Of anyone of great significance in public life, there are five W’s that we ask what made them who they are. Their five W’s-Who, What, Where, When, Why. One specific person is the NBA Hall of Famer who had a 10-part documentary series depicting him and his team’s run towards their second three-peat.
For the past five weeks dating back to Apr. 19, ESPN did a 10-part series “The Last Dance” on the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls and the great Michael Jordan where we learned about how this team rose to being six-time NBA champions.
Who is Michael Jeffrey Jordan? He is a 57-year-old who is a former basketball player, who is now the principal owner of the Charlotte Hornets, who played 13 of his 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association with the Chicago Bulls, who was born in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, NY and raised in Wilmington, NC to Deloris, who worked in banking and James, R. Jordan, Sr., an equipment supervisor for General Electric (GE).
Jordan said in the documentary series that his parents provided him and his two sisters Roslyn and Deloris, and brothers James Jr. and Larry with all the opportunities to succeed in life, while having them carve their own “footsteps” in the South part of our nation that was not particularly accommodating to folks of color.
Mr. and Mrs. Jordan got their kids involved in sports, mainly to give them activity to do while they were out working, and they did not want them left alone in the house. They also wanted them to learn about life and how to deal with racism in the most prevalent place that it existed, in the Southern part of the U.S., which to some extent still goes on.
In Michael’s case, he gravitated to both baseball and basketball. He really grew to love basketball and it was here where his competitive side of what we came to know him as when he eventually got to the pros.
During this time though, MJ was always losing to his brother Larry, who he played one-on-one hoops in their backyard, and each time he lost to his brother they would fight.
Jordan says that his brother is a major reason he became the competitor he did in his basketball career.
“I don’t think from a competitive standpoint, I would be here without the confrontations with my brother,” Jordan said. “When you come to blows with someone you absolutely love, that’s igniting every fire within you. And I always felt like I was fighting Larry for my father’s attention.”
What made Michael Jordan into who is became? What made him into what he became was failure and disappointment.
That happened for MJ when in high school he lost out on making the Emsley A. Laney Buccaneers varsity basketball squad to his much taller friend Harvest Leroy Smith.
Jordan went home and cried after that and did not have the desire to play sports anymore. His mother cried along with her son but then said to him that if this was something, he wanted he had to put in the work in order to get it.
So, Jordan worked all summer on his game to the point that Mrs. Jordan said the basketball “never” left his hand.
That hard work and dedication along with growing from 5-foot-11 to about 6-foot-3 is how Jordan made the varsity his junior year and would go on to become a star on the hardwood for the Buccaneers, where he registered seven 40-point games.
Over the course of his final two years in high school, Jordan averaged 25 points per contest, which included averages of 27 points, 12 rebounds and six assists his senior year, which got him the chance to play in the 1981 McDonald’s All-American Game, where he scored 30 points.
“He had great guard skills. He always played guard. He always handled the ball. And now becoming, you know, 6’3” 6’4” that just made into a much better ball player,” Buccaneers coach Fred Lynch said of what led to MJ’s improvement. “We knew that he was special.”
He was so special that then assistant coach, now head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels Roy Williams got a call from the Hanover County School’s Athletic Director at the time about how they have someone who has a special future on the hardwood by the name of Mike Jordan.
Jordan received an invite to the school’s basketball camp and he left such an impression after five days that Coach Williams called him “the best player in the country.”
Along with getting recruited to North Carolina, Jordan received offers from instate rival Duke University, the University of South Carolina, Syracuse University, and the University of Virginia. Jordan chose to attend UNC at Chapel Hill under legendary head coach Dean Smith.
Smith said that Jordan was “inconsistent” as a freshman, the now 83-year-old said then that Jordan was one of the most “competitive” players ever in his program when it came to drill work in practice. That he “wanted” to get better and had the “ability” to get better.
To show the kind of pressure he put on himself to be the player he wanted to be, Jordan said to Williams, Smith’s assistant from 1978-88 that he wanted to be the best player to ever play at Chapel Hill.
Coach Williams reply to Jordan was that he had to work harder hard work then he did in high school. Jordan replied back by saying that he “worked as hard as anyone else,” to which Williams said, “Oh excuse me. I thought you want to be the best player to ever play here.” Then Jordan said that he will show him that no one “will ever work as hard as I work.”
