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Jonathan White

Anticipation is growing for The Last Dance, the new ESPN and Netflix documentary on Michael Jordan’s sixth championship season with the Chicago Bulls.
The 10-part series, which was rushed to screens from its original air date of June, begins with the first two episodes on Monday, April 20.
Basketball fans are excited to watch the never-before-seen footage of Phil Jackson’s Bulls as they go for their second three-peat but one man is not so sure that everyone will like what they see: Jordan himself.
That is according to series director Jason Hehir in an interview with The Athletic.


“When people see this footage, I’m not sure they’re going to be able to understand why I was so intense, why I did the things I did, why I acted the way I acted, and why I said the things I said”, Hehir recalled Jordan telling him when they met in 2017.
Jordan paid particular attention to his treatment of Scott Burrell, who arrived from the Golden State Warriors and would go on to win his only NBA championship with the Bulls in that 1997-98 season before a career that took him to China, the Philippines and Japan.

The Bulls dynasty was given one final year to dominate.
So, Phil Jackson set the theme for the 1997-98 season: #TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/tJHlEJjyjm
— 30 for 30 (@30for30) April 13, 2020

“When you see the footage, you’re going to think that I'm a horrible guy. But you have to realise that the reason why I was treating him like that is because I needed him to be tough in the play-offs and we're facing the Indiana's and Miami's and New York's in the Eastern Conference.
“He needed to be tough and I needed to know that I could count on him. And those are the kind of things where people see me acting the way I acted in practice, they're not going to understand it.”
There have been many stories of Jordan’s legendary pursuit of greatness and the winning mentality he instilled in teammates, not all of them are complimentary.

Michael Jordan eliminated 20 different Hall of Famers from the postseason and eliminated 6 of them multiple times
He averaged 32.2 PPG on 50% FG against HOF players in his Bulls career, including playoffs
The Last Dance documentary on Jordan will air one week from today on ESPN pic.twitter.com/n7vK6hGHlD
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 12, 2020

Jordan deals with it head on in The Last Dance.
“Look, winning has a price. And leadership has a price. So I pulled people along when they didn't want to be pulled. I challenged people when they didn't want to be challenged. And I earned that right because my teammates who came after me didn't endure all the things that I endured,” he says in episode seven, which will air from May 11.
“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 ass 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 f****** 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.”
That way of playing saw Jordan win six rings with the Bulls, which came in two three-in-a-row wins from 1991-93 and 1996-98. He was named as the Finals MVP all six times.
The series features interviews with Jordan, his former teammates Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen, coach Phil Jackson and former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.


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NBA (National Basketball Association)

Michael Jordan says ‘The Last Dance’ Chicago Bulls series might make him seem a ‘horrible guy’

Basketball legend Michael Jordan is worried about how he will be perceived after a new documentary about his incredible career airs on Netflix. Photo: Reuters

China sports firm illegally used Michael Jordan’s name but did not violate image rights, top court rules

Michael Jordan is a six-time NBA champion who most famously played for the Chicago Bulls. Photo: AP

A Qiaodan brand shoe is seen in a store in Beijing on July 29, 2015. A Beijing court has dismissed a trademark case brought by US basketball superstar Michael Jordan against Qiaodan Sports Co, which uses a similar name and logo to his Nike-produced brand, a report said. The former Chicago Bull is arguably the most popular international basketball star in China and is known in the country as "Qiaodan", a Chinese version of his name. He asked Chinese authorities in 2012 to revoke the trademark of Qiaodan Sports Co, accusing the sportswear firm of misleading consumers about its ties to the six-time NBA champion. AFP PHOTO / GREG BAKER

A pedestrian passes a branch of Chinese sportswear shop Qiaodan Sports in Shanghai on February 23, 2012. Retired NBA superstar Michael Jordan announced on that he has filed a lawsuit in China against Qiaodan Sports Company Limited over unauthorized use of his name as Jordan has been known in China by the name Qiaodan since he became a global basketball star in the 1980s. AFP PHOTO/Peter PARKS / AFP PHOTO / PETER PARKS

Michael Jordan’s Jumpman logo features the former Chicago Bulls shooting guard and a silhouette of the now-retired player performing a dunk. Photo: EPA

Netflix’s Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls series The Last Dance gets April release

Chicago Bulls players Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman during the NBA Eastern Conference semi-finals in May 1998. Photo: AFP

Chinese Kobe Bryant fan ‘happy’ stolen high school jersey back where it belongs

Kobe Bryant's Lower Merion jersey is unveiled in the Bryant Gymnasium during a ceremony at Lower Merion High School. Photo: AP

Sun Yang shot sees Andrew Bogut booed by Chinese fans at Fiba Basketball World Cup in China

Canada’s Kyle Wiltjer in action against Australia’s Andrew Bogut in Dongguan. Photo: Reuters

Sport

Basketball

The Last Dance tells the story of the team’s sixth NBA title in 1998 through interviews and never before seen footage
Teammates Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen, coach Phil Jackson and former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton feature


Netflix and ESPN series The Last Dance tells the story of Chicago Bulls winning sixth NBA title in 1998 through interviews and never before seen footage.


Netflix

TV shows and streaming video

Michael Jordan