LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- I will not plunge into the Michael Jordan/LeBron James debate about the greatest basketball player of all time — other than to ask you not to dismiss Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Maybe that can be the topic of the next 10-episode documentary ESPN will develop to help us fill the programming gap until the novel coronavirus subsides and sports roars back to life.
Until then, we’re facing more empty Sundays (and Saturdays and Fridays and...). Consider this another thank you to Jordan, ESPN and the gang for delivering “The Last Dance,” the documentary about Jordan and the Bulls’ NBA dynasty several months ahead of schedule.
The discussion and ratings suggest it was a cultural and critical success, a sports talk hot button. In this case, that means My Last Thoughts on The Last Dance.
1. Jordan Listened to His Parents
Not every 5-star American athlete kept his or her parents center stage like Jordan. Tiger Woods. Derek Jeter. That would be my list.
Jordan’s relationship with his mother, Deloris, and father, James, was refreshing and uplifting.
The letter (yes, on paper with ink) that Michael wrote to his mother during his freshman year at North Carolina. The message from his father that he needed to learn how to compete against his older brother, Larry.
Their presence at all his big moments — and even some of his embarrassing moments, like his father’s role in the late-night trip to Atlantic City. The shots of Jordan lying on the locker-room floor, hugging the NBA championship trophy and sobbing when he won his first title without his father in 1996 were the most compelling scenes in the documentary.
But this was the segment that stuck with me: his Mom’s role in Jordan’s relationship with Nike. Jordan was an Adidas guy who didn’t want to take the meeting with Nike. His agent, David Falk, could not make Jordan fly to Portland. His mother could — and did.
If Deloris Jordan had not intervened, we’d all be wearing shoes with three stripes and not a swoosh.
2. Jordan Could Hold a Grudge Against a Stop Sign
On Sunday night, I made the mistake of suggesting that the only player Jordan didn’t hold a grudge against was George Mikan, the first great big man in the NBA.
Several people responded to that tweet by suggesting I was wrong. Jordan did have an issue with Mikan. Some were facetious. One sounded legit.
The word was that Jordan had an issue with Mikan because Jordan’s college coach, Dean Smith of North Carolina, made his players practice the Mikan Drill.
The Mikan Drill is a staple in camp basketball because it forces a player to develop his left- and right-handed shots under the basket. Apparently it was the Mikan Drill that motivated Jordan to dunk everything.
So put Mikan on the list with Isiah Thomas, Craig Ehlo, Clyde Drexler, Gary Payton, Horace Grant, LaBradford Smith, Byron Russell, Larry Bird, Xavier McDaniel, B.J. Armstrong, Rodney McCray, Steve Kerr, Scott Burrell, Will Perdue and everybody else who annoyed MJ.
Don’t forget Charles Barkley, who used to be one of Jordan’s best friends but has been on the outs for nearly a decade. It’s a Hall of Fame Spite List.
3. Jordan Was Right and Jerry Krause Was Wrong
Players and coaches don’t win championships. Organizations win championships.
Krause, the Bulls’ general manager, said something like that early in the development of the Bulls’ dynasty. Jordan never forgot — or forgave Krause for saying it.
Not only did he tease Krause relentlessly for his size and girth, Jordan disagreed with the concept. He bristled at the idea that the little man had anything close to his value.
Advantage, Jordan.
I grew up in the Chicago area, following the Bulls. For more than a decade, interest in the Bulls was so lukewarm that three friends and I drove to Chicago Stadium and purchased tickets on the evening of Game Six of a Western Conference playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers on April 4, 1971.
At the door. Not from scalpers. I still have my stub.
That was a Lakers’ team that featured Wilt Chamberlain and Gail Goodrich — and only 14,211 fans attended. The Bulls won Game Six and then lost Game Seven in L.A. The Bulls always lost when it mattered — until Jordan arrived.
The Bulls failed to make the NBA Finals during their first 24 seasons — and have failed to make it back during the 22 seasons Jordan has been gone. MJ, for the record, went 6 for 6 in the Finals.
Michael Jordan, the player, could also make his point by pointing at the record of Michael Jordan, the executive.
His drafting and team-building in Washington nor Charlotte will not be recognized by the Basketball Hall of Fame.
4. His Pizza Story Smells
For more than two decades, the narrative around Jordan’s epic performance in Game Five of the 1997 NBA Finals against Utah was that he overcame the flu.
It spread that night on the NBC telecast and has been a prominent part of the Jordan Mystic for years.
Sunday night the Flu Story got sent to rewrite. Substitute food poisoning for the flu. Jordan and his close friends said that he was holed up in his hotel in Salt Lake City without any late night dining options other than one pizza joint that sent five guys to deliver a single pie.
A toxic pizza.
Sorry, hold the pepperoni on that. The Bulls stayed at the Salt Lake City Marriott, one of the signature properties in the Marriott chain, which is based in Salt Lake City. In those days, full-service Marriotts routinely featured 24-hour room service.
Hard to believe the hotel staff would decline a request from America’s most prominent athlete and force him to eat delivery pizza. Harder to believe five delivery men could wiggle past team security, which is routinely perched on the floor where professional teams are booked.
Sorry, Mike. Send that story back to rewrite again.
5. His Life Turned Out OK Despite Three Years of College Basketball.
In a world where most players are ready to turn professional after their first 20-point game or transfer after their first 2-point game, Jordan played three seasons for North Carolina.
Remember: He could have departed after he concluded his freshman season by making the game-winning shot in the national championship game against Georgetown.
Two extra seasons of college basketball didn’t damage his brand. He improved his game, matured and bounced into Chicago and the NBA prepared to succeed.
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