Michael Jordan was an "amazing" and "unique" player never more comfortable than when he could be "one of the boys," said former Chicago Bulls teammate BJ Armstrong.
Armstrong, now a Los Angeles-based sports agent, who played with the Bulls in the 1991, 1992, and 1993 championship seasons, offered an overview and analysis to the Associated Press during the broadcast of the series. The Last Dance.
Before the premiere of episodes 9 and 10 on May 18, Armstrong shared more of his ideas during a rehearsal, as told by AP basketball writer Tim Reynolds.
BJ Armstrong is guarded by his former Bulls Jordan teammate during the 1998 NBA Playoffs.
It took me a while to realize that Michael Jordan was rarely there when we were together on the road.
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We've been teammates for five seasons, which means we've played more than 200 road games together. Life on the road on a bad day becomes monotonous; You go to dinner, you go to the cinema, sometimes you walk around the city. And whatever we did, Michael was generally not with the group.
He was still in his room. It must have been hard, right? It was then that he hit me. You have to have some personality to absorb the public life that comes with being a superstar.
In the past five weeks, Michael finally showed us what his life was like in The Last Dance series. Netflix.
1h30
It made the game easy.
But being Michael Jordan, and everything that went with it, was not easy.
It all happened gradually and it really took off around 1992 when he went to the Olympics and we won our second championship. It had just exploded on the scene.
Suddenly, he just couldn't do the things we could do. And he never apologized. I remember the little things, now: he stopped shooting before the games, stopped warming up because he thought it could be detrimental to the team. He said, "I don't want to interfere with the team." He always knew our routines and respected them. He always made sure that everyone had their place in the group.
5:16
He was always aware. He always knew what was going on with the group. He had great respect for the dynamics of the team and what we were trying to do and try to achieve together, even if he was clearly this unique individual player.
This boy was amazing, but he was more comfortable being one of the boys. We hadn't seen a player like him. He could score, he could defend, he could rebound. I was so confident. But below, behind the scenes, he knew Michael Jordan was a country boy from North Carolina, and it was that simple for him. He was a young man, basically, who wanted to be one of the boys who loved to play and was ready to do whatever it took.
2:17
Now, has it changed? Yes. But apart from all the other things, basketball has always been the first and most important thing. For me, it was the most impressive thing to see on this trip. It was like that in 1984 and it was like that in 1998. Losing, winning, making movies, anything, was always involved, whatever happened. It is an incredible achievement, incredible because it is so difficult.
What we got by watching (The Last Dance), and I can say it because I played with arguably the best player I have ever played, is that professional sport has never been a show for a player. To me, that is the brilliance of Michael Jordan. He was an incredible and incredible individual player who combined his talents with the team, the talents of the team for him and lived in the midst of these extremes. I don't know how you do this.
7:13
I think it was an absolutely incredible story, and this series came at the right time due to the current situation in which we all find ourselves facing this coronavirus pandemic. And, you know, there were so many lessons to learn.
The most important is that there has been no resignation from Michael Jordan. I was going to find a way (to win). He never made any excuses. Never, never allowed to fear that you could not do something.
And people could say, "Oh no, nobody can do that."
Well, I've seen someone do this for five years. And for the past five weeks, we have all seen it.
Watch The Last Dance, a 10-part documentary series about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls from 1997 to 1998. Netflix through your Sky Q box – Premiere of episodes 9 and 10 Monday