Coach K told the story of how Michael Jordan's manners and humility helped him a lot when he was an assistant coach on the Dream Team.
The one thing that most people know about Michael Jordan is the fact that he had a massive chip on his shoulder during his playing days. MJ was on his way to becoming the GOAT, but before he won all his championships, he was just another talented player in the league with some other greats. It was in 1992 with the Dream Team when MJ began to separate himself as the first among equals.
There are legendary stories of Micheal Jordan on the Dream Team. His interactions with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, who were then thought to be the greatest, ranged from hanging out with them and having fun, to talking trash to them and telling them the league was his. But in all of this, MJ held on to his humility as well, as the legendary Coach K revealed in an interview.
Coach K Explained How Michael Jordan's Interaction With Him Made Things Easier For Him On The Dream Team
Mike Krzyzewski is one of the most revered coaches of all time. He led the program at Duke to a lot of success in his career, and he was also the Coach of the legendary Redeem Team. In 1992 though, he was also just coming into his own as a legend and he was an assistant coach with Chuck Daly for the Dream Team. And talking to Graham Bensinger, he explained how Michael Jordan's one decision made a huge difference for him.
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"I'm sitting there and he says, 'Coach, would you please, I'd like to work on some of my offensive stuff. Would you please work with me?' Yeah, you know I thought he was coming over to give me a hard time because he's from North Carolina and I'm from Duke. And I actually think it was his way of making me feel comfortable.
"But he said Coach and he said please, and when it was over, he said thanks. And he could have said, 'Hey, get over here and work with me, idiot.' And I would have done that. It's like a lot of people at workplaces will do their job. But then I would've felt inconsequential and no ego because it was stripped from me by the main guy. Instead, he gave me the chance to have an ego."
Michael Jordan was approaching the peak of his popularity in the early 90s and he had become the main man at every level. So to see that he was still respectful when he had no reason to be is a testament to how much he wanted to forge a winning culture. MJ may not have gotten everything right, but he was one of the best in NBA history for a reason.
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