Did Michael Jordan possess a unique quality that made him one of the greatest players of all time? One would certainly hope so. After all, he secured 6 NBA championships and 14 NBA All-Star selections. Those who knew Jordan or worked with him have shared numerous stories about the legend’s dedication to the game. The most recent addition is from a ‘mindfulness expert,’ who spent some time with Jordan in the Chicago Bulls setup. He was so taken with his routine that he thought the champ was bipolar.
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Whether or not there is any truth to this story can only be determined if Jordan ever addresses it. But, as the story goes, the player ended up liking this ‘expert’ to the point where he wished he had met him sooner.
Preston Pysh and Stig Brodersen of The Investor’s Podcast talked about various aspects of the league, specifically how the legendary Jordan changed the way the game is played, and not just on the field. They were joined by the author of Jordan’s biography, Roland Lazenby.
Lazenby was understandably full of praise for the Bulls legend, but he also shared one interesting story about Jordan.
“Phil Jackson brought George Mumford, a mindfulness expert who had actually roomed with Dr. J (Julius Erving) at the University of Massachusetts for a while. He brought George Mumford to the team in the mid 90s. And, at first Michael and all the players were rolling their eyes at all the mindfulness issues,” he explained.
“The NBA doesn’t have a lot of practice anyway. With the schedule, who wastes practice time on meditating? Part of this thing was that Phil wanted his players to be able to deal with pressure. Now, Michael had his own capabilities early on, obviously,” Lazenby continued.
At this point in his career, Jordan was already a household name. He had hit the shot that brought the University of North Carolina the championship as a freshman and had talents most people would give anything to have.
Part of what made Jordan so successful wasn’t just his raw talent but the hard work he put in to hone his skills. So Mumford joined MJ at practice to take a closer look. “Mumford went into practice and just watched for a month and he thought maybe Jordan had some kind of mental condition he had never seen.”
According to Lazenby, Mumford had an unfortunate injury, but he had played a fair amount of college basketball during his time. In fact, as a kid from South Boston, he had grown up with the sport, but Jordan was different from anyone he had seen before.
“He was stunned at Jordan. He thought maybe he was bipolar or … He wasn’t sure but he had such, at mere practice, he had such an elevated state of consciousness that he really just drove things at a level bit George Mumford had never witnessed. And he just kept watching him and over about a month he came to realize that this was Jordan’s normal state,” Lazenby noted.
Lazenby also explained what ‘being in the zone’ was for a basketball player and claimed from personal experience that it was “magical.” But he asserts that once Mumford had spent time with Jordan, he realized that MJ lived in the zone. “He could put himself there as he needs to be,” Lazenby reiterated.
Eventually, George’s influence rubbed off on MJ, who began to embrace mindfulness. “He told Mumford, ‘I wish I’d met you earlier in my career. I might not have lived my life in hotel rooms.’”
Lazenby also went on to introduce Mumford to the late Kobe Bryant during his Houston years. Even though Kobe was suspicious of it at first, he reportedly came around to accept his methods.
