The Last Dance: In Praise of One Lone Gold Hoop Earring

anyone who believes Stern forced him out understands nothing about how things work. "let's get read of the league's meal ticket, because word that he's a gambling addict mayyyyy come out. But after 1.5 seasons he can come back". Conspiracy theories are a mental disease.

Who here believes that it was MJ's "style" as a teammate that got the Bulls their championships vs it was just his talent that pushed them over the top?

Is there an example of someone as competitive as Jordan who wasn't an asshole to his teammates? Is his competitiveness the reason he was the best of all time? He kinda seems to think so.

xpost Yeah it’s that whole thing of avoiding processing the tragedy as an act of chaos - it’s funny how the need to put concrete reasons behind the murder and have it ~make sense~ ironically allows for ideas that have little to no connection w reality

Kobe was not known for being easy to get along with...

Is there an example of someone as competitive as Jordan who wasn't an asshole to his teammates?

Giannis ??

i feel like duncan is a good example of a player with that same drive to win, same passion, different skillset and different mindset

sidebar I Loved this moment too <3

Favorite moment of the week #lastdance
Pippen calling Jordan back 😬 pic.twitter.com/FkFXMZLzxM

— Saymyname (@iamabhiramhari) May 11, 2020

i only watched him at the VERY end of his career but I believe Kareem was ultra-competitive and a good teammate

the playoff game that Pippen sat out the last play on was ultra-painful to relive. I can totally see Cartwright crying about it in the locker room.

good call on Duncan

Who here believes that it was MJ's "style" as a teammate that got the Bulls their championships vs it was just his talent that pushed them over the top?

He was a dick and it was unnecessary. There's ways to "hold your teammates to your own high standards" without being a dick, I'm sure of it.

VG, that was my favorite moment too.

scottie is super cool.

man i forgot about keith van horn

Scottie is super cool*

*except when punking out on his own team by sulking over who gets to throw the buzzer beating shot. CMON SCOTTIE

i don't fully subscribe to the jay kang 'scottie was right' theory, but...

Scottie was right. Are you kidding me. He put aside everything for 3 chips, got underpaid and they want him to inbound the ball to some rookie who doesn’t play defense?

— kang👎 (@jaycaspiankang) May 11, 2020

rmde

petty-ass gradeschool bullshit

Shouldn’t you be inbounding to guys who are good at offense

THANK YOU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB64fvG5zdw

yeah lol, i agree that it was a punk move on scottie's part, but i kinda resent the fact that this one thing is apparently the career-defining moment for him, not the decades' worth of deference and selfless play.

the huge fight in the second quarter from that clip is shrugged off as no big deal; if that happened in 2019/2020 it would've been a GARGANTUAN story
i miss scrappy ball, ron artest has a lot to answer for

good on dick versace for offering his head as butterfly cocoon

i wanted so badly to draw droopy ears and a black nose on him like a dog

Kukoc's game winner was an incredible shot, kinda sad it was so overshadowed

dude gets the shaft so often! i feel bad for him.

yeah he comes across really well in those interviews, very sensible attitude about all the crazy experiences he had

It's weird how he was never really beloved in Chicago. Liked, sure. I'm guessing because he was foreign when that was a pretty novel thing in American sports.

And yeah fuck Scottie for that. It doesn't mar my opinion of him overall but that's something I'd expect from a preening top ranked hs recruit not an nba veteran with multiple rings.

I think it's remembered so well partly because it seemed out of character

scottie has always been a weird socially awkward dude and an elite player

Dick Versace used to be on the Sunday late night local sports report and I must've missed half of everything he said because I was entranced by his "hair".

it’s like he was too cheap for a toupeé and just glued some cushion filler to his head

it looks SO weird.

I often think about how close the 94 bulls were to winning the title, how they probably would have beaten the rockets etc. And pippen pulled that shit in the midst of it! He was so close to building a legacy for himself as the mvp of a championship team but something inside him couldn’t tolerate Kukoc having a play run for him.

its pretty funny he still feels running a play for kukoc was unacceptable

also notable all these scores in 80s, an ot game in which neither teams gets to 100

xp Yeah I wouldn’t let it mar my opinion of him if he didn’t say he wouldn’t do anything differently if he could go back. wtf

id be apologizing my ass off for the last 25 years but a tip o the cap to him for walking his own path lol

It’s just so damn dumb. Doesnt change how much I like Pippen really at all but it’s like

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/ForcefulWideHoiho-size_restricted.gif

its especially funny considering kukoc hit the shot

I could only be just deeply embarrassed for him rewatching that...like, you won! How does he celebrate?

Scottie saying he’d do the same again is SMDH wtf is wrong with u

weird dude

i guess i find the pippen thing pretty overplayed. it didn't affect the outcome of the game or the series. he apologized right after. he had an out of character moment like all of us have.

the idea that it's a stain on his legacy or something is bizarre to me.

It's a juicy nugget

he’s a generally cool dude who acted like a jerk
that to me is news

I was milling around the concourse at united center before a game during the Chris Duhon-Mike Sweetney Era and a side door opened right by me. Out comes Pippen wearing a Santa hat, pulling a huge wagon full of toys. Shocked, I say "Scottie!" and he extends a handshake. Totally enveloped my tiny girlish hands. He is one lanky dude. I remember having to crane my neck to look him in the eye (I'm 6'1").

worth noting that although it worked out phil's idea of running a play for kukoc probably scanned as insane at the time, he was a rookie who ranked 11th on the team in true shooting. if they wanted to run a play for a shooter there were a couple of guys named steve kerr and bj armstrong.

kukoc hit a very difficult shot, it wasn't a good shot at all

yes, he didn't get a good look, idk what play they were running but process =/ result