‘The Last Dance’:
Why ESPN’s Michael Jordan series was wildly successful.
Ten episodes, five nights and a month later, “The Last Dance” is over.
The ESPN miniseries about the Bulls’ 1997-98 season was a much-needed presence in a world without live sports, especially no NBA.
Here are the main takeaways from the entire 10-part series:
Winning above all else
“The Last Dance” provided a look into Jordan’s maniacal pursuit of championships.
He pushed himself and pushed and pulled his teammates, and it didn’t matter who or what was in his way, he was going to find a way over or around the obstacle.
The defeats were crushing, especially against those Detroit Pistons teams he reviled, and when Jordan figured out how to win a championship, he never lost a title in a full season he played from 19911998.
“Once you joined the team, you live by a certain standard that I played the game, and I wasn’t going to take any less,” Jordan said.
He forsake popularity and dealt with any criticism in his cold-blooded, singleminded pursuit of winning, and in the end, he won six titles.
‘The Last Dance’ was not a documentary
Jordan had to green-light the project, close associates were executive producers and Jordan had a financial stake (which he planned to donate to charity) in the series.
It’s difficult to have an objective view from that baseline.
There is a lot about this series that felt like a documentary, especially the insider-access video footage culled by the NBA.
But there is much of it that’s not, including a lack of prominent voices, unchecked statements and the viewpoint of others to challenge narratives.
As ESPN’s Rachel Nichols pointed out, this is Jordan’s version of events. The show highlights some of the less appealing aspects of Jordan’s NBA career, but he confronts those details on his terms and with his angle and justifications.
Jordan wanted to crush Krause, Isiah
All these years later, Jordan still had bones to pick with former Bulls general manager Jerry Krause and Hall of Famer and former Detroit Pistons guard Isiah Thomas.
He picked those bones clean as the film went after both men.
Thomas, as has been noted, wasn’t blameless in the feud, but Jordan, as we’ve seen, can’t let bygones be bygones. At least Thomas is around to defend himself and tell his side of the story.
Krause died in 2017, nor was there much offered up in the way of Krause’s defense. Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf gave a lukewarm defense.
Was Krause a perfect GM? No, but who is? He still made Phil Jackson the head coach, put together six championship teams, acquired Scottie Pippen in a draft-day trade and after the first Bulls three-peat, he rebuilt the team with all different players except for Jordan and Pippen and won three more titles. And he found players who worked well not only with Jordan but with Jackson’s triangle offense.
It would have been nice if the show would have given him more credit.
The slights and grudges
What was known but was furthermore illuminated: Jordan’s penchant for carrying grudges and using slights (some perceived, some outright invented) to motivate himself.
We saw this over and over and over. If he felt snubbed, he made it a point to exact some kind of revenge. It’s a familiar theme. When Barkley won MVP in 1993, Jordan said he would just win the title and Finals MVP. Same thing when he was compared to Clyde Drexler before the 1992 Finals.
Jordan’s reign kept other greats from titles
“The Last Dance” didn’t focus on this directly as much it did indirectly but it was still noticeable: Jordan and the Bulls prevent Hall of Famers and great teams from winning titles.
There’s Clyde Drexler and the Portland Trail Blazers, Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks, Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers, Karl Malone and John Stockton and the Utah Jazz, Gary Payton and the Seattle SuperSonics and Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns.
Remembering James Jordan
Jordan’s father was a significant part of his life. Michael wanted his dad around as often as possible and made sure that happened.
Throughout the “The Last Dance,” we see James Jordan – in the locker room, in the stands – serving as his son’s unofficial spokesperson and going with Jordan to the casino the night before a playoff basketball.
Jordan and his dad shared an appreciation of baseball, and that’s why Jordan gave that a try. He said playing baseball was the topic of conversation in their last discussion before James Jordan was murdered.
And Jordan’s emotions were palpable when he won his first title after his dad’s death.
“This is for Daddy,” Jordan said when the Bulls beat the SuperSonics. “I’m very happy for him.”
Some of the most emotional moments of “The Last Dance” center around Jordan’s father.
MJ, the perfect pitchman
“Must be the shoes.”
“Be Like Mike.”
Yes, athletes were well-compensated endorsers before Jordan. But Jordan changed the game with Nike, Gatorade, McDonald’s, Hanes, Wheaties and others, and his charisma, smile, good looks and global appeal helped sell products.
He parlayed his deal with Nike into his own company, Jordan Brand, under the Nike umbrella, and he thrives as a seller of athletic gear, including his shoes, which remain top-sellers even though he hasn’t played a game in nearly two decades. Sneaker culture wouldn’t be what it is today without Jordan’s influence.
Jordan is the world’s richest athlete, worth $2.1 billion according to Forbes, which estimated Jordan earned $145 million in 2019.
Jordan and his agent/business manager, David Falk, knew how to sell and market Jordan. It was brilliant right down to the name of the shoes (Air Jordans) and gave others after him a textbook to follow. Jordan starred in the first “Space Jam,” LeBron James will star in the next one.
Enjoyable Easter eggs
Throughout the 10 episodes, unexpected nuggets delighted the viewer:
❚ Jerry Seinfeld inside the Bulls locker room and making a joke about a play drawn on the whiteboard.
❚ A young Bob Costas doing sports for Chicago TV station WGN.
❚ Jordan riding his bike around the North Carolina campus.
❚ Bobby Knight on Jordan before Jordan became Jordan: “I think he’s the best athlete I’ve ever seen play basketball, bar none. If I were going to pick people with the best ability I’d ever seen play the game, he’d be one.”
❚ Scenes from the greatest basketball scrimmage ever between members of the 1992 U.S. Olympic Dream Team.
❚ Only a Jordan show could get not one but two former U.S. presidents to participate in interviews about sports: Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.