Last night’s premiere of The Last Dance was easily the most interesting and entertaining two hours of sports TV I’ve seen in decades. Granted, my taste might be a little off. After all, it was the first new thing in the wide world of sports since the worldwide lockdown five weeks ago. Therefore, this was like feeding filet mignon to a starving man.
The 10-part documentary series takes an in-depth look at the Chicago Bulls’ dynasty through the lens of the final championship season in 1997-98. The Bulls allowed an NBA Entertainment crew to follow the team around for that entire season, and some of that never-before-seen footage will be featured in the documentary.
In addition, ESPN spoke to more than 100 people close to the team and personalities who experienced the run, exploring all angles of the Jordan phenomenon.
ESPN will air two episodes on five consecutive Sunday nights. Here’s my takeaway from episodes 1 and 2:
Tom Brady spent his entire career with the New England Patriots making sure every member of his team got paid. This meant continually restructuring his contracts and taking far less than market value.
Michael Jordan spent his entire career with the Chicago Bulls making sure only he got paid. This meant that he was always demanding and getting market value – such that, in his last year with the team, he got $33.1 million but no teammate got over $5 million.
Mind you, this was the case even though Michael was making more each year from NIKE and other commercial endorsements than he was from his NBA contract.
So, WTF, Mike?
But here’s the real kick in the gut:
On more than one occasion, we hear Michael admitting that he could not have won any of his six championships without Scottie Pippen. Of course, anyone who knows anything about the NBA knows this was the case.
But what Batman worth his salt would allow his Robin to be treated so poorly for so many years that he ends up like Pippen. Because we see Pippen
- playing childish mind games with the Bulls’ front office to get more like the $25 million a year he deserved, instead of the niggardly $2.75 million they were paying him;
- issuing ultimatums that nobody paid any attention to;
- sitting at the back of the team bus and hurling obscenities at the general manager up front during trips;
- showing clear signs of resentment, if not clinical depression;
- envying the contracts far lesser teammates had negotiated over the years; and
- daring to show the world that he was as indispensable as Michael, but to no avail.
No doubt Pippen had just cause to be pissed. And, notwithstanding the Brady paradigm above, perhaps the more compelling juxtaposition at play was between Michael’s prevailing greed and Pippen’s earnest but misguided need to contract for as much money as possible when he began his career. Because this left Pippen making chump change when everyone else was making millions just a few years later.
For Christ’s sake, the Bulls had benchwarmers who were making more. But this ESPN tweet says it all:
Scottie Pippen was the 122nd-highest-paid player in the NBA in ’97-98, but was easily one of the best players in the league.
— ESPN (@espn) April 20, 2020
The point is that Michael knew the deal. And he should have found this as unacceptable as Pippen found it unfair. Apropos of which, Michael had the balls to warn the Bulls that
If you fire coach Phil Jackson, I’m not playing for any other coach.
The owner caved, paving the way for the Bulls’ iconic sixth-championship season that is playing out in The Last Dance.
Michael could easily have done the same for Pippen. This, especially at the height of their run, after their fourth championship, when he was the most popular person on the planet and had unparalleled and unprecedented bargaining power.
The owner would’ve caved because, back then, he’d sooner sell the team than even risk losing both Michael and Pippen. So, for example, Michael could have warned the Bulls that
If you don’t renegotiate Scottie’s contract to pay him closer to what my indispensable sidekick is worth, I’m not playing.
Surely you must wonder why this never happened, no?
That said, there’s no explaining why Pippen allowed the Bulls to add insult to the injury they inflicted all those years. Yahoo Sports reported this very Pippenesque exchange on April 15, which occurred during his appearance on the Thuzio Live and Unfiltered podcast:
‘You’re an ambassador for the Bulls, is that right?’ host Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune asked Pippen while introducing him.
‘I was,’ Pippen replied. ‘I got fired this year. I didn’t really want it to be out in the public, but I’m no longer employed by the Bulls.’
Yes siree, Bob! That’s passive-aggressive Scottie – still taking it like a champ/chump. Hell, you abuse a dog enough, even it will have enough sense to eventually run away.
Michael is clearly the NBA’s GOAT. Unfortunately, Pippen is arguably its greatest goat of all time.
Again, this was great television. But, truth be told, I’ve already seen enough to know that this series can only reinforce or, given the flak I got, vindicate what I’ve written about Michael over the years in commentaries like “Coach Phil Jackson on Michael vs. Kobe,” May 30, 2013, and “Michael Jordan on Racist Tirade by Owner of NBA’s LA Clippers,” April 28, 2014.
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