Here are five key points from episodes 7 and 8 of “The Last Dance,” a documentary series that explores 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 more of a deep dive into Jordan’s mindset and driving forces rather than simply a scoop. His intense pressure on his Bulls teammates, surpassing even that of a Marine drill instructor with fresh recruits, was certainly for his own benefit. He wanted assurance that his team, the Jordanaires, were capable of securing championship victories.
However, it was also for their benefit. We witnessed Jordan’s relentless “tough love” in his demands, taunting, and confrontations with his fellow players from Chicago, which were some of the harshest imaginable.
Finally, we got Jordan pulling back the curtain on it.
“Victory comes with a cost,” Jordan articulated in his latest sessions with the documentary team. “So does leadership.”
Once you’re a part of the team, you live up to the certain standard that I set while playing the game. I won’t accept anything less.
When Bill Wennington, a center who joined the Bulls during Jordan’s first retirement, received a straightforward welcome when Jordan returned. Wennington shared that Jordan told him, “I want you to jump on the cape. But you have to hold on.”
If it involved physically confronting teammates like Will Perdue and Steve Kerr, verbally assaulting Scott Burrell, or reducing Dennis Hopson to tears (which happened in 1990-91 but was not shown in the documentary), then so be it.
“He couldn’t be a nice guy with the mentality he had,” said B.J. Armstrong.
As podcast king Adam Carolla often states, with Jordan, it wasn’t about you giving your best, but rather about you matching his level of performance. He was adamant that he never demanded anything of a teammate that he himself did not do.
He got very emotional too.
“I aimed for victory but also desired their participation in the triumph,” Jordan voiced, his tone growing heavier. “If you’re not inclined towards such a style of play, then refrain from playing that way.”
He paused at that point and said, “Break,” effectively calling his own “cut” to the scene.
2. James Jordan never left his side
We were bound to revisit the summer of 1993, when James Jordan, Michael’s father, was tragically murdered in a random roadside assault on a Carolina highway. However, Episode 7 revealed that Michael’s decision to retire was not solely driven by his father’s untimely death. He had been contemplating retirement since winning the 1993 title, perhaps even as early as 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 skyrocketed, Jordan had a passion for baseball. He had observed athletes like Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders juggle two sports successfully. However, his family’s support of baseball and his father’s advice to pursue what brings him joy led him to take a risk in the skeptical sports world. He went to Birmingham, Alabama, to play for the Class AA Barons in the Chicago White Sox system.
At his 1993 retirement press conference, which took place 10 weeks after his father’s murder, Jordan made two comments that had a significant impact. The first one was, “The word ‘retire’ means you can do anything you want.” The second comment was, “He saw my last basketball game.”
The documentary fluctuated through time, always showing James Jordan by his son’s side, acting as a wingman as formidable as Scottie Pippen, up to the sixth game of the 1996 Finals against Seattle. Those of us reporting on that championship series, during which Chicago initially secured a 3-0 lead but lost games 4 and 5 causing a return to the United Center, retrospectively pondered if an unseen force was crafting poetry. The decisive match took place on Father’s Day, and saw Jordan and the Bulls securing their first championship without Michael’s father present.
We’ve witnessed NBA stars shed tears and show their emotions when the reality of their championship win sinks in. However, Jordan’s moment on the floor of the trainer’s room, weeping as he clung to the basketball and attempted to evade the cameras instead of performing for them, was an unparalleled display of authenticity.
3. Pippen’s star turn, minus 1.8 seconds
At the time working in Minneapolis, the harsh irony of Jordan’s initial retirement struck instantly. The Timberwolves, who were oddly entertaining yet essentially terrible in their first four years of existence, were finally poised to make their mark in the big leagues 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 tough pill to swallow.
Of course, that was a narrow-minded perspective. Consider the feelings of Bulls fans when the best player in the game quit while still at his peak. Both audiences were pleasantly shocked.
Pippen experienced the best individual season of his career, spearheading Chicago to an unexpected 55-27 season – a significant feat considering they had just lost Michael Jordan right before training camp. He came in third in the MVP voting, following Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson. Moreover, he filled the gap left by Jordan, becoming the new superstar and winning the All-Star MVP trophy, much to the delight of Twin Cities basketball fans.
Pippen was not the same type of player as Jordan, and his personality was also different. His approach resonated with his teammates. However, we’ve been so fixated on Jordan’s aggressive, persistent method of motivating his colleagues that when the Bulls seemed slightly relieved (if we may suggest) by the change, it appeared somewhat soft.
In any case, the entire dynamic of the team shifted within 1.8 seconds when Pippen decided not to participate in the final moments of the East semifinals series’ Game 3 against New York. Coach Phil Jackson had planned for Toni Kukoc to make the final shot, with Pippen not even being used as a distraction on the court. Instead, he had Pippen – the team’s top passer – throwing the inbound pass.
