Anstey provides theory on Aussie star’s deafening silence

BASKETBALL: Luc Longley’s silence has been deafening.

He was the first Australian to play in the NBA, the first to win a title and the only one to have won three.

The former Bulls centre started his journey in Perth and ended up forging the path for future Australian basketball hopefuls. He ended playing with the greatest of all time.

But he does not appear in any interviews in the popular documentary The Last Dance, which follows the Chicago Bulls in their 1997/98 season when they captured their sixth NBA championship with Michael Jordan taking centre stage.

Longley (pictured) does not even rate a mention until halfway through the eighth episode of the 10episode series.

Director Jason Hehir said “geography and budget” meant Longley could not be involved.

Longley himself will not even comment on the documentary itself, having changed his mobile phone number after receiving so many text messages requesting interviews.

Now, fellow Australian Chris Anstey – who Longley reached out to when he made his NBA debut with Portland in 1997 – has provided an insight into Longley’s thinking.

While Jordan’s competitive drive made him the greatest basketball player of all time it came at a cost.

Longley, on the other hand, saw the NBA through a different lens according to Anstey.

He hadn’t had the same lifelong dream of making it, he wasn’t one of those “who battled their entire lives for the shot”.

“I gleaned a little about his perspective on fame not being real, his battles in Minnesota and most importantly, his life away from the cameras being more important than his life in front of them,” Anstey said.

While Longley may be silent on the spectacle that was his time at the Bulls for Anstey, Anstey said it spoke to the making of the man – he would not be consumed by the flashing lights.

“My bet is that Luc is not silent to those around him,” he said.

“He is likely sharing a much broader perspective on the phenomenon that he was a part of.

“He is unlikely silent to those who are interested in more than the three and a bit seasons he lived in the centre of the sporting world.”