Jordan did put in the necessary work to be the greatest, and one person that saw that up close was now Hall of Famer James Worthy, who helped to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to three of their five titles in the 1980s played one-on-one with MJ after practice and while he got the better of him for 2 ½ weeks, he got the better of him their after.
Where did we get the first glimpse of Mike Jordan becoming Michael Jordan? That happened at on Mar. 29, 1982 at the 44th Division I NCAA National Title game at the Superdome in New Orleans, LA against the Georgetown Hoyas, led by Hall of Fame head coach John Thompson, Jr. and now Hall of Fame center of the New York Knicks Patrick Ewing, the current head coach of the Hoyas.
In a classic back and forth, Jordan caught the ball after it was swung from right to left and he a jumper that proved to be the game-winner that clinched the title for North Carolina 63-62.
“That turned my name from Mike to Michael Jordan,” he said about what that shot meant to him. It gave me the confidence that I needed to start to excel at the game of basketball.”
After winning the Naismith and the John R. Wooden College Player of the Year awards in 1984, Jordan after a conversation with Coach Smith forgone his senior year and entered the 1984 NBA draft, which he was taken No. 3 overall by the Chicago Bulls, by then General Manager Rod Thorn.
Before he joined the Bulls, Jordan’s post collegiate career began at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, CA, where he helped Team USA capture Gold.
“He’s the best athlete. He’s one the best competitors. He’s one of the most skilled players,” Team USA head coach Bobby Knight said of the impression Jordan made on the world stage. “And that to me makes him the best basketball player that I’ve ever seen play.”
Jordan carried that momentum into his rookie season of 1984-85 with the Bulls, earning the Rookie of the Year for that season behind averages of 28.2 points on 51.5 percent from the field.
To bring into context the impact Jordan had in his rookie season, Roy S. Johnson of The New York Times described MJ as “the phenomenal rookie of the Bulls.” The December 1984 issue of Sports Illustrated had a cover with Jordan under the headline “A Star Is Born.”
When did Michael Jordan become great in the pros? He progressively became great in the pros.
As Jordan began his NBA career with the Bulls, he came in at a time in the NBA at time where cocaine and drugs were very prevalent in “The Association.”
There was one night Jordan recalls at night at a hotel during the preseason in Peoria, IL where he was looking for his teammates and when he knocked on this one door, and when he opened it when someone said to enter, he saw practically the whole team in that one room consuming drugs.
Jordan in that moment scattered because he said if the place gets raided and he was a part of it, he would be just as guilty as everyone in that room.
“And from that point on, I was for more or less on my own,” he said.
During this time, MJ lived in a townhouse that longtime sportswriter for the Chicago Sun-Times Rick Telander said living like he was still a collegian.
Jordan said that he enjoyed just hanging out at his home with his buddies playing cards and watching movies, and not going out clubbing or smoke. He did not even drink at that time. He was just looking to rest his body so he could get up and make a name for himself on the professional hardwood.
His teammate in his first year Rod Higgins, who played for the Bulls from 1982-85 said that “orange juice and 7UP” was Jordan’s go to.
In the early part of the Documentary, there was a moment where Jordan was coming into the Bulls’ practice facility, the Berto Center, and he was the first one in the gym getting up shots and working a sweat before practice.
In his first year with the Bulls under then head coach Kevin Loughery, that first day of practice, he showed out and proved to be the best player in the gym.
Loughery said after that first practice what impressed him most about Jordan was his physical strength.
Jordan also said at that time that his mentality was that whoever the “team leader” on the opposing team he was going after them, not with his voice because he was just a rookie, but with his play.
That was truly the case in his third career game against the Bulls arch nemesis back then in the Central Division rival Milwaukee Bucks on Oct. 29, 1984.
The Bulls on that night, led by Jordan overcame a nine-point deficit (85-76) entering the fourth quarter and won the game 116-110.
From there, Jordan took off and had the whole league on notice with his ability to score, especially in the open floor where he would display one highlight dunk after another.
“As a rookie he was not a rookie,” now President of the Miami Heat and Hall of Famer Pat Riley said of Jordan. “He proved right out of the gates there was none other like him.”
Hall of Famer, 12-time All-Star and two-time NBA champion Isiah Thomas of the Detroit Pistons said of Jordan then had an “extra levitation gear” with his ability make plays in the air. “It didn’t seem real.”
