The Last Dance. Debrief #1 - Phil Jackson, the Equilibrist
One of the most anticipated sports documentaries has arrived. The first two episodes of the Last Dance have been available since last Sunday. I found them to be very good overall. I liked that it has a great balance between the theme of the series - the Bulls' tumultuous 1998 season - and flashbacks on how this team came to be. I thought I'd do short debriefs on some of the things that caught my attention.
One of the highlights of the 2nd episode is the very complicated relationship between Scottie Pippen and Bulls' General Manager Jerry Krause. The culmination of this tensed situation is Pippen delaying surgery to repair his foot after the 1997 Finals. Having the surgery right after the Finals would have enabled Pippen to rehab through the summer and be ready for the start of the 1997-98 season. But because he felt undervalued and underpaid by Krause, he decided that he was not going to ruin his summer by having to rehab on his own time.
This is where it gets really interesting. When discussing the delayed surgery and how it impacted the team (Pippen missed the first 35 games of the season), Michael Jordan and Coach Phil Jackson had different perspectives on the subject. I've compiled both clips from Episode 2:
"I felt like Scottie was being selfish". These are quite serious words from MJ. It almost feels like Jordan doesn't have any empathy for Pippen, whose salary is only the 122nd highest in the league. It's unclear whether Pippen was aware of Jordan's feelings but this could have created a serious disconnect between the team's two best players.
It could have been a difficult situation to handle for Phil Jackson:
Your best player - driven by his ultra-competitive spirit - is unhappy about another player who doesn't seem concerned by the team, and by extension winning
Your second-best player - critical to the team's success - is so frustrated by the lack of recognition from the front office that he's willing to put the team and season in jeopardy
What I found remarkable is that Jackson did not try to convince either player that their stance was correct.
"You have to understand players' mentality and where they're coming from".
Jordan was going to be competitive anyway. A player not thinking about the team (and winning) is going to bother him. Phil Jackson can't change that attitude and most likely will not want to change that attitude. This is why Jordan was one of the GOATs. If you try to change that aspect, you might lose part of what made him great, i.e. his relentless desire to win (I've talked about changing "weaknesses" at length in this post).
On the other hand, Jackson understood Pippen's position. His player was obviously hurting from a situation he thought was unfair. Jackson knew that Pippen needed some space to somehow let that frustration out.
Being able to handle such a delicate situation confirms what has often been said about Jackson: that he was a master at finding the right equilibrium within the teams he coached, especially when it came to players with totally different mindsets and personalities.
We will probably hear more on Jackson's mastery in managing personalities with Dennis Rodman, who should be featured heavily in Episodes 3 & 4 (out this Sunday).
Najib
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