Robert Parish contrasting Bird's leadership style with MJ's

[Sixerscan]

As time passes, I find it amusing how much more we find out about how Jordan really was back them. Personally, I think his image would take a major hit in todays social media society.

The Jordan Rules came out in 1992. We've known this stuff about him for a long time.

He was a **** to his teammates. Those that responded well did well, those that didn't wilted away. Take it or leave it, that was MJ's style of leadership.

[Moose10Fan]

All MJ wanted was the best out of everyone all the time. I mean Rodman was a wacko by that point in his career but Jordan knew he brought everything he could every night on the court.

[VideoGameJames]

Jordan's leadership seems like he just wanted to test to see what you were made of, whether you'll fight back or just be a victim - think they call it a punk test in the hood. Can't blame him for ridding his team of punks. It may be harsh, but you can't argue with the results.

[durden_tyler]

If Jordan played today, the legend will only grow because of social media, internet.

[kingofthecourt67]

Jordan jawing and intimidating his teammates contrasted to passively aggressively tweeting about "fitting-out."

Boy has the NBA changed...

[Cycklops]

Jordan's leadership seems like he just wanted to test to see what you were made of, whether you'll fight back or just be a victim - think they call it a punk test in the hood. Can't blame him for ridding his team of punks. It may be harsh, but you can't argue with the results.

“To me, the most important part of winning is joy. You can win without joy, but winning that’s joyless is like eating in a four-star restaurant when you’re not hungry. Joy is a current of energy in your body, like chlorophyll or sunlight, that fills you up and makes you naturally want to do your best.”

Bird has 3 rings.. Jordan has 6.

“The Celtic ‘system’ was designed to permit intelligent, winning players to endlessly use their own curiosity and creativity to accomplish results. That was why each of the players felt such an extraordinary commitment to the team. It was a living, everyday thing, a practice far more than a promise, it was their team.”

[spacemonkey]

The most interesting quote of that article:

In the final season of his career, McHale was struggling and determined one day that he needed to go all out in practice, something he could no longer do regularly because he wouldn't have anything left for the games.

"But for me, mentally, I felt I needed to do it this one day," McHale said. "So I told myself, 'Kev, leave it all on the floor.' I went all out for every drill, every play.

"And I had an average practice. All that effort, and I was just another guy. It crushed me. I always had respect for my teammates before, but after that I had a whole new appreciation for guys like Greg Kite, who showed up every single day and put so much effort into their game and got so little results."

[Doctor MJ]

Hard to criticize MJ when we know the results of his leadership.

It shouldn't be though, it's utter naivety to think that Jordan knew exactly what he was doing and was pushing each player in just the way that was needed despite all indications that his approach resembled less an effective CEO and more an abusive father.

Jordan has an excellent case as the GOAT because of myriad huge things in his benefit - and yes some of those things involved his alpha personality. Where we get into trouble with him in a historical context is when people basically refuse to acknowledge that something that looked stupid involving him probably was stupid and instead build a narrative around it and worship it like the shroud of Turin.

I think Parish's anecdote here is a pretty clear cut thing. Parish is older than Jordan and had been a vital part of elite teams for years, and he's also bigger than Jordan. Jordan's approach here isn't any kind of "crazy like a fox" thing, it's a guy who simply gets angry and yells at people when they make a mistake, and then gets angrier and yells louder if they don't cower, and then hits the people in question unless they are bigger than he is. An interaction like this doesn't make anyone on that team think "Wow, Jordan knows what he's doing.", they just always know that Jordan's the best player on the planet, and so sometimes he'll act ridiculous and the coach won't do anything about it. Find a way to deal with that or you don't get to play on the best player's team.

[Doctor MJ]

Jordan jawing and intimidating his teammates contrasted to passively aggressively tweeting about "fitting-out."

Boy has the NBA changed...

And yet, I doubt anyone else will be so ridiculous as to bring a high school teammate to his HOF induction just to mock him. Jordan has plenty of passive aggressive nonsense in him, it's just that he also can lose control of his temper and physically attack the people on his own side. We shouldn't look at Jordan in any sense as one of these "they build them tougher back then". He was a great player, maybe the greatest player, but his flaws were flaws just like anyone else, not badges of honor.

[Doctor MJ]

As time passes, I find it amusing how much more we find out about how Jordan really was back them. Personally, I think his image would take a major hit in todays social media society.

The Jordan Rules came out in 1992. We've known this stuff about him for a long time.

He was a **** to his teammates. Those that responded well did well, those that didn't wilted away. Take it or leave it, that was MJ's style of leadership.

Which is another way of saying: He's one of many NBA leaders who aren't actually leaders because they are good at leading, they are simply talented at basketball and so they can say whatever the hell they want.

[papfankon]

As time passes, I find it amusing how much more we find out about how Jordan really was back them. Personally, I think his image would take a major hit in todays social media society.

The Jordan Rules came out in 1992. We've known this stuff about him for a long time.

He was a **** to his teammates. Those that responded well did well, those that didn't wilted away. Take it or leave it, that was MJ's style of leadership.

