Michael Jordan lived up to the contracts he signed both on and off the court year in and year out. The Chicago Bulls went from having the reputation of being a ‘travelling cocaine circus’ to becoming one of the most respected franchises in the history of the NBA all because of Jordan. Being the best player on the team certainly has its perks and Sam Smith, the author of ‘Jordan Rules’ claimed MJ used these perks to an unfair advantage, accusation that Jordan vehemently rejected.
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Smith became a national sensation in the realm of North American Sports in the early 90s when he book ‘Jordan Rules’ flew off shelves. He delved deep into the Chicago Bulls’ 1991 championship season where he talked about MJ’s peculiar leadership style that saw him bully his fellow teammates while also pushing them to their limits.
It was a general consensus that Horace Grant was the man that leaked information out to Smith from inside the Bulls camp and it seems as though one of the tid-bits of information he leaked out was regarding Jordan and his ‘special treatment’.
Michael Jordan defended himself when accused of getting treated differently
Michael had a slew of problems with the way he was portrayed in Sam Smith’s book. One point of contention was the fact that Smith suggested Jordan got preferential treatment when it came to tickets for friends and family.
Given that he was the Michael Jordan, it was understandable to think that he was allowed to bring more than just a few guests to high stakes games in the Playoffs/Finals. MJ however, refused to accept this and when asked about it during his 1992 interview with Playboy, he fought back at the notion that he was gifted tickets just because of who he was.
“I buy every damn ticket. Ain’t nobody giving me tickets. I pay for all those $50 box-seat tickets I give to little kids. I don’t ask them to pay me back. I spent $100,000 on tickets last year that I didn’t get back. That’s money that I paid the Bulls and other teams. So don’t b*tch at me about all the tickets I spread around.”
‘His Airness’ was ‘swimming’ in $2.5 million from his Chicago Bulls contract for that 1990-91 season and so him having to fork over a couple hundred thousand doesn’t seem all too shabby. Especially when you consider the fact that he doubled and tripled those earnings off NBA hardwood as well.
Michael Jordan was not fond of Sam Smith
Michael Jordan did not agree with most of what Sam Smith had written in his highly acclaimed book. Smith wrote down instances like the time Jordan, Pippen, and the rest of the Bulls discussed the lengths of their sons’ p*nises and then claimed he wanted to build a golf course that was strictly anti-semitic.
Jordan has refuted these claims on a multitude of occasions, most famously during the aforementioned interview with Playboy.
