Here are five key points from episodes 7 and 8 of “The Last Dance,” a documentary series about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls’ championship season in 1997-98:
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1. So that’s why he was a jerk
This was not merely a scoop but rather a deep dive into Jordan’s mindset and motivation. His rigorous treatment of his Bulls teammates, harsher than a Marine drill instructor’s handling of fresh recruits, was primarily for his own benefit. He needed to be certain that the Jordanaires were capable of securing championships.
However, it was also for their benefit. We witnessed some of the harshest forms of “tough love” in Jordan’s expectations, ridiculing, and confrontations with his Chicago teammates.
Finally, we got Jordan to pull back the curtain on it.
“Victory comes at a cost,” Jordan stated in his recent interactions with the documentary team. “So does leadership.”
“Once you became a part of the team, you were expected to live up to the standard to which I played the game. I wouldn’t settle for anything less.”
Center Bill Wennington, who became part of the Bulls during Jordan’s first retirement, received a straightforward greeting when the leader returned. According to Wennington, Jordan said to him, “I want you to jump on the cape. However, you must hold on.”
If necessary, this includes physically confronting teammates like Will Perdue and Steve Kerr, verbally attacking Scott Burrell, or even reducing Dennis Hopson to tears in 1990-91, although this was not included in the documentary.
“B.J. Armstrong said, “his mentality prevented him from being a nice guy.”
As podcast luminary Adam Carolla often states about Jordan – it wasn’t about you performing at your best, it was about you performing at his best. He was particularly clear that he never demanded anything from a teammate that he himself didn’t do.
He got very emotional too.
“I desired victory, but I equally desired their involvement in that victory,” said Jordan, his voice growing heavy. “If you’re not inclined to play in that manner, then don’t.”
He paused at that point and declared, “Break,” effectively calling his own “cut” to the scene.
2. James Jordan never left his side
We were destined to revisit the summer of 1993 when James, Jordan’s father, was tragically killed in a random assault on a Carolina highway. However, Episode 7 revealed that Michael’s decision to retire wasn’t solely due to his father’s untimely demise – he had been contemplating retirement since winning the ’93 championship, if not earlier in the fall 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 basketball career took off, Jordan was an avid baseball player. He had witnessed exceptional athletes like Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders juggle two sports successfully. However, it was his family’s support for baseball and his father’s advice to pursue what brings him joy that led him to take a leap of faith in a doubtful sporting world. He moved to Birmingham, Alabama to play for the Class AA Barons in the Chicago White Sox system.
At his retirement news conference in 1993, ten weeks after his father was murdered, Jordan made two comments that struck a chord. The first one was, “The word ‘retire’ means you can do anything you want.” The second one was, “He saw my last basketball game.”
The documentary switched between various time periods, consistently showing James Jordan at his son’s side, serving as a wingman comparable to Scottie Pippen. This was evident all the way to Game 6 of the 1996 Finals against Seattle. Those of us who reported on that championship series, where Chicago initially led 3-0 before losing Games 4 and 5 which resulted in a return to United Center, retrospectively speculated if some unseen force was crafting a poetic narrative: The decisive game took place on Father’s Day, marking the first championship win for Jordan and the Bulls without Michael’s father present in the stadium.
We’ve witnessed NBA superstars shedding tears and expressing emotions when the reality of championship triumph sinks in. However, the sight of Jordan on the trainer’s room floor, weeping while clutching the basketball and attempting to shun the cameras instead of performing for them, represented a completely different degree of authenticity.
3. Pippen’s star turn, minus 1.8 seconds
At the time Jordan was working in Minneapolis, the cruel irony of his first retirement struck instantly. The Timberwolves, who had been somewhat amusing yet basically terrible for their initial four years, were finally about to enter the limelight by hosting the 1994 NBA All-Star Game in February.
And now, it was getting an All-Star Game without Michael Jordan, gulp.
Of course, that was a narrow-minded perspective. Consider the emotions of Bulls fans when the best player in the game unexpectedly retired while at the peak of his career. Both audiences were pleasantly taken aback.
Pippen’s career saw its highest point in a season where he led Chicago to an unexpected 55-27 season. This was particularly surprising given that they had just lost Michael Jordan right before training camp. Pippen came third in the MVP voting, trailing behind Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson. However, he managed to satisfy the fans of Twin Cities basketball by filling Jordan’s shoes as the superstar and even won the All-Star MVP trophy.
Pippen differed from Jordan both as a player and in personality. This difference resonated well with his teammates. However, given our fixation on Jordan’s aggressive and obsessive way of motivating his team, some of the Bulls were perceived as somewhat soft for appreciating this change.
In any case, the entire team dynamic shifted in just 1.8 seconds when Pippen decided not to participate at the end of Game 3 in the East semifinals series against New York. Coach Phil Jackson planned for Toni Kukoc to make the final shot, with Pippen not even on the court as a distraction. Instead, Pippen, who was the team’s best passer, was tasked with inbounding the ball.
