They are the sport’s most famous team, but their story hasn’t fully been told. Until now.
ESPN Films’ highly anticipated documentary series “The Last Dance” about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls’ chase for a sixth NBA Championship in 1998 premiered in Canada Monday and based on what we’ve seen, it lives up to the hype.
The series was rushed to completion and is airing almost two months earlier than its original anticipated air date to feed sports fans yearning for content during our current void in live sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The backdrop of the film is set during the 1997-98 season, when Jordan and the Bulls completed their misson of winning a sixth NBA title in eight years. “The Last Dance,” was the term legendary coach Phil Jackson called it, due to the fact there was friction between the organization’s front office and the world’s most popular player and team.
Director Jason Hehir, who also made ESPN Films’ “The Fab Five” and the 30 for 30 “The ’85 Bears” conducted 108 interviews over two years to make the film.
Be forewarned “The Last Dance” contains strong adult language and, spoiler alert, if you don’t want to know what happens in the series you’d be best served stop reading now.
No matter what you do, however, do yourself a favour and watch the series.
Sportsnet had the pleasure of previewing the series and throughout its rollout we’ll be breaking down the notable takeaways of each episode via the quotes that stood out and signified that chapter in the Bulls’ story.
Sportsnet’s Donnovan Bennett and Faizal Khamisa go in-depth on the first two episodes of The Last Dance on the latest episode of Free Association. You can check out their discussion here.
Availability in Canada on Netflix
Episodes 1 and 2 – Monday, 20 April at 12:01 a.m. PT
Episodes 3 and 4 – Monday, 27 April – 12:01 a.m. PT
Episodes 5 and 6- Monday, 4 May – 12:01 a.m. PT
Episodes 7 and 8 – Monday, 11 May – 12:01 a.m. PT
Episodes 9 and 10 – Monday, 18 May – 12:01 a.m. PT
Episode 1
Notable interview subjects: Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Michael Wilbon, J.A. Adande, Bill Wennington, David Aldridge, David Stern, Bob Costas, Deloris Jordan (Michael’s mother), Roy Williams, James Worthy, Patrick Ewing, Pat Riley, Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, Barack Obama, Ahmad Rashad, Steve Kerr.
Quote of the episode: “Players and coaches alone don’t win championships, organizations do.” – Jerry Krause
What? Isn’t it, “Organizations are only as good as their players and coaches.”
The Bulls happened to have the best in both category at the time and the amount that Jerry Krause is depicted as openly wanting to tear down a dynasty is remarkable.
The documentary details how the Bulls were not as popular as the Chicago Bears, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs or even the Chicago Blackhawks when Jordan arrived. In fact, their greatest competition was the local indoor soccer team. The fact that Krause wasn’t appreciative of the juggernaut he built is astounding.
Krause was a baseball scout with the White Sox who then tried to shoot his shot and be an NBA general manager. Against all odds, he was great at assembling a team but not great at building a culture.
In the episode it’s revealed that he was so petty in wanting the credit that was going to Phil Jackson that he invited the entire team to his stepdaughter’s wedding and invited the man he wanted to be the next coach of the Bulls, Tim Floyd, but didn’t invite Jackson.
“I think Jerry Krause was looking forward to a clean slate and rebuilding,” said Jackson.
The Bulls have tried multiple rebuilds and never been back to that level since.
Bonus quote: “That turned my name from Mike, to Michael Jordan. It gave me the confidence I needed to excel in the game of basketball.” – Jordan on his game winning shot to win the NCAA National Championship.
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Episode 2
Notable interview subjects: Scottie Pippen, David Aldridge, Michael Jordan, Bill Clinton, Charles Oakley, Phil Jackson, Steve Kerr, Bill Wennington, Roy Williams, Larry Bird, Danny Ainge, Magic Johnson.
Quote of the episode: “I had a ruptured tendon in my ankle, and I decided to have surgery late because I was like, ‘You know what, I’m not going to [expletive] my summer up trying to rehab for a season.’ You know they’re not going to be looking forward to having me so I’m going to enjoy my summer and I’ll use the season to prepare.” – Scottie Pippen
Scottie Pippen, or Scott Pippen, as he was referred to on draft night as David Stern reads his name in the documentary, is the most compelling figure in the second episode.
Pippen was load managing before we even knew what that was, but it wasn’t an organizational decision, it was his own. One that Jordan criticizes him for in the series.
Pippen was undergoing a bitter contract negotiation with ownership and was marred in trade rumours. Out of frustration, he chose to delay off-season surgery out of spite. Well before Jackson would deal with Shaquille O’Neal rehabbing on company time, Jackson had Pippen doing the same thing with the then-Bulls coach, who is also at odds with management, actually supporting the decision by Pippen.
Pippen signed a deal in 1991 for seven years, opting for security over flexibility. The doc tells the story of his family hardship as his father suffered a stroke and his brother was paralyzed in a wrestling accident leaving two wheelchair-bound family members in his home. As such, when you go from being the equipment manager at the University of Central Arkansas to an NBA lottery pick, the natural inclination is to get paid as much as you can for as long as you can.
But the explosion of the game thanks to the Bulls’ popularity — plus expansion fees and basketball becoming more international after the 1992 Olympics — meant that by the time the deal was coming to a close, Pippen was embarrassingly underpaid.
Pippen wasn’t just the second-best player on his team he may have been the second-best player in the league at the time but was only sixth-highest paid player on the Bulls and 122nd-best paid in the league.
When Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who tried to convince him not to sign such a long deal, refused to let Pippen out of the contract the trust there was broken.
Bonus quote: “We ended up winning the series, but it was an incredible, incredible playoff performance. I’ve never seen it before, and I’ve never seen it after. That wasn’t Michael Jordan out there, that was God disguised as Michael Jordan.” – Larry Bird on Jordan taking on the Boston Celtics in just his second NBA season.
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