If you didn’t already know about the greatness of Michael Jordan and his legendary Chicago bulls team, the Last Dance would make it pretty clear for you. If I had to describe it in one line, I would say it is every sports fan’s dream documentary.
I’ve always loved getting to know the story behind a successful person’s life. Athletes in particular. How do they handle the pressure, the competition, the constant chit-chat about their lives, the fame, the money, and so on?
I feel like a kid in a candy store when I read stuff like this. I’m always intrigued by how these people reach and stay at a world-class level for so long.
As many of you already know, MJ’s greatness was off the charts. He was a celebrity to celebrities. In sporting terms, he is your favorite player’s favorite player. A man with alienesque features. The greatest to ever step on a court.
What I loved most about the documentary was how raw it was. Nothing was sugar-coated or stretched out more than necessary. Neither did it need anything more or lack anything, it was perfectly balanced.
The documentary was not only about entertainment but it also had a lot of valuable lessons in it.
Here are some of the best lessons I learned from the documentary :
You don’t have to chase money and prestige. Focus on building your value and they will chase you.
Years after his retirement, Michael Jordan is still the most valuable athlete in the world, with a net worth of around 1.7 billion dollars.
When Nike decided to partner up with MJ in the early 80s, they had hoped to generate 3 million dollars in sales over four years. I recently read in an article that the Jordan brand rakes in 3 million dollars every 5 hours today!
So how did he become such a valuable person? And how is he able to still maintain that status to this day?
Michael answers this question perfectly in the documentary.
“If I had averaged 2 points and 3 rebounds a game, I wouldn’t have signed anything with anybody. My game was my biggest endorsement. What I did on the court, and my dedication to the game lead to all this stuff. My game did all the talking.”
Those were not his primary targets though he had all the money and fame. His focus was always on being the best basketball player he can be, and he worked as hard as he can to reach that.
Winning is the only option. You have to do anything to Win.
An interesting fact I learned about MJ was that he wasn’t really a nice guy to be around. You can see it in the documentary and in many of the interviews where people talk about him.
Most of his teammates described him as an ‘asshole’ of a person, and that he had crossed the line numerous times when he would talk things to motivate the group.
Michael’s mentality was simple. He wanted to win at all costs. The hardships that came along the way didn’t really bother him so much because he’d do anything possible to reach the end goal.
As the leader of the team, he wanted his teammates to be with the same mentality as well. And he wasn’t really afraid of making that point straight to your face.
If he finds a teammate that is a little out of the way or nonchalant during practice, he would basically torture him during the sessions and make sure he was on track.
His aura was so intimidating back then that his own teammates were afraid of him. When asked why he answered it in a way that only he can.
“Some people might say, well, he wasn’t really a nice guy. Well, you think like that because you haven’t really won anything” -MJ
That’s it. It’s that simple. He knew how to lead the team to victory, and he wasn’t changing that for anybody.
Another thing I love about Mike was the way he set the example. Not only did he instruct them on what to do, but he also lead from the front.
He talks about this in one of the episodes where he says, “Ask anybody in my team. They would tell you that the one thing about MJ was that he didn’t ask us to do anything that he didn’t fu***** do “
I still remember the time I watched that for the first time. It gave me chills. That’s a real leader right there!
MJ used his dark side as his strength
Michael’s competitive spirit was off the charts. What’s really crazy is that it holds true to this day!
He wanted to compete with people so badly that he even considered that to be a ‘problem’ in a way. When the gambling speculations were going on, he made it clear that he wasn’t addicted to the act of gambling, but the problem for him was that he always wanted to compete at some level.
Whether it was basketball or golf or any activity that people do together, he always wanted the upper hand over the others.
When a person lives with such a mindset it makes it hard for him/her to be liked by people. We wouldn’t normally appreciate someone who always wants to beat us at something and takes everything personally.
What I love about Mike is that he knew how to use that competitive fire inside of him. He knew that it could make him one of a kind.
If you would’ve watched the documentary, you would know that pissing him off might be the worst decision you can make when you are playing against him.
Every word that came out of the opponent’s mouth was motivating for Mike. It was like adding wood to the fire. All you have to do is breathe wrong and he would take that personally and torch you in the game.
Here is a prime example of how crazy he is.
The year was 1993, and the Chicago Bulls hosted the Washington Bullets. Labradford Smith had the best game of his career that night with 37 points in his bag. While MJ on the other hand had a forgettable one.
Apparently, at the end of the game, Smith had tapped Mike on the shoulders and said, “Nice game Mike”. Those 3 words were enough to piss the man off.
They had to play with each other again the next day. Before the game, Mike says to one of his teammates, “In the first half alone, I’m gonna have what he had in the game”.
Guess what happened. He scored 36 points at the end of the first half and went after Labradford Smith the whole game. He humiliated him that night.
There’s still more to this story. It was later revealed that Labradford Smith didn’t really say anything to Mike. He had just made up the story in his head to motivate himself to go after him the next game !!
In a way, he was psychotic. But he knew how to use that as his strength.
Working in a team environment is all about knowing your role and giving your best at it
Every team has one or two ‘alpha-males’ in it. Like how the Lakers had the Magic-Kareem duo and then went on to have the Kobe-Shaq duo, and like how Boston had Larry Bird and so on.
When teams have such dominant people, there tends to be a clash of egos sometimes. Too many people fighting for the ‘best player’ spot, or to take the glory of the game-winning shot is never a good sign.
When it came to the Bulls, they had the alpha of all alphas. It doesn’t get any bigger than Mike.
But the way the team handled that and how well each player knew his role and played accordingly is admirable.
Though they had the best player in the world with them, they understood that he won’t be able to do the job by himself. Each player took the responsibility of doing his job as well as he can.
The team wouldn’t be where it is today without Scottie’s energy, Kerr’s clutch shots, Rodman’s rebounds, and of course, Phil Jackson’s basketball IQ.
And when the game was on the line, the ball was going to one person only. As Scottie describes his thoughts during the last minutes of the ’98 finals, the plan was just to ‘get the hell out of the way’ and let MJ do his thing.
And even MJ himself abided by everything that Phil had planned for the games. He had faith in Phil’s ability to put the pieces together. That is how successful teams are made.
If you have already watched the documentary, let me know your favorite moment from it in the comments. And if haven’t watched it yet, I encourage you to do so. Believe me, if you are a true sports fan, you’ll love it.
Thanks for reading. Have a good day.
Wordsbykenaniah 