Even with his great athletic ability, Hall of Famer and five-time NBA champion with the Lakers “Magic” Johnson was most impressed with Jordan’s footwork, balance, and fundamentals on both ends.
The Bulls because of Jordan’s exceptional play were now playing to sold out home games at Chicago Stadium, compared to being two-thirds empty prior.
Prior to the arrival of Jordan according then Director of Marketing for the Bulls Brian McIntyre (1978-81), most Chicagoans were fans of the Bears of the NFL, who won the Super Bowl two years after the arrival of Jordan. If you were from the North Siders of the “Windy City” you were a fan of the Cubs of MLB, and South Siders were fans of the White Sox. All Chicagoans were fans of the Blackhawks of the NHL.
To illustrate how bad the Bulls were back then, an indoor soccer team the Chicago Sting were outdrawing the Bulls home games at the then Chicago Stadium.
Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf compared the state of the team was “Rodney Dangerfield,” where they were not respected.
In Jordan, the Bulls drafted an individual who as longtime sports broadcaster Bob Costas, who worked as a sports anchor for WGN 9 in Chicago, IL back then who was “brimming with charismatic talent.”
How big was Jordan to the city of Chicago in his first year, then Chicago resident and the 44th President of the United States Barack Obama, who said that he did not have the funds back then to buy tickets to see MJ in person, even though they were $7 for second balcony standing room said that he gave Chicagoans a “sports figure” that put their city on the “map” and could “rally” around.
One fan called Jordan, “poetry in motion.”
Jordan however wanted to be more than just an exciting player. He wanted to win and do so at all cost. Just like the great players that came before him, and those that were his peers.
“I just want the franchise and the Chicago Bulls to be respected as a team. Like the (Los Angeles) Lakers or Philadelphia 76ers or the Boston Celtics,” Jordan said after getting drafted 36 years ago. “It’s very hard for something like that to happen, but it’s not impossible. But hopefully, I can get this team and this organization can build a program like that.”
After getting the Bulls back into the playoffs in his second season as the No. 8 Seed, despite their 30-52 record during the regular season of 1985-86, their reward was a First-Round date against reigning Eastern Conference champion Celtics and their legendary starting quintet of Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, the late Dennis Johnson, and current team lead executive Danny Ainge.
In Game 1 with all the 14-minute restrictions off, Jordan scored 49 points, but the Celtics took Game 1 of the series 123-104.
Before Game 2, Jordan and Ainge played golf together, where both talked some major trash to each other, which Ainge said might have been a “mistake.”
As they left and Ainge was getting dropped off heading out of the car, Jordan told Ainge to let Johnson know that “he’s got something for him tomorrow.”
Did Jordan ever have something for Johnson and the C’s as he scored at the rim on dunks; mid-range jumpers; pullup jumpers. You name anyway you could score on the hardwood Jordan did that game scoring 63 points.
Jordan had it going to the point that he put Johnson, one of the best perimeter defenders back then in early foul trouble with four personals in the third quarter.
Ainge said that he remembers “laughing” in the middle of the game because Walton was cursing him out because he got switched on Jordan a few times, and he two got into foul trouble, and eventually fouled out.
“I played practically every minute in the second game. I just never stopped,” he said. “Stan Albeck kept putting me in isolated situations, and I just took advantage of my youth and my energy.”
The Celtics would get the final say in this NBA classic thanks to a late right baseline jumper by Parish that put the Celtics up by two, and they would win Game 2 135-131 in double overtime to lead the series 2-0.
“We were fortunate to win that game, but Michael put on a show,” Ainge said of Jordan’s 63-point effort, which is still the most scored in a single playoff game in NBA history.
It was one of five occasions that Jordan scored at least 55 points in a single game in his legendary postseason career.
To put that into context, Hall of Famers Charles Barkley, Rick Barry, Elgin Baylor, Allen Iverson, and Wilt Chamberlin achieved that mark once in their postseason careers.
Bird, whose squad won the series 3-0 concurred with Ainge saying of Jordan’s performance “incredible,” and said that was “God” disguised as Michael Jordan.
While Jordan’s star was rising individually, the questions came could he lead the Bulls to championship glory?
Hall of Famer and two-time NBA champion with the Knicks Walt “Clyde” Frazier, who is now the lead color analyst for the team said that because of his 6-foot-6 frame that he was not “going to carry” the Bulls to prominence.
