Excuse my ignorant, but I didn't know he had punched Steve Kerr and Will Purdue during pratice when he was with the Bulls. Excerpt: "Michael punched out two nice-guy teammates during practice -- Steve Kerr and Will Perdue. Michael ran off a coach, Doug Collins, in part because of their soap-opera feud. Michael was often at war with an opposing player or the Chicago media." I knew Jordan wasn't the most innocent basketball player around, but it came to a shock to me to know he punched two of his teammates. I wonder whats his motives were...I mean Kerr and Purdue? C'mon..... I'm a big fan of Jordan and the Bulls and since after he got his last ring, all of these negativity of his keeps on creeping out. I admire Jordan not just for his basketball skills but also b/c I thought he was one of more humble and respectfull guy on and off the court. I admit, I'm little disappointed in him right now and I felt a sense of betrayer as a fan. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=bayless/041217
Yeah he's allegedly a giant ******* due to his ultracompetitiveness, which is also what made him great. He apparently decided to torment/ruin Rodney McCray back in 1991. The bulls signed Rodney to a contract (who was coming off a nasty abdominal injury and at the end of his career ) to be a role player. For whatever reason, Michael and Scottie decided that they didn't like Rodney which makes no sense as Rodney was IIRC, a class act andalways a quiet, inoffensive nice guy type. Michael and Scottie took it upon themselves to punish him in practice every single day, physically, mentally, and spiritually, and to dunk on him, trash talk him, and abuse him until his spirit was broken and he was a mess on the court and fell out of the rotation.
There's a saying: 'Don't sit too close at a ballet, it'll ruin the magic' With icons and celebrities, especially movie and sports stars, the outward image is very rarely what you get. Nearly all of these stars are surrounded by media-savy professionals whose job it is to make them look like all-american darlings. The biggest stars rise not just because of their talents but also because of their public acceptance. If the industry knows the public both loves you and is in awe of you, you're gold. Jordan understood that and played the game (both of them) perfectly. Kobe thinks he knows the game, but can't always get past his pettiness and selfishness. That's the key difference. Another nugget that wasn't always common knowledge - Larry Bird was not friends with McHale and Parish or most of his teammates. He was a fairly difficult teammate himself. Playing the game, you can certainly play with people you don't like, but if there is a mutual respect for each other and the team goals, you can look past it and later be proud of being on that team. If you're playing with someone that puts themselves over the team, it's a different story. Evan
I thought the Kerr/Cartwright/Purdue things were common knowledge. It just made him that much greater. Kerr became a better player afterward...Will Purdue will always be remembered for the Mask he wore for what seemed like 8 years, and well, Bill Cartwright won a title cause of Jordan.
Except Cartwright told him to shove it and MJ shut up after that. He got in Perdue's (not Purdue) and basically treated him like the shyte player he was, but he only punched Kerr because Kerr was playing slap-happy defense on Jordan during practice. Oh, and Bayless is a moron...
Can you imagine Jordan and Dream on the same team? Jordan would have shown up to game with black eye for not giving Dream his change.
Exactly. He played the game w/ such passion and desire, and he expected the same out of teammates. Tempers are bound to flare when that happens. Kobe more athletic than Jordan? Are you kidding me....
Uh, Bird didn't punch teammates. Bird didn't run guys like Rodney McCray and Kwame Brown into the ground, just for ****s. Bird didn't keep a team bus waiting so he could finish a half-court shooting contest with a teammate who had already won and wanted to stop. Bird didn't sit on a $33 million per year salary at the end of his career and refuse to give any of it up so he could stay together with his egregiously underpaid superstar teammate(s). The reason the Bulls didn't stay together longer was precisely because Jordan put himself over the team.
I wouldn't go around assuming Bird never had a fight with his teamates. As far as Jordan's salary, he was GROSSLY underpaid the years before his first retirement and never complained. And why would he give up salary for better teamates when he is winning championships.
He didn't need better teammates. Had he taken a paycut down to something like, I don't know, $25 million (I know, he was barely getting by as it was, but what can you do), then Pippen wouldn't have had to keep on trucking with his $6 million or so and might not've demanded the Bulls get him out of there.