After years of ranking second to Jordan, and eventually climbing up the hierarchy, Pippen felt he was once again relegated to a supporting role with the arrival of rookie Kukoc. Kukoc was a European discovery of GM Jerry Krause, who was already a source of annoyance for Pippen.
Despite his reasons seeming correct now, he was completely mistaken. It was intriguing to witness both the footage from ’94 and the reflections of numerous Bulls on the actions of mature adults following an act of betrayal by a teammate on Sunday night. This event occurred after Kukoc successfully made the buzzer beater, momentarily holding off the Knicks.
“It was devastating, he quit on us,” said Steve Kerr.
Bill Cartwright, the center, was so upset when he confronted Pippen in the locker room that he cried.
Pippen immediately apologized and Kerr affirmed the team’s acceptance of it. He exhibited fierce performance in the last three games of the series, despite the Bulls’ elimination.
Pippen’s legacy is firmly established. He has been inducted into the Hall of Fame, was recognized as one of the Top 50 players in NBA history in 1997 with seven more seasons yet to come in his career, and is broadly regarded as the most significant second-best player in any NBA team.
Even now, you can find replica jerseys in Chicago that, instead of his usual number 33, bear “Pippen 1.8”.
4. Comparing Jordan’s ‘bodies’ of work
The NBA’s top player took a detour to play minor league baseball for a season. Had it not been for the prolonged labor dispute in the world of sports that extended into spring 1995, he might have continued.
Jordan’s appearance was different, swinging his bat at curveballs instead of his tongue flicking out during his dunks. Nevertheless, he managed to resemble his old self, reminding us of that detour and reviewing the footage on Sunday.
However, he wasn’t. He had exchanged his exceptionally talented basketball physique for one more appropriate for baseball, and… was this widely discussed then?
In retrospect, it appeared that the brief span of the 1995 season and postseason, from March until the Bulls’ defeat against Orlando, was primarily significant due to some remarkable performances by Jordan as part of his comeback. Notably, he momentarily swapped his iconic number 23 for 45 on his Bulls jersey. However, it turned out that Jordan wasn’t merely rusty or inexperienced, as evidenced by his impactful entrance into the revamped Chicago lineup.
Jordan had trained to become a baseball player instead of a basketball player, and subsequently had to physically revert back.
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.
No disrespect intended towards young Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway or ex-Bull Horace Grant, although it would be a challenge to get Jordan to utter those words.
Tim Grover, Jordan’s personal trainer, and Chip Schaefer of the Bulls corroborated this explanation. The reflexes, strength, and agility required for one sport were significantly different from the other. While it might not have been as noticeable as, for instance, transforming 6-foot-7 and 280-pound Yankees hitter Aaron Judge into a competent NBA power forward, it was a real difference.
The segment of the document portrayed Jordan’s involvement in “Space Jam” in the summer of 1995, and his determination to get back in shape. He convinced the film studio to build the “Jordan Dome,” a full-sized court and gym on their property for his daily two-hour workouts. In the evenings, he would orchestrate pick-up games with other NBA players, allowing him to refine his skills while also studying theirs.
5. Don’t look, talk or even breathe at Jordan
If you want to stand a chance of defeating him, think twice. Jordan’s habit of turning insults, whether real or imagined, into intense motivation was fully on display this Sunday.
In sports, it’s often said that players and teams have the ability to tap further into their talents at key moments, possibly even pushing the boundaries of their peak performance zone. However, it’s generally believed that they can’t instantly elevate their game, similar to the way one would activate nitrous oxide on a drag strip.
Apparently, Jordan was the exception. He was known for transforming immediate grudges into extraordinary performances, and even devising ways to create these grudges. This was similar to Bruce Banner becoming 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.
The kind of thing that created a rift between Isiah Thomas and Jordan was plentiful on Sunday. One instance was Nick Anderson’s comment after the Magic’s victory in Game 1 of their ’95 playoff series, stating that “45 isn’t 23.”
Seattle coach George Karl’s restaurant failure of not stopping by Jordan’s table to pay respect was a lose-lose situation. Jordan was indifferent to whether Karl came from Carolina or not.
“That’s all I required,” he asserted. “And it turned personal for me.”
Finally, there was a repeat of Jordan’s earlier response in the series to a comment by Thomas, as he watched a video on a tablet given to him. This time, it was Gary Payton expressing his belief that the ’96 Finals could have had a different outcome if Karl had utilized 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
“Continuously, I was striking and slamming him. It definitely affected Mike,” said Payton. “After that, the series took a different turn.”
Ignore Jordan’s cackling. The real highlight was his patronizing pronunciation of Payton’s nickname, “The Glove,” as he returned the tablet.
However, the cackling was also pretty good.
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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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