How Can We Learn From Michael Jordan?

I almost gave a standing ovation when I finished The Last Dance. It is a masterpiece and I know I will revisit it from time to time. Previously, I wrote about some of the things we can learn from Kobe Bryant, specifically some of his quotes that in some way, shape or form have changed my life. I believe it is easier to understand someone through words and know someone through actions as compared to the other way round. When someone says something, it is an immediate glimpse of how they envision(ed) the/their world. When someone does something, it usually is an obscure subdivision of how they are going to influence the/their world. When someone works out for a day, we say they’re motivated. When someone works out for a decade, we say they’re dedicated. The tipping point between motivation and dedication is blurred. It often only comes at the time when things are done and dusted. Lo and behold, this is the moment when thoughts become things. In Kobe’s words after a post interview with 2–0 Finals lead, “What is there to be happy about? Job is not finished.” Here is a glance of a man on a mission:

That Laker boy is gonna take everybody one-on-one. He don’t let the game come to him. He just go out there and take it.

It is never gonna be enough for everybody, I know that, I realize that. Because everybody has a preconceived idea in terms of what they think I should do or what I shouldn’t do. The way that I go about my life is I set examples. If it inspires you, great. You know, I will continue to do that. If it doesn’t, then maybe I’m not the person that you should be following.

If I had to do it all over again there is no way I’d want to be considered a role model. It’s like a game that’s stacked against me. There’s no way I can win.

My game did all my talking.

When people see this, they gonna say “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 and be a part of that as well. Look, I don’t have to do this. I’m doing it because it is who I am. That’s how I played the game. That was my mentality. If you don’t wanna play that way, don’t play that way. Break.

I shook everybody’s hands. Two years in a row. We shook their hands when they beat us. There is a certain respect to the game that we paid to them. That is sportsmanship, no matter how much it hurts. And believe me, it f — ing hurt.

My mentality was to go out and win, at any cost. If you don’t wanna live that regimented mentality, then you don’t need to be alongside of me, because I’m gonna ridicule you until you get on the same level with me. And if you don’t get on the same level, then it is gonna be hell for you.

Winning has a price. And leadership has a price.

I wanted them to understand what it felt like to be in the trenches. If you don’t understand, then you’re not going to respond when the war starts. Steve and Luc, all those guys, they come in riding high on the three championships that we won in ’91, ‘92… and they had no f — ing, you know… anything to do with it. But yet now they play for the Bulls and they.. no, dude, it’s… it’s… we were shit when I got there and we got to elevate to being a championship-quality team. There is certain standards that you have to live by. You don’t come pussyfooting around. You don’t come in joking and kidding around. You gotta come in ready to play.

My innate personality is to win at all costs. If I have to do it myself, I’m gonna do it. But over the period of getting to the Finals, there have been moments that other guys really expanded their games.

I’m tired as hell. I’m exhausted. But I have one more stop.

I’m collecting my thoughts, but I’m tired. I’m trying to muster up the energy to finish this off.

I ate the pizza. All by myself. Nobody else ate the pizza. I wake up about 2:30, throwing up left and right. [Tim Grover: It is three o’clock in the morning. I get a call in my room. Hey man, come to the room right now. All right, I get in to him. He is literally curled up in a ball, shaking. He goes, “Man, find the team doc. now.”] So really, it wasn’t the flu game. It was food poisoning.

It became personal with me.

I wasn’t a Phil Jackson fan when he first came in. He was coming and taking the ball out of my hands.

He was a new character, but I knew Dennis, and I knew what he could do basketball-wise.

It took us four laps to catch up to Dennis. It was in his psyche. He needed to get away. But, in all honesty, Dennis was always there. He was always on point.

I didn’t win without Scottie Pippen, and that’s why I consider him my best teammate of all time. He helped me so much in the way I approached the game, in the way I played the game. Whenever they speak Michael Jordan, they should speak Scottie Pippen.

We went from a shitty team to one of the all-time best dynasties. All you needed was one little match to start that whole fire.

In ’98, when you’re winning six out of eight, and yet being just as dominant as you were in ’91, that is where the craftsmanship came in. I think ’98 was much better than any of the other years because of how I was able to use my mind as well as my body.

It is maddening, because I think we could’ve won seven. I really believe that. We may not have, but man, to not be able to try, that is something that I just can’t accept. For whatever reason I just can’t accept it.

Would I have signed for one year? Yes, I would have.

Why would I think about missing a shot I haven’t taken?

I’m not a poet. I just spoke what I felt at the time. We’re always gonna be bonded. You say thanks for the past, enjoy the moment. Let’s make sure we end it right.

I guess the biggest positive thing that I can take out of my father not being here with me today is that… he saw my last basketball game and that means a lot. The word “retired” means you can do anything you want from this day on. So if I desire to come back and play again, maybe that is what I want to do. Maybe that is the challenge I may need someday down the road. I’m not gonna close that door.

I was nervous. I hadn’t played competitive in a long time. I felt naked, because my father wasn’t there. So different.

Well, you know, I can’t even put it in words on Father’s Day, what it means to me. I know he is watching. To my wife, and to my kids, to my mother, my brothers and sisters, this is for Daddy. I’m very happy right now.

Thank you, Michael Jordan. Thank you for letting us into your world. I’m sure it wasn’t easy. You swept me off my feet from the start to the last dance. Thank you.