Which is another way of saying: He's one of many NBA leaders who aren't actually leaders because they are good at leading, they are simply talented at basketball and so they can say whatever the hell they want.

Very simplistic approach.

[NYKAL]

Did Jordan really think he would kick the 7'0", 250 lbs Robert Parish's ass?

No, he knew that his teammates would step in. Jordan was known to deck his teammates but, it was also know that those same team mates knew Jordan was DaGod and wouldn't let ANYONE retaliate. Same happened when he decked Longley. Guys grabbed Luke before he could reach Jordan.

[JeepCSC]

Jordan's leadership seems like he just wanted to test to see what you were made of, whether you'll fight back or just be a victim - think they call it a punk test in the hood. Can't blame him for ridding his team of punks. It may be harsh, but you can't argue with the results.

“To me, the most important part of winning is joy. You can win without joy, but winning that’s joyless is like eating in a four-star restaurant when you’re not hungry. Joy is a current of energy in your body, like chlorophyll or sunlight, that fills you up and makes you naturally want to do your best.”

Bird has 3 rings.. Jordan has 6.

“The Celtic ‘system’ was designed to permit intelligent, winning players to endlessly use their own curiosity and creativity to accomplish results. That was why each of the players felt such an extraordinary commitment to the team. It was a living, everyday thing, a practice far more than a promise, it was their team.”

Russell could be as surly and cutting to anyone as the best of them. Didn't he hold a grudge against Heinsohn forever for winning ROY?

[JeepCSC]

Which is another way of saying: He's one of many NBA leaders who aren't actually leaders because they are good at leading, they are simply talented at basketball and so they can say whatever the hell they want.

Machiavelli says Jordan is the best kind of leader.

But on a more serious note, being an ass doesn't make you a bad leader. Just like being nice doesn't make you a good leader. You can't listen to these stories from afar and decide much of anything unless you have already decided something going in. In reality, leadership is only as worthwhile as the results it delivers. The rest is speculation.

[jax98]

As time passes, I find it amusing how much more we find out about how Jordan really was back them. Personally, I think his image would take a major hit in todays social media society.

Just to clarify: The older generations always knew about how Jordan really was. It's the kids today who are just learning of all this, which is fine. But one needs to understand the league was different back then. There was a lot less buddy-buddy stuff going on back then, compared to now where everyone knows everyone from the AAU circuit.

[Beffiosa]

Phill Jackson was the leader of the Bulls. He inspires, he motivates, he teaches the value of cooperation
Jordan was the Boss: He intimidates, he complains, he dominates.

When you need to hit, shout and attempt to intimidate grown men so they can be inspired its not leadership.

[rcfc1]

Jordan's leadership seems like he just wanted to test to see what you were made of, whether you'll fight back or just be a victim - think they call it a punk test in the hood. Can't blame him for ridding his team of punks. It may be harsh, but you can't argue with the results.

“To me, the most important part of winning is joy. You can win without joy, but winning that’s joyless is like eating in a four-star restaurant when you’re not hungry. Joy is a current of energy in your body, like chlorophyll or sunlight, that fills you up and makes you naturally want to do your best.”

Bird has 3 rings.. Jordan has 6.

“The Celtic ‘system’ was designed to permit intelligent, winning players to endlessly use their own curiosity and creativity to accomplish results. That was why each of the players felt such an extraordinary commitment to the team. It was a living, everyday thing, a practice far more than a promise, it was their team.”

Russell could be as surly and cutting to anyone as the best of them. Didn't he hold a grudge against Heinsohn forever for winning ROY?

Russell was known as being incredibly loyal to his team and incredibly surly and cutting towards Boston's fans and white people. And I can't blame him given the timbre of Boston's fans (even to this day to some degree) and white people generally at the time. However, from everything I've read he was known as a fantastic teammate.

[JeepCSC]

Phill Jackson was the leader of the Bulls. He inspires, he motivates, he teaches the value of cooperation
Jordan was the Boss: He intimidates, he complains, he dominates.

When you need to hit, shout and attempt to intimidate grown men so they can be inspired its not leadership.

The debate about leadership tactics isn't new or anything, but it is a debate. This is Patton vs Bradley all over again. Both can work successfully.

[JeepCSC]

Russell was known as being incredibly loyal to his team and incredibly surly and cutting towards Boston's fans and white people. And I can't blame him given the timbre of Boston's fans (even to this day to some degree) and white people generally at the time. However, from everything I've read he was known as a fantastic teammate.

I think most of the praise goes towards his being a great teammate on the court. He didn't always work terribly hard on his relationships off the court, sometimes leading to fracturing. But it isn't always easy to suss out being so far back.

[SilverFlight]

MJ could play to the media and corporate sponsors very well, with that million dollar smile and movie-star looks, so that's why some of this stuff is very shocking to hear to a lot of people. But it shouldn't be that surprising to hear a lot of this stuff given how competitive he was.

My fav is this line:

“I hope there’s a jumpshot in there.” – Michael to Stacey King who was walking into the locker room with a box. I say
this line to a lot of people when they walk into the gym while looking down at their gym bag!