Michael Jordan discussed his late father, dropped hints of ‘The Last Dance’ in 2017 interview
More than two years before the first episodes of ESPN’s “The Last Dance” documentary ever aired, Michael Jordan revealed some clues about the secretive project that was still in the works.
In a 2017 interview with Cigar Aficionado magazine, Jordan confirmed a camera crew had followed the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls around the entire season “to capture the last dance.”
He also seemed to know it might not portray him in the best light at all times. “What you will see in that footage is my dedication to the game of basketball. Unwavering dedication, day in and day out,” he told Cigar Aficionado editor and publisher Marvin R. Shanken.
“And being the leader of the team, I hold everyone else accountable for the success. They’re going to get an honest understanding for what winning is about. What leadership is about… I have no problems with people seeing it, as long as they understand the passion, because it’s a strong passion and it’s very raw.”
There are a few other Jordan quotes from the interview that become more interesting with the passage of time.
One example is when Jordan discussed his return to the NBA after taking a year off to play minor league baseball. “That helped me put things in perspective,” he said.
“When I went back to [basketball] I appreciated it even more. So when we won those championships [in 1996, 1997 and 1998] those things mattered to me far more than what I did in ’91, ’92 and ’93. People don’t see that. All they think about is he batted .202, and he struck out a certain number of times. Yeah, OK. But the effort was there and the learning curve and the passion was there.
“That’s what my father and my mother instilled in me. Take a negative and turn it into a positive. Don’t be afraid to fail.”
Jordan said one reason he was such a big baseball fan was because of his late father, James.
“He loved Roberto Clemente. I grew up emulating his footsteps. Who he admired is who I watched. I also grew up a NASCAR fan, a Richard Petty fan. I was more into stock-car racing than I was into anything else,” Jordan said, adding, “The thing I remember the most about my father — and I had him for 32 years — I never look at it from a negative sense. Obviously he was murdered and rarely I do I get the chance to talk about him. I think about him practically every day.”
As for being called the greatest basketball player of all time, Jordan — perhaps the NBA’s ultimate competitor — downplayed the competition.
“That’s one thing my parents taught me very well. Don’t rub success in people’s faces,” he said. “It’s all related to who is watching now. If you ask 20 years from now, I’m pretty sure LeBron [James] may beat me. If you ask me, I can never give you an opinion about things like that.”
MORE MJ DOC:
- Michael Jordan’s No. 2: Why Scottie Pippen was NBA’s best sidekick
- Bob Knight saw Michael Jordan’s greatness long before most
- Takeaways from first episodes of documentary
- Jordan addressed time he walked out of drug-fueled Bulls party as a rookie
