How ‘The Last Dance’ will show a raw Michael Jordan you may not like
B.J. Armstrong wonders how the public will receive the Michael Jordan they will see in “The Last Dance” documentary series, beginning Sunday on ESPN.
This isn’t the cuddly guy from the Nike commercials and “Space Jam,” nor the billionaire in his 50s who now owns the Charlotte Hornets. This is the raw, hyper-competitive Jordan who Armstrong played with his first six NBA seasons as a Chicago Bulls point guard.
“I’m a little nervous about it for him. He is going to reveal a part of himself that he has never revealed,” said Armstrong, who later played with the Hornets from 1997-99.
Armstrong, now an agent whose clients includes Hornets center Bismack Biyombo, played on two of the Bulls’ six championship teams, in 1991 and ’93. “The Last Dance” primarily focuses on Jordan’s last title in the 1997-98 season, but the 10-hour story reflects on relationships between Jordan, fellow All-Star Scottie Pippen and coach Phil Jackson.
Armstrong says the real Jordan back then was nothing like the Nike pitch man, but was likable in different ways than fans witnessed.
‘He wanted to be the best. End of discussion.’
Armstrong described former North Carolina star Jordan as a terrific teammate in that he set out to be one of the guys and accepted others’ quirks in the pursuit of winning.
“He wasn’t complicated. He wasn’t saying, ‘I need plays. I need attention’ ” to succeed, Armstrong described. “He wanted to be the best. End of discussion.”
To that end, Armstrong said, Jordan tolerated others’ peculiarities. He didn’t care how many ways Dennis Rodman colored his hair. so long as Rodman did his job.
Jordan also compartmentalized all his marketing responsibilities to focus entirely on the Bulls in-season.
“Simplicity — he never let the ‘Air Jordan’ characters get in the way of what he came to do,” Armstrong described. “The man came to practice every single day. It was never, ‘I need to sit out, I played 40 minutes last night.’”
Scottie was unique
Armstrong believes all this could have unraveled had Pippen — a Hall of Famer, too — had not accepted being No. 2 on Chicago’s roster.
NBA history is loaded with examples of the opposite — the Kevin Garnett-Stephon Marbury breakup Minnesota or Kyrie Irving pushing away from Cleveland and LeBron James. Pippen accepted Jordan as the No. 1 option throughout their decade together in Chicago.
“In order to have a great team, your second-best player has to accept the role of being your second-best player,” Armstrong said. “If your second-best player expects to be your best player, you can never be a team.”
Comfortable being uncomfortable
Jackson’s coaching was always unorthodox. When an opponent went on an 8-0 run, Jackson would refuse to call timeout, telling the players, “You played your way into this, now play your way out.”
Jackson also wouldn’t assign players roles, telling them they determined that.
Armstrong said most any other coach would have made Jordan the singular offensive focus. Instead, Jackson used the triangle offense to force the players to learn to trust each other.
“We were comfortable being uncomfortable,” Armstrong said. “Everybody had to figure it out: Michael had to figure out how to play with us, we had to figure out how to play with him, and by the way, we have a game to play while we’re figuring all this out.
“The end result was six championships.”
Armstrong expects the public will know Jordan better through this documentary. NBA fans won’t immediately like everything they see.
“I’m not sure he ever really identified with all that ‘Air Jordan’ marketing. That wasn’t him,” Armstrong said.
“I just hope people will respect his commitment to his craft. You’re about to see something behind the curtain.”
This story was originally published April 19, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "How ‘The Last Dance’ will show a raw Michael Jordan you may not like."
