When Michael Jordan came back to the NBA after a failed baseball career, the Bulls were expected to immediately get back to their winning ways. However, their first outing in Jordan’s return saw them lose to the Orlando Magic, where Shaquille O’Neal dominated them on his way to his first Finals appearance.
Advertisement
As a response to getting out-rebounded by the young Magic, the Bulls traded for Dennis Rodman. He had a bit of a reputation as a wild card, and so obviously Jordan had to sign off on the acquisition. In an interview with Cheryl Rae-Stout in the mid-90s, the guard revealed that he hadn’t actually had much of a say in who the team traded for, but rather if he’d be able to play with them on the court.
He said that he was only asked about two major decisions by the Bulls FO, mainly the Rodman acquisition, and the trade for Randy Brown. Apart from that though, MJ simply claimed that he didn’t have any sort of power over the trades that the Bulls made.
“Not as much as people think,” Jordan told the interviewer. “A couple major decisions they asked, with Dennis Rodman and Randy Brown.”
Now of course, Jordan’s revelation has been brought up multiple times in the modern game, especially because LeBron James gets called “LeGM” for his tendency to be involved in important trades that his team makes.
Critics and analysts held him responsible for the acquisition of Kevin Love when in Cleveland, and Anthony Davis in LA. Both those moves resulted in a championship for the teams, but people took this as a mark against his legacy, claiming he needed to build superteams in order to win rings.
A lot of people also criticized him for apparently forcing through JJ Redick’s hire, claiming he only got the Lakers HC job because of his podcast with James. Surprisingly, those allegations have subsided after the Lakers started doing well.
James also got criticized for apparently forcing the Lakers to draft Bronny, because a lot of people have made up their mind that the 20-year-old doesn’t belong in the league, and he’s taking the roster spot of someone a lot more deserving.
As for Jordan, he revealed that he only had a major say in the Rodman trade, because of his wild nature. The Bulls just wanted to know if he’d me able to handle the former Pistons Bad Boy while on the court. “I guess they asked me from a team captain’s standpoint, because on the court, with Dennis, if anything happens, I gotta go over there and try to calm him down,” he said.
Of course, the trade worked out better than ever anticipated for the Bulls. With Rodman’s rebounding filling the one void they had, the Bulls went on to win another 3-peat, securing their position as one of the most dominant franchises ever seen in sports.
A lot of the narrative between the way Jordan and LeBron are perceived with regard to their GOAT status also revolves around the teams they were dealt. LeBron was thought of as a player who always wanted the best players on his team, whereas Jordan was seen as a player who could make teams around him better just by being himself.
Former Bulls GM Jerry Krause, who had a famously rocky relationship with his franchise cornerstone, once revealed that contrary to popular belief, Jordan had never been unhappy with the way that the Bulls FO worked.
In comments made to the New York Post, Krause said, “I’ll say this about him, he never came to me and asked for other players. He never came to me and asked me to draft a player. He never came to me to ask me to trade for a player. Never once did that happen.”