For Jazz center Mark Eaton said that in the NBA there is no “one-man team,” and that you cannot expect “one-guy” to turn a team around.
Bird’s biggest rival in the 1980s in Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who led the “Showtime” Lakers to five Larry O’Brien trophies in the 1980s echoed those same sentiments calling Jordan the “most talented” player in the NBA “by far.”
Johnson added, “Guys like myself and Larry who knew the game, who knew championship basketball-We knew the guy was coming. Right? He just needed the right horses to go right along with him.”
Reinsdorf and General Manager (1985-2003) Jerry Krause thought they found those horses via the draft and trades in Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, John Paxson, Bill Cartwright, Will Perdue, and B.J. Armstrong.
The team though was just not good enough to be the “Bad Boys” in the Detroit Pistons of eventual teammate in Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman and fellow Hall of Famers Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, Bill Laimbeer, John Salley, Rick Mahorn, Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson, and the late great Hall of Fame head coach Chuck Daly.
During this period of the late 1980s, the NBA according to USC School of Cinematic Arts professor Dr. Todd Boyd, author of the book “Young, Black Rich & Famous” was “invested” in making Jordan the star of their league, and that the Pistons were the roadblock keeping that from occurring.
“We knew how important to the NBA it was to get Michael to go to the next level. The blueprint was Larry [Bird, ‘Magic’ [Johnson], now Michael,” Salley, who played for the Pistons from 1986-92 said. “And all of a sudden there was this little team in Detroit who just messed up the whole story. We loved that.”
The Bulls lost three straight seasons in the playoffs to the Pistons 4-1 in the 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals, and 4-2 and 4-3 in the 1989 and 1990 Eastern Conference Finals respectably.
The Pistons slowed down the Bulls using a defensive tactic known as “the Jordan Rules” “The Jordan Rules” were a defensive tactic the Pistons implemented to contain the NBA’s rising star.
According to then Pistons assistant coach Brendan Malone that whenever Jordan was on the wings, they were going to “push him” to the elbow and keep him from driving to the baseline. When he is at the top of the key, they would push him to his left. When Jordan is in the low post, the Pistons would double team him from the top.
Whenever Jordan did go baseline, it was up to the Pistons’ big men of Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn to knock him on his backside.
“When he was in the air, we had no shot,” Thomas said. “But when everything was on the floor, you can hold your own.”
The Pistons new strategy proved to be effective as the Bulls managed just 80, 85 and 94 points in Games 4, 5 and 6 respectably in falling in the series 4-2 to the eventual NBA champions, who took down “Magic” Johnson’s Lakers in The Finals of 1989 4-0.
Bulls starting center Bill Cartwright said that the Bulls then were “not ready” for the Pistons saying that their rival was “more physical” than they were and were the “aggressors.”
That all changed in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals when Jordan and the Bulls did not allow the Pistons tactics or mind games to get to them and they swept them 4-0 to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history to face “Magic” Johnson and the Lakers.
After losing Game 1 of The Finals that season, the Bulls led by Jordan won the next four games, including all three in Los Angeles, CA to win their first championship.
The Bulls followed up their first title, after a franchise record 61 wins during that regular season with a new franchise record of 67 regular season wins and they got back to The Finals again against Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler and the Portland Trail Blazers.
They split the first two games of the series, but Jordan and the Bulls won Game 5 and Game 6 over the Trail Blazers to capture their second straight title.
That summer of 1992 Jordan alongside Pippen, “Magic” Johnson, Bird and fellow Hall of Famers in Coach Daly, Drexler, Patrick Ewing, John Stockton, Karl Malone, David Robinson, Charles Barkley, and Chris Mullin, and Christian Laettner captured Gold at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
The Bulls after an up-and-down 1992-93 season where they went 57-25 managed to earn their third straight trip to The Finals against Barkley, the 1993 Kia MVP and his Phoenix Suns, owners of the league’s best record at 62-20.
The Bulls captured the first two games on the Suns home floor and clinched their third straight title also on their opponent’s hardwood to win their third straight title.
After taking an 18-month hiatus to playing minor league baseball first with the Birmingham Barons, and then with the Scottsdale Scorpions, Jordan returned to the NBA on Mar. 18, 1995 at the Indiana Pacers, wearing the number 45.
While his returned sparked the Bulls back to the playoffs, it was not enough to get them back to the promise land as they lost in the East Semis against the Orlando Magic in six games.
