Michael Jordan has never been one to mince words, and this week, the Chicago Bulls legend took aim at one of the NBA’s most debated modern practices: load management.
“It shouldn’t be needed, first and foremost,” he said when asked about players sitting out games for rest, speaking on “MJ: Insights to Excellence” with host Mike Tirico. “I never wanted to miss a game because it was an opportunity to prove. It was something that I felt like the fans are there to watch me play. I want to impress that guy way up on top who probably worked his ass off to get a ticket, or to get money to buy the ticket.”
When Tirico followed up and asked if he truly cared about that fan sitting high in the arena rafters, Jordan didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, because I knew he was probably yelling at me and I wanted to shut him up,” he replied.
“You have a duty that if they are wanting to see you and as an entertainer, I want to show,” he said. “If the guys are coming to watch me play, I don’t want to miss that opportunity. Now, physically, if I can’t do it, then I can’t do. But physically if I can do it, and I just don’t feel like doing it, that’s a different lens.”
Jordan even recalled an early-career moment when he rolled his ankle and was told by a veteran teammate to rest. Instead, he taped it up and played through the pain. It’s that old-school mentality that separates his era from today’s data-driven approach, one that former teammate and Warriors coach Steve Kerr says is “dramatically different” now.
Kerr explained after Tuesday’s win over the Clippers that “everything is measured today… the stress on these guys’ bodies is way more than what it was in the past.”
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