The emergence of Michael Jordan as the face of the NBA in the 1990s sparked an impulsive hatred amongst his contemporaries. Despite MJ anticipating the reception from the rest of the league, he never expected to receive such treatment from one of his close friends. Sam Smith broke that trust when he put the Black Jesus in a seemingly negative limelight in his 1992 book, The Jordan Rules. On top of it, Horace Grant‘s contributions to releasing the unflattering biography also led to Jordan feeling betrayed.
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Nearly two decades later, Roland Lazenby captured MJ’s thoughts on the instance in the latter’s 2011 memoir, Michael Jordan: The Life. The former Chicago Bulls talisman claimed to be aware of how his rise to the pedestal resulted in people attempting to find “dirt” in his persona. However, the New York-born certainly “never expected it to come from inside”.
Hence, Smith’s book on the Bulls’ 1991 championship-winning run turned out to be “divisive” to the roster. It captured the provocative nature of Jordan while discussing his teammates’ hatred towards him. Consequently, the core team member, Grant, allegedly serving as a source for the book “angered” MJ as it created further walls within the squad.
Following that, the Bulls legend mentioned how he particularly felt hurt because of the endeavors of the Bulls insider, Smith. It led to the shooting guard questioning their established bond, declaring, “Sam tried to make it seem like he was a friend of the family for eight months. But the family talked about all this hatred they have for me. I mean, if they had so much hatred for me, how could they play with me?”.
Amidst the dissatisfaction, the book disrupted the NBA community as the narrative disfavored their heroic figure. While portraying the cost of winning the championship, it raised several question marks over the character of Jordan. Decades later, Smith stuck to his perceived truth, prompting the viewers to second guess the fairytale stories of the 1990s Bulls.
Several wanted to revolt against Michael Jordan
During a 2020 interview, Smith mentioned how the relationship between Jordan and Grant deteriorated rapidly following the release of the book. The sportswriter revealed how MJ allegedly started taking his teammate’s food away after the latter’s poor performance each time. This led to the Bulls players lodging complaints against him in private, yet no one came forward out of fear.
Shedding light on that aspect, Smith commented, “They would tell me stuff like that and they’d say ‘Why don’t you write this?’ And I would say ‘Well I can’t write it unless you say it.’ I don’t do ‘league sources.’ You can’t do that kind of stuff on these kind of things. ‘If you want to be quoted I’ve got no problem with that.’ ‘No, no, no we can’t say that about Michael Jordan”.
This put into focus how several intricate details of that period never surfaced in public due to Jordan’s dominance in the team. Despite the allegations, the truth behind the instances also remains questionable. All in all, it displayed the multi-layer of complexities within the team as their good times never lasted long.