With renewed dedication that offseason, thanks to the help of longtime personal trainer Tim Grover that offseason, Jordan alongside new role players in Bill Wennington, Luc Longley, Toni Kukoc, Ron Harper, and Dennis Rodman the next season went on to achieve a then NBA-record 72 wins and won their fourth title in the last five seasons taking down Hall of Famer Gary Payton and perennial All-Star Shawn Kemp and the then Seattle Supersonics in the 1996 Finals 4-2.
The Bulls and Jordan made it back to The Finals after posting 69 regular season wins in 1996-97 and matched up with the Utah Jazz, led by the Hall of Fame duo of John Stockton and Karl Malone. After splitting the first four games of the series, the Bulls won Game 5 at the Jazz, and thanks to the eventual game-winning jumper by Kerr off a pass out of a double team by Jordan, the Bulls won Game 6 90-86 and their second straight title, and fifth in the last seven seasons.
Despite a rough start to the 1997-98 season that saw Pippen miss the first 35 games because of foot surgery and the team got off to an 8-7 start, the Bulls in a season that was dubbed ironically “The Last Dance” by Hall of Fame head coach Phil Jackson, the Bulls finished that regular season 62-20.
After taking down the then New Jersey Nets and Charlotte Hornets 3-0 and 4-1 respectably in the first two rounds of the 1998 NBA Playoffs, Jordan and the Bulls got a real challenge from the Indiana Pacers, led by Hall of Famers Reggie Miller and then head coach Larry Bird where they pushed the Bulls to their only second Game 7 during their championship run.
In the end, the Bulls prevailed winning the series 4-3 and faced the Jazz once again in The Finals.
Trailing the 86-83 with 41.9 seconds remaining in the Game 6, Jordan off an inbounds pass scored on a drive to the hoop to cut the deficit to one. He followed up by forcing a turnover as he cut behind Malone being guarded by Rodman in the low post, dribbled the length of the court, eyed his defender in Bryon Russell and then with 10 seconds left dribbled right, crossed over to his left, pushed Russell away from him and hit the eventual game-winner right to the left of the foul line that gave the Bulls a 87-86 win, clinching their second three-peat and sixth title in the last eight seasons.
Why did Michael Jordan Have the Kind of Career he had? He always played at a high level every night. Never cheated the game and what is has been always about. Above all, he was always present at every moment he needed, and had a solid support system that kept him focused.
Jordan’s NBA career began at a time in the NBA at time where cocaine and drugs were very prevalent in “The Association.”
There was one night Jordan mentioned in the documentary when during the preseason in Peoria, IL at the team hotel he was looking for his teammates and when he knocked on this one door, and when he opened it when someone said to enter, he saw practically the whole team in that one room consuming drugs.
Jordan in that moment scattered because he said if the place gets raided and he was a part of it, he would be just as guilty as everyone in that room.
“And from that point on, I was for more or less on my own,” he said.
During this time, MJ lived in a townhouse that longtime sportswriter for the Chicago Sun-Times Rick Telander said living like he was still a collegian.
Jordan said that he enjoyed just hanging out at his home with his buddies playing cards and watching movies, and not going out clubbing or smoke. He did not even drink at that time. He was just looking to rest his body so he could get up and make a name for himself on the professional hardwood.
His teammate in his first year Rod Higgins, who played for the Bulls from 1982-85 said that “orange juice and 7UP” was Jordan’s go to.
In Jordan’s first three seasons he had three head coaches in Kevin Loughery as a rookie, Stan Albeck in his second season, and Doug Collins for the next three seasons.
While things came together under Coach Jackson, who Jordan won six Larry O’ Brien trophies alongside his final eight seasons with the team, it is the lessons he learned under those three prior coaches that made Jordan the winner he became.
Jordan seemed poised to lead the Chicago Bulls to consecutive playoff appearances for the first time since their six straight appearances from the 1970-75 under then head coach Dick Motta.
Those dreams were shattered when in the third game of the season on Oct. 29, 1985 at the Golden State Warriors, Jordan went up for a lob dunk and landed flat footed.
Through a cat scan, it was revealed that Jordan had broken his left foot and his season was all but done, and so were the Bulls hopes of making the playoffs.
Up to that point, Jordan had never missed a game from high school to college to his first season in the pros.
During that second season, where Jordan missed 64 games because of that broken foot, and said he was “anxious,” and “irritable” to many people in his circle.
