The last dance highlights

Some things I learnt from the MJ documentary: The Last Dance.

Ive said this before and ill say it again: Anyone that has done any amount of decent film study can agree that most of what was said in the documentary series isn’t new, its all stuff I’ve heard and watched before before but here are some things I learnt that I hadn’t picked up before.

1. Scottie Pippen signed a 7 year contract which is almost unethical.

This is absolutely insane because today’s NBA rules state that in signing/ resigning an athlete you have to have to have one year guaranteed and no more than three years optional to the player. So a team can’t sign a player for more than 4 years and if they sign him for 4 years more often than not its a maximum contract offer to peak their interesting in staying with the club. However (make sure you’re sitting down for this), the NBA supermax contract rule or “designated veteran player extension” allow a player with eight or more years of NBA service to signing for the maximum allowed deal (taking into consideration salary cap and his value to the team. At present the highest paid nba athlete is Stephen curry of the Golden State Warriors earning $40.2 MILLION. This was also a 5 year deal so do the math and you’ll see some fairly big numbers.

Now, Scottie Pippen signed for 7 years. While that might not seem so bad he only signed for $18 million. That’s a big number for you and I but it equates to $2.5 million a year. For his workload and contribution some say he should have earned 10x that amount but his thought process was what made it okay, he was trying to secure his future so he could provider for his whole family.

2. MJ was an A**hole!

Watching the documentary ope my eyes to the fact that not ever super star or A list celebrity is who you think they are. Yes, MJ was beautiful to watch on the court but behind the scenes this man was so competitive! He would be shouting like a mad man at practice to get his team mates to the next level. And he NEVER. HELD. BACK. There are a good couple scenes where he is found to be hurling abuse at other guys that should easily dishearten them and make them quit, but that’s where it gets interesting. Through everything MJ threw at them, most, if not all, took it on the chin and went with it. Why??? because they had one goal in mind, the NBA Championship and he was going to drag them kicking and screaming. Personally, that was some really good leadership! He might’ve been seen as an a**hole but constantly tested guys and kept them going and motivated and pushed them to their limits. And I think it worked, just look at the rings!

In modern day basketball we have too much whining and very little leadership. In most cases today if a guy wants to quit the “captain” will more likely than not just leave him and only wqhen coach tells them to they’ll go motivate him. With MJ, he was the motivator.

3. How the media always made a negative a narrative to bring him down.

I knew this was a thing but to the extent to which they took it. ie. his father, his gambling, his attitude towards team mates and the game.

As long as there is media there is going to be rumours. This took me by surprise because I never realised how much influence the media ACTUALLY had in terms of pushing narratives... or trying to at least. The biggest controversy that shocked me was the media saying that MJ had a hand in his fathers death.

There was a lot of speculation as to how James Jordan sr died but the fact that the media outlets tried to point fingers at his son MJ is despicable. This also goes to show how media will push narratives to get some money in and a reaction from people, no matter the cost.

4. MJ was at one point too famous

I’ve read and watched about this team before. Especially the famous “Dream Team practice in Monte Carlo”. At that time of his career, MJ was so famous that his team mates could pretty much walk anywhere in Spain and not be bothered. There’s a story of John Stockton walking around Barcelona with his family and not being noticed. He even jokingly interviewed people and they didn't even notice it who it was till his son pointed to a shirt and said “that's my dad”. On the opposite end of the spectrum and a fan favourite, Charles Barkley was arguably as famous as Mj for their time in Spain.

5. Don’t trash talk the G. O. A. T.

That's all for now, let me know what you think of the series and what you learnt.