MJ once explained why he hated training camp: 'It was another opportunity to get hurt, with no meaning behind it'

Most championship teams credit their success to starting the year with a great training camp. However, the Chicago Bulls won six NBA championships during an eight-year period from 1991 to 1998 with their best player and basketball's GOAT, Michael Jordan hating the idea of holding such preparation.

In a 1995 interview with Bulls reporter Cheryl Raye Stout, "His Airness" explained why he disliked that method of preseason preparation.

"I always thought it was another opportunity to get hurt, with no meaning behind it," said MJ. "I always was in pretty good shape. I always prepared myself- that was the difference. I always felt that when I came to training camp, that I was in pretty good shape. And that I didn't really need training camp."

Mike broke his foot early during the 1985-86 season

MJ was a relatively healthy basketball player. He played all 82 regular-season games nine times during his 15-year NBA career, but during his sophomore year in the league, Jordan broke the navicular bone of his left foot three games into the season and missed 64 regular-season games that year.

Michael blamed the injury on his new Air Jordan 2 shoes from Nike, as improper shoe wear is one of the causes of his injury. But having said what he said in '95, Jordan might have also thought about the possibility that having a rigorous training camp contributed to causing stress on his foot.

When MJ returned from baseball in 1995, many thought Jordan was rusty. During Game 1 of their second-round series against the Orlando Magic, a clearly not 100 percent Michael lost the ball to Nick Anderson in the game's dying seconds. The Magic went on to win the game, setting the tone for the series in which Orlando won 4-2.