Jordan was so itching to do something that he talked Bulls management into letting him go back to the University of North Carolina, where he went from working out in the pool to working out in the gym shooting. That led to him playing, one-on-one, two-on-two, three-on-three and then five-on-five, without the Bulls knowledge.
Once Jordan got back with the Bulls, Jordan said that his calf muscles and his injured calf was stronger than his uninjured calf.
“We did not know he was playing, until he came back and told us,” GM Krause said of that moment back in 1986 about how he been playing for 90 minutes that last week.
Jordan had asked the doctors what percentage is it that he would rebreak that left foot? He was told 10 percent by the doctor.
Reinsdorf then chimed in to asking what is the consequence of that 10 percent kicking in? The doctor’s answer was that Jordan’s basketball career would be over.
After the back of forth of weighing the risk and the reward, both sides reached a compromise where Jordan did come back and played but could only play a specified amount of minutes of seven each half.
Jordan became so frustrated with what was taking place that he said to Coach Albeck to give him the most important seven minutes of each half that he could think about.
The Bulls began to win and the dreams of making the playoffs began to come to fruition. In a critical game at the Indiana Pacers on Apr. 3, 1986, Albeck got as Jordan said “berated” by management saying that if MJ was in one second beyond the 14-minute limit that he would be axed “on the spot.”
Jordan in those 14 minutes piled up the points and got the Bulls in position to win trailing 108-107 with 31 seconds left.
He begged Coach Albeck to put him in and he refused because he did not want to lose his job.
The day was saved thanks to John Paxson, who made the eventual game-winning jumper with 07.0 seconds left.
“Fortunately, I get lucky and throw some shot in, and we end up winning game,” Paxson said of his shot that won the game for the Bulls 109-108 and got them into the playoffs.
In what was supposed to be a joyous moment for the Bulls organization was not because Coach Albeck Paxson said “locked” the door to the locker room keeping Krause out.
Author of “Rare Air” Mark Vancil said that it was that moment where the distrust with Jordan and the Bulls front office took shape because he felt that they “violated” the one thing aspect that Jordan conducted his life that you perform at the “highest” level, and you do it to “win all the time.”
Jordan would finally get a coach who had the same mentality to win at all cost the next three years when the Bulls hired Doug Collins.
Jordan’s backcourt mate from 1985-94 in John Paxson, who now works in the Bulls front office said that they needed a leader on the sidelines who would bring the “energy” and “enthusiasm” that was necessary for them.
Coach Collins, who also was a renowned as a great color analyst for Turner Sports, NBA on NBC and ESPN in the 1990s and 2000s was Jordan said was a “breath of fresh air” that the Bulls needed because he wanted to win as badly as he wanted.
That respect between Jordan and Collins was on full display in the Bulls first game under their new lead man on the sidelines on Nov. 1, 1986 at the Knicks where with two minutes left in a tie game, Collins said he was soaking wet with sweat and that he chewed his gum to a powder, which got all around his mouth and suddenly he saw a hand come out with a cup of water. It was Jordan, who looked at him and said to Collins to drink the water to clean that chewed up gum from his mouth and that he would win the game for the Bulls.
Jordan did, scoring the last 10 points, finishing with a then new Madison Square Garden record for a single player on the visiting team 50 points, giving Collins his first head coaching victory in the NBA.
Collins remembered being on the plane heading back to Chi-Town after that win in New York saying that Jordan’s play was something that he had “never seen before.”
The Bulls really blossomed in Collins’ third season when they won their first playoff series since 1981 when Jordan hit the game-winning jumper at the buzzer in Game 5 of the opening round at the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the series 3-2.
A big motivator for the Bulls in that game was that the three main beat writers for the Bulls in Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun-Times, Kent McDill of the Daily Herald and Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune picked the Cavaliers to win the series in three, four and five games respectably. Banks picked the Cavaliers in a three-game sweep.
Right before the start of the game, Jordan walks over to where the three beat writers were standing and said that they took care of Banks and McDill, and now they will take care of Smith today.
The main reason Collins only last three seasons with the Bulls is that he would not implement assistant coach Tex Winter’s famed “Triangle Offense” that he developed as the head coach of Kansas State University in the 1960s.
Collins would not hear of it and got to the point that he banned Winter from the bench as well as coaching during practice, to where he was relegated to taking notes, which made Krause very unhappy Jordan said.
