‘Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, Shaquille O’Neal’s LA Lakers, Tim Duncan’s San Antonio Spurs, Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors!’스포츠토토
They are teams that decorated a page in history by showing good synergy with their colleagues, led by an overwhelming central player like Superman. If the team had good results, especially if it had won several championships, it would have been natural for the team to have many good players. No matter how great a player is in team sport basketball, it is impossible for an individual alone to lift a team to the top. The better the teamwork, the stronger the team.
However, sometimes there are special teams where individual influence is exceptional. It has the conditions of a strong team throughout, but the weight is so large that the team changes drastically if a certain player is missing… , A team that is centered by the presence of that player and makes other teammates scared as well! Fans will also have a list that comes to mind, and the teams mentioned above are also mentioned.
Now, the Bulls of Michael Jordan (60‧198cm) are evaluated as the most luxurious members of all time, but even when they started to be activated in the early days, the name value was not very high compared to other teams. Jordan, who was almost responsible for scoring as the main gun, realized that he could not challenge the great cause alone, and strongly encouraged his colleagues and chose the path to grow together.
Jordan is known to have been combative like a real battle even during training, and in the process, he had quite a few troubles with his colleagues, but in the end, only those who endured such a process were able to be together. Scottie Pippen has grown tremendously while working with Jordan, and as a result, he is remembered among fans as a byword for the second-best player and housekeeper-type forward.
Horace Grant (1st Dynasty) and Dennis Rodman (2nd Dynasty), who were active as power forwards and worked together as ‘Big 3’, are obviously good players, but they are names that are regrettable to be placed in the limited class. John Paxon (1st Dynasty) and Steve Kerr (2nd Dynasty) also hit a huge blow at an important moment and are still being talked about, but in terms of their careers, they could not go beyond backup guards.
However, as is well known, Jordan and their combination made a tremendous achievement of advancing to the finals 6 times and winning 6 times. At the time of winning the first championship by defeating Magic Johnson’s Lakers, Jordan cried out loud while holding the championship cup. Considering that his cold image was strong due to his strong competitive spirit, many people accepted it as an unfamiliar scene.
Jordan said in an interview with Seungri at the time, ‘When I first came here, there was nothing. I started from the bottom and won, but that period was too long. He expressed his overwhelming feelings by saying, “I never gave up hope and never doubted myself as I climbed step by step.” Of course, even before that, Jordan had a reputation as the best scoring machine in the league.
However, as if proving the popular belief that ‘the top scorer does not win’, although his individual performance was good, it did not lead to the championship, and he suffered from the stigma that ‘only he is good at it’. Jordan, the owner of a crazy competitive spirit, couldn’t stand it and eventually stood at the top together with his teammates. In the past and now, the NBA is a gathering place for players with high self-esteem.
It