After years of playing second fiddle to Jordan, Pippen finally ascended in rank. However, he viewed himself as having been relegated back to a supporting role with the addition of rookie Kukoc — a European discovery by GM Jerry Krause, who Pippen already found irksome.
No matter how correct his rationale might seem now, he was absolutely mistaken. It was intriguing to watch the footage from ’94 on Sunday night, as well as the Bulls’ retrospectives on how adult men responded to feeling betrayed by a teammate. This happened after Kukoc had sunk the buzzer-beater shot, staving off the Knicks for the time being.
“It was devastating. He quit on us,” said Steve Kerr.
Bill Cartwright, the center, was so upset that he cried when he called out Pippen in the locker room.
Pippen immediately apologized and Kerr stated that the team accepted his apology. Despite his fierce performance in the final three games of the series, the Bulls were still eliminated.
Pippen’s legacy is firmly established. He has been inducted into the Hall of Fame, was named as one of the Top 50 players in NBA history in 1997 (even though he had seven more seasons to play), and he is often recognized as the most crucial second player on an NBA team.
Even today, you can find replica jerseys in Chicago that display “Pippen 1.8” instead of his usual number 33.
4. Comparing Jordan’s ‘bodies’ of work
The top player of the NBA took a detour to play minor league baseball for a season and may have continued if not for the prolonged labor dispute in the sport that extended into the spring of 1995.
Jordan sporting a different style, swinging his bat at curveballs instead of showing off his signature tongue-out pose during dunks, was a sight to see. Yet he still seemed like his old self, as he revisited this detour and the corresponding footage on Sunday.
However, this was not the case. He had transformed his exceptional basketball physique to one more appropriate for baseball, and… was there much buzz about it at the time?
Back in the day, it appeared that the brief period from March 1995 up to the Bulls’ defeat against Orlando was primarily marked by Jordan’s remarkable performances in his return. He temporarily switched his iconic 23 Bulls jersey for 45. However, it wasn’t just about Jordan getting back in the swing of things or being new to the restructured Chicago lineup. His sudden reappearance was more significant than that.
Jordan had undergone training to become a baseball player instead of a basketball player. However, he had to physically revert back to his original form.
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 get my body back into basketball shape,” said Jordan.
Perhaps no offense to the young Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway or the former Bull Horace Grant, but it might be hard to get Jordan to admit that.
Tim Grover, Jordan’s personal trainer, and Chip Schaefer from the Bulls supported this explanation. The reflexes, strength, and agility required for one sport were significantly different from the other. This difference might not be as obvious as, for example, transforming New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge, who stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 280 pounds, into a capable NBA power forward. But it was a genuine difference.
This section of the document detailed Jordan’s journey into his role in “Space Jam” in the summer of 1995, highlighting his determination to return to his peak form. He asked the film studio to construct a full court and gym, named the “Jordan Dome,” on its premises for his daily two-hour workouts. In the evenings, he conducted high-level pickup games with NBA talent, which allowed him to fine-tune his skills while also assessing their abilities.
5. Don’t look, talk or even breathe at Jordan
If you wish to stand a chance of beating him, don’t. Jordan’s knack for transforming perceived slights, whether real or imagined, into intense motivation was fully demonstrated on Sunday.
In the world of sports, it’s commonly said that players and teams can sometimes push their limits, tap into their full potential at the right moments, and occasionally expand “the zone” in which they’re particularly concentrated. However, it’s generally believed that they can’t suddenly boost their performance like one would by activating nitrous oxide on a drag strip.
Apparently, Jordan was the exception. He had a knack for transforming immediate resentments into extraordinary displays, and even managed to create them. He was comparable to Bruce Banner morphing into the Hulk.
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.
On Sunday, we witnessed numerous incidents that could potentially cause a rift between Isiah Thomas and Jordan, similar to past incidents. One standout was Nick Anderson’s comment after the Magic’s victory in Game 1 of their ’95 playoff series, where he stated, “45 isn’t 23.”
Seattle coach George Karl’s failed attempt to acknowledge Jordan at the restaurant was a no-win situation. Regardless of their shared Carolina background, Jordan was indifferent.
“That’s all I required,” he stated. “It turned into something personal for me.”
Finally, there was a repetition of Jordan’s earlier reaction in the series to a comment from Thomas, as he watched a video on a tablet handed to him. This time, Gary Payton was seen expressing his opinion about how the outcome of the ’96 Finals could have been different if Karl had used him to guard Jordan before 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
“Repeatedly hitting and banging against him really wore Mike down,” said Payton. “That’s when the series shifted.”
Ignore Jordan’s laughter. The real highlight was his condescending way of saying Payton’s nickname, “The Glove”, as he passed back the tablet.
However, 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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