Jackson, who was an assistant coach during this time after being suggested by Krause to pick the brain of who the Bulls’ GM called the “greatest basketball man” that he has ever known.
What also happened around this time, Coach Collins had a feeling that Jackson would be his successor.
Krause did make Jordan aware that he was going to do something that might “rock” the franchise, which he did in giving Collins the axe on July 7, 1989.
Three days later, Krause announced Collins’ successor in Jackson as the new head coach of the Bulls.
“For the last two years, Phil Jackson has been a very integral part of this organization and he’s now ready to be a head coach,” Krause said at Jackson’s introductory pressure on July 10, 1989.
In that same pressure, Jackson was asked had he talked to Jordan yet, which Jackson replied, “yes I have.”
Jackson said that Jordan told him on being the new head coach of the Bulls, “Congratulations. Let’s go win a championship.”
They would go on to win championships beginning as mentioned in the 1990-91 season. Unlike years past where Jordan dominated the offense he learned through the teachings of Jackson and Winters how to trust Pippen, Grant, Paxson, Cartwright and then later Kerr, Rodman, and others.
It was not easy though as Jordan in both practice and in games rode his teammates hard demanding perfection and outright focus.
It would payoff in the ends starting in the fourth quarter of Game 5 in the 1991 Finals where following a timeout where Coach Jackson asked him who was open when he got doubled? Jordan said “Paxson.” So, Jackson said to get him the ball when he was open. Jordan did, and Paxson made the Lakers pay and Bulls won the game 108-101 and their first title.
In the Game 6 clincher at the Suns in the 1993 Finals, it was Paxson who hit the eventual game-winning three-pointer that won the Bulls their third straight title.
In Game 6 of the 1997 Finals, it was Kerr who was the role of hero when he hit the eventual game-clinching jumper to win the Bulls their aforementioned fifth title in the last seven seasons.
That moment of triumph was born out of a fight in a practice where Jordan got after Kerr, which led to Jordan hitting him the now three-time champion head coach of the Golden State Warriors in his eye.
Jordan was kicked out of practice that day but did apologize to Kerr for that infraction and that bonded the two as well as the team.
As important as his coaches and teammates were to Jordan, there was one person who became an important part of his inner circle, his security team.
That security team was headed by Gus Lett, a well-known police officer who went from being a patrolman to the rank of Sergeant, and he along with some close friend worked security at the United Center.
Sergeant Lett befriended Jordan when the Bulls drafted MJ and their working relationship, which developed into a friendship began in Jordan’s second year when he was rehabbing from that serious foot injury.
Mr. Lett would meet with Jordan when he arrived at the old Chicago Stadium to help him get to the locker room and his seat on the bench.
He was especially helpful in keeping Jordan safe when he walked to and from the locker room when meeting with the press or with the number of fans that wanted to see “His Airness.”
“He was a great protector for me,” Jordan said of Lett. “When people are around, they think they’re entitled to certain things. Gus would put them straight. That was Gus. He’s a protector. But he was more than that, and I saw him for being more than that.”
Mr. Lett and his wife Tisher, were especially present for Michael when his father was murdered on July 23, 1993 in Lumberton, NC.
Mrs. Lett said in the documentary that there were times that Jordan would call at 2 a.m. and he would be there in a second, and that is how Jordan said Mr. Lett became a “father figure” to him.
Jordan returned the favor when Mr. Lett was diagnosed with lung cancer. He was with the Lett’s in the hospital when he got diagnosed and he called every chance he got to check on how they were both doing.
Mr. Lett took a leave of absence from Jordan’s security detail while he got his treatments to get better, and while he looked frail, he was able to be there for Jordan for Game 7 of the Conference Finals versus the Pacers.
“He was inspiration for me. You know, I wanted to win this game,” Jordan said.
The Bulls won Game 7 versus the Pacers, 88-83 and Jordan got the game ball, and gave it to Sergeant Lett, which he said, “That’s alright.”
Every person who is of great significance has five W’s-Who, What, Where, When, and Why. The 10-Part Documentary series “The Last Dance” gave us the five W’s of Michael Jeffery Jordan and the journey from childhood to the climb to championship great he and the Chicago Bulls rose to.
Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 10-Part Documentary series on ESPN “The Last Dance,” presented by State Farm from Apr. 19-May 17; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chicago_Bulls_seasons; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Ws; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jordan.
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