In episode 7 of ESPN's highly anticipated miniseries 'The Last Dance' with The Chicago Bull Dynasty the emotions were ran high when Michael Jordan opened up about how he was perceived by his team-mates as a leader. Before the series aired Jordan said that some people might not like him after watching this series.
Former team-mates of Jordan also opened up about Jordan as a leader. Former Bulls teammate Will Perdue said "Let's not get it wrong. He was an a—hole. He was a jerk. He crossed the line numerous times. But as time goes on and you think back about what he was trying to accomplish, yeah, he was a hell of a teammate."
When asked by ESPN about this leadership style and not being perceived as a 'nice guy', Jordans response was passion filled and powerful.
"Winning has a price. And leadership has a price. So I pulled people along when they didn't want to be pulled. I challenged people when they don't want to be challenged. And I earned that right because my teammates came after me. They didn't endure all the things that I endured. Once you join the team, you live at a certain standard that I play the game, and I wasn't gonna take anything less. Now, if that means I have to go out there and get in your ass a little bit, then I did that. You ask all my teammates, 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're gonna say, 'Well, he wasn't really a nice guy. He may have been a tyrant.' Well, that's you, because you never won anything. I wanted to win, but I wanted them to win and be a part of that as well. 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, don't play that way. Break."
What are your thoughts? Was he too hard on the team or was it needed?
Check out what the Director of 'The Last Dance' had to say about the emotional interview.