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Robert Parish was given the nickname the Chief after the character Chief from the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest because of his stoic and calm nature. His Celtics years were successful under the leadership of Larry Bird, who was never quite as explosive and erratic towards the team as Michael Jordan was. In line with his nickname, Parish expressed his disdain for MJ’s leading style.
What did teammates really think?
In an appearance on The Cedric Maxwell Podcast in 2020, Parish shared his reservations towards the way Jordan addressed his teammates. Rather than being aggressive and harsh towards his teammates, Parish wished that Jordan’s fellow teammates deserved more respect.
“He just bullied all those guys... They didn’t have the balls to say nothing about it, the teammates," Parish said. "There’s no way we would've took that from Larry. There ain't no way, Max. Come on now, you know it's true. There ain’t no way we would tolerate that behavior from Larry, and he was our leader."
Jordan’s teammates however felt differently, understanding Michael’s leadership and the results that came from it. In “The Last Dance” documentary, numerous teammates spoke out on their personal opinions towards what Parish referred to as “bullying.”
“His theory was: If you can’t handle pressure from me, you’re not going to be able to handle the pressure of the NBA playoffs,” said current Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
“Let’s not get it wrong, he was an asshole. He was a jerk. He crossed the line numerous times,” said another teammate Will Perdue. “But as time goes on, and you think back about what he was actually trying to accomplish, you were like, yeah, he was a hell of a teammate.”
The Results Speak for Themselves
“He was pushing us all to be better,” said teammate Bill Wennington. “Because he wanted to win, and guess what, it worked.
Michael Jordan appreciated his teammates immensely, despite the way people thought he treated them. The verbal and physical ways that Jordan treated his teammates was preparing them for the intensity of the playoffs. In particular, battles with the extremely physical Pistons were just one of the teams that the Bulls had to get through mentally.
In Steve Kerr’s case, after a scrap with Jordan in practice, the trust between them just got stronger, which eventually led to his taking the final shot in the 1997 NBA finals. So no matter what Robert Parish says, the 6 titles that Michael Jordan and the Bulls earned were earned with trust in each other, despite being “bullied.” The results don’t lie.
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