‘Wasn’t in awe of Michael’
Parish recalls his Bullish last season with Jordan
If Robert Parish wanted to catch up on his former self, he’d have little trouble with the COVID-ignited storm of classic NBA programming available right now.
“The Last Dance” would bring back memories from the Hall of Famer’s final NBA season, in 1996-97, when he one-upped old teammates Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Dennis Johnson and won his fourth title.
“I heard it was outstanding,” he said of the heralded ESPN series. “But I haven’t watched any of them — Celtics, Lakers, the Pistons.
“If I didn’t watch the others, why should I watch the Bulls, just on principle? If there were two series I would have watched, it would have been the Celtics and Lakers. When they became the Bulls we know, the Celtics and Lakers were pretty much done.”
Except for Parish, of course, who, at 43, retired as the third-oldest player in league history. And with that age came a seasoned, unimpressed attitude toward NBA stars that initially caught Michael Jordan off guard.
Parish was in a reserve role by then, and managed to irk the GOAT after helping the second unit beat the starters one day in a scrimmage.
“We had a moment. I always felt it was a test. I don’t think anything about it in terms of being harmful or disrespectful. It was just a test. He was trying to see how I was going to react,” said Parish, though it was he who triggered the reaction.
“We were scrimmaging, and so the second unit was tearing the lining out of the first unit,” he said. “After practice I asked Michael, ‘How did you like that asswhupping?’ He took offense to it. The way he reacted was that no one ever talked to him like that — not his teammates anyways. So he took offense to it. Everybody gave Michael his due because he was a leader, the best player on the team. Everyone treated him with reverence, held him in high reverence.
“He said he was going to kick my ass. It never came close to a physical altercation. It was just an exchange of words.”
His history as part of the original Big Three considered, though, Parish had no reason to be in awe.
“I was just the opposite (from the other Bulls), because I played with some of the baddest players to walk on a basketball court,” he said. “Max (Cedric Maxwell), Larry, Kevin, Dennis Johnson, Tiny Archibald, Bill Walton, so why am I going to be in awe of Michael Jordan? That was my approach. I understood why he took offense to me speaking so bigly and in such raw, unfiltered language to him. I understood that. But it was more about the test than him wanting to throw some punches. After that he was cool.
“It was the caliber of talent I had been with. Those guys on the Bulls never played with the caliber of talent like Michael. So I understood why they were all in awe of Michael’s talent. It was the opposite with me. I played with some of the best, in my opinion, ever, so I wasn’t in awe of Michael. He was just another ballplayer to me, yeah.”
Though the two championship environments were similar (Parish spent two seasons in Charlotte between his Celtics and Bulls stops), the leaders had very different styles.
“Larry led by play and example. He wasn’t much of a talker, and wasn’t vocal with his leadership,” said Parish. “And Michael was both. He was vocal and led by example. Michael would get in your face if he felt you weren’t carrying your weight or doing your part.
“But it was stable in Chicago. The best way I could categorize it is that it was similar to my time in Boston. The games were wellcoached, we had camaraderie, we had respect, we had a leader in Larry. The one difference were the type of leaders that Larry and Michael were. That’s the only difference that I saw. But the organizations were both well-run, the teams played hard, played together with good coaches. They were respected by all the players, and it was the same thing in Boston. The coaches were all respected. So it was similar.
“And the weather was (bleeped) up, too, just like in Boston.”