Chicago Bulls: The best moments of “The Last Dance” so far

#3: Michael Jordan’s thoughts on being a difficult teammate

Some of the best moments of “The Last Dance” came not from the unreleased footage at the center of the docuseries but from the accompanying interviews themselves. Jordan has had several highlights, and the end of last Sunday’s episode seven was the pinnacle.

Jordan’s intensity and tough style as a teammate is no secret. Stories of him punching teammates were no secret even prior to this documentary. He was always known as a harsh but successful leader who didn’t take it easy on anyone.

At the end of episode seven, Hehir asks Jordan his thoughts on people regarding him as a difficult teammate who wasn’t a nice guy. Jordan seems a bit taken aback, but delivers an eloquent, passionate answer that in my opinion is the best moment of the series so far.

It’s not something that should only be described, so please listen to this clip and read his full words below. To me, it epitomizes who Jordan was as a player. (Via ESPN):

"Once you joined the team, you lived at a certain standard that I played the game. And I wasn’t going to take any less. Now, if that means I had to go in there and get in your *** a little bit, then I did that. You ask all my teammates. The one thing about Michael Jordan was he never asked me to do something that he didn’t ***king do. When people see this they are going say, ‘Well he wasn’t really a nice guy. He may have been a tyrant.’ Well, that’s you. Because you never won anything. I wanted to win, but I wanted them to win to be a part of that as well. Look, I don’t have to do this. I am only doing it because it is who I am. That’s how I played the game. That was my mentality. If you don’t want to play that way, don’t play that way."

It’s one of the only moments in these episodes where Jordan gets emotional. He immediately asks for a break. It’s an intense proclamation from the game’s greatest player about what it took to play on his team, and a perfect way to end the episode.

To me, the best part about it is that it’s one of the only times it feels like Jordan completely drops his guard to show the viewer his real feelings. “The Last Dance” comes to an end Sunday night, but it’s been a great ride for Bulls fans and all fans of the NBA.