It is finally here! “The Last Dance” aired two of its ten documentary episodes last night on ESPN and Netflix. This documentary is about the Chicago Bulls 1997-1998 championship season, talking about what happened throughout the season, and seeing how Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and others on how they pulled off their third three peat. This documentary was originally suppose to be in June, but due to the COVID-19 outbreak suspending many sports leagues, they decided to move up the series for something to watch on ESPN. I have been waiting for this documentary since I saw the commercial in 2017 or 2018. So here are my thoughts.
There is a lot of things that I did not know about the Chicago Bulls last championship. All I remember is Michael Jordan hitting the game winner in Game Six of the ’98 NBA Finals to win their sixth NBA championship, and that was the last championship Jordan, Pippen, and coach Phil Jackson all won together. I never knew why they decided break up, I always thought that Phil Jackson was getting old and wanted to retire, Michael Jordan wanted to retire on top, and that Scottie Pippen left because Michael Jordan retired. But looking at the first two episodes I was wrong, because it was one guy that decided to break everything it up, and that guy was Jerry Krause.
Jerry Krause is one of the most idiotic general managers I have ever seen. He blew up the Chicago Bull’s dynasty, because he had an ego and was mad that he wasn’t receiving any credit of the success. He told Coach Phil Jackson before the 1997-98 season that this was going to be his last season as the head coach, even if they went 82-0 in the season. How stupid is that? He made some great trades and signings as a GM, but this was a 110% stupid decision. As a GM, you can blow up the team when the team starts losing, but not when they come off their second three-peat.
Another thing that shocked me was I never knew that Scottie Pippen was the sixth highest paid player on the Bulls. A guy that was one of the best players in the NBA was receiving very little money. He was so mad about his contract situation that he waited to have his ankle surgery at the very beginning of the season, and demanded to be traded. I do think that Jerry Krause was very dumb to not give Pippen a raise during the championship runs, but Pippen did put it on himself. He signed a seven year/$18 million dollar contract back after his rookie contract was up. But I do think that Krause should’ve gave him a raise.
This documentary is so good. This documentary is going to be one of the highest viewed documentaries on ESPN. Michael Jordan is going to prove everyone in this documentary why he is one of the greatest players of all time. Last night, I could’ve watched the whole documentary until very early the next morning. I can’t wait to watch episodes three and four on Sunday!
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