan got so incensed by the Washington guard’s big scoring night against him in Chicago that he torched Smith the very next night of a back-to-back. But the kicker was Smith’s alleged remark (“Nice game, Mike”) after the first game never happened. Somehow, Jordan convinced himself that it had and got his revenge.
The type of events that caused a rift between Isiah Thomas and Jordan were in abundance on Sunday. This includes Nick Anderson’s comment following the Magic’s victory in Game 1 of their ’95 playoff series, stating that “45 isn’t 23.”
Seattle coach George Karl’s restaurant dilemma of whether to stop by Jordan’s table and acknowledge him put him in a damned-if-he-did, damned-if-he-didn’t situation. However, Jordan was indifferent to whether he was from Carolina or not.
“That’s all I required,” he stated. “And it turned personal for me.”
Finally, we see a repeat of Jordan’s earlier reaction in the series to a comment from Thomas, as he watches a video on a handed-over tablet. This time, it’s Gary Payton voicing his opinion about how the ’96 Finals could have had a different outcome if Karl had used him to guard Jordan prior to Game 4.
Gary Payton thought he found a way to get to MJ … Mike wasn't sweating the Glove #TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/Z8NG7qN5hW
— ESPN (@espn) May 11, 2020
“I repeatedly struck and banged against Mike, which really wore him down,” said Payton. “That’s when the series took a turn.”
Ignore Jordan’s cackling. The real highlight was his condescending utterance of Payton’s nickname, “The Glove”, as he returned the tablet.
The cackling was also quite impressive.
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Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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