Michael Jordan loved to talk trash and he loved to prove that he was better than you. And when MJ lost he would make it known that he was unhappy. In 1987, Jordan lost the Defensive Player of the Year award to Los Angeles Lakers legend Michael Cooper. So he naturally had some things to say about it.
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Cooper appeared on the “All The Smoke” podcast to discuss various aspects of his career. Around forty-five minutes into the show, co-hosts Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes read Cooper a 1987 quote from Jordan, where he stated that Cooper was a great defender but only won the Defensive Player of the Year award due to his reputation and not stats.
Cooper was stunned by the quote as he had never heard about it before. But fortunately, he had a very chill response about the whole thing, probably because it’s Mike.
“You know what? If that was any other Michael I would say something but that’s MJ. So I’m going to leave that alone,” Cooper said with a smile.
Cooper then broke down the differences in the two players’ game. The 68-year-old admitted that Jordan “was a force on his own” on defense, but he was more into guarding lanes and going for steals. On the other hand, Cooper was a great denier.
“Mike wasn’t a denier and he wasn’t all that,” Cooper said. “But sh*t as great as he became on that offensive end he had to conserve some energy. I wasn’t a great offensive scorer so I had to use all my energy on the defensive end.”
Cooper’s hard play as a defender landed him in the Hall of Fame. In that 1987 DPOY season, he racked up 43 steals and 78 blocks. Jordan’s season was better statistically due to his offensive numbers, but some of his defensive stats were said to have been inflated at home.
Regardless, MJ won the award in the following season after securing a tremendous 259 steals and 131 blocks.
Michael Cooper says guarding Michael Jordan “electrified intensity inside of you”
Cooper earned his defensive accolades from playing against elite scores in the NBA — Jordan included. Back in 1987, Cooper broke down what it was like to guard Jordan, who was only 24 years old at the time.
“When people say I do a good job on Michael, or that so-and-so did the job, that’s wrong. There’s no way I stop him. I need the whole team. As soon as he touches the ball, he electrifies the intensity inside you,” Cooper said per the Sports Illustrated vault.
Cooper later referred to the assignment as an “alarm going off” due to the uncertainty of Jordan’s maneuvers.
“He goes right, left, over you, around and under you. He twists, he turns. And you know he’s going to get the shot off. You just don’t know when and how. That’s the most devastating thing psychologically to a defender.”
The psychological games that Jordan played were something His Airness got goosebumps doing. MJ himself spoke about the mental toughness he would enforce upon opponents during the now iconic The Las Dance Documentary, which chronicled the Bulls dynasty in the 90s. Regardless, Jordan’s game, on both sides of the ball, was nearly flawless in his legendary career.
