As the ultimate competitor, Michael Jordan wants to win no matter what it takes — and when was he a member of the Chicago Bulls, he would get on his teammates if they weren’t doing their job in practice. When talking about his leadership skills on The Last Dance, Jordan got very emotional due to his passion for the game of basketball.
“Look, winning has a price,” Jordan said, as transcribed by CBS Sports. “And leadership has a price. So I pulled people along when they didn’t want to be pulled. I challenged people when they didn’t want to be challenged. And I earned that right because my teammates who came after me didn’t endure all the things that I endured. Once you joined the team, you lived at a certain standard that I played the game. And I wasn’t going to take anything less. Now if that means I had to go in there and get in your ass a little bit, then I did that.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
“You ask all my teammates,” Jordan continued. “The one thing about Michael Jordan was he never asked me to do something that he didn’t f—ing do. When people see this, they are going say, ‘Well, he wasn’t really a nice guy. He may have been a tyrant.’ No, well, that’s you. Because you never wanted anything. I wanted to win, but I wanted them to win to be a part of that as well. Look, I don’t have to do this. I’m only doing it because it is who I am. That’s how I played the game. That was my mentality. If you don’t want to play that way, don’t play that way.”
At the end of the episode, Jordan was in tears, and the fans loved it. Here’s a look at fans reacting to Jordan crying when talking about his teammates and how he played the game
The end of Episode 7 … WOW.#TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/N3c5lN0mLI
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 11, 2020
The mentality of a WINNER!
— It’s just money. It’s made up. (@d_kouts) May 11, 2020
NO ONE like him before or after! pic.twitter.com/DpvsayYgvU
— Stephen A. Smith Burner (@SASBurnerAcct) May 11, 2020
HOW can y’all argue against this dude for being the GOAT of basketball? We talking basketball not him as a person. How can you go against what he put into the game just cus you in love with LeBron???🤦🏾♀️
— jazz (@dancingbballgal) May 11, 2020
Love it. Nothing for Jordan to apologize for. Win and the losers can be the nice guys. Jordan goes for the championships.
— Martin (@Readestates) May 11, 2020
Jordan and Kobe man. Mentality can’t be replicated. Love for the game is unmatched by anybody.
— malcolm (@mdloading) May 11, 2020
Jordans mentality was, if you could put 100% in anything whether rebounding, scoring, defending etc theres no excuse not to. And if you didnt put in 100% you had no business not only being his teammate but a bball player.
— V.koni (@koni_v) May 11, 2020
— Bradley Grigsby (@BradleyGrigsby1) May 11, 2020
— DeathPoolx🕊 (@PoolxDeath) May 11, 2020
Goat Mentality
— Comment Man (@commentman23) May 11, 2020
“Because you’ve never won anything.” Ice. Cold.
— charles a. murray (@ChiefRocka77) May 11, 2020
To be exceptional you have to be ruthless, to a degree. This transfers to everything you do in life!
— Marvin Cummings (@marvinpcummings) May 11, 2020
Types of people in this world:
– Exceptional
– Above Average
– Average
– Benchwarmers – entitled bums who have everything handed to them.
“BREAK…!” wow, that was INTENSE! What a Series! pic.twitter.com/vEEDx1ds9c
— sola staj (@staj_) May 11, 2020
Kobe tired but I never put him on MJs level. Kobe literally quit a game in the playoffs against the suns. MJ would never!
— Max Rockatansky (@Judge1Dredd) May 11, 2020
This gave me all kinds of chills, this personally felt like it could have been the ending of the last episode. Michael Jordan is my all time favorite athlete & I remember most of all this I had tears in my eyes seeing MJ break down. #TheLastDance
— davidK786 (@davidK786) May 11, 2020
Rare w
— Anthony Porras (@Anthony88241733) May 11, 2020
I didn’t cry. My eyes just sweated.
— Airbud Burner Account (@Airbudburner) May 11, 2020
Amen man!!!! Amen!
— James (@JamesEmory19) May 11, 2020
Jordan like we’ve never seen him before, I’m speechless
— Yankee Nation (@Christo96478080) May 11, 2020
— Saint (@SaintZorbas) May 11, 2020
This moment right here. Jordan said people would think he’s an a-hole after watching this docuseries. I couldn’t love him more.
— IDon’tDoRemixes… (@KhalilahJoi) May 11, 2020
Can this series never end? I can watch this stuff every Sunday.
— Rico V (@ricovladi) May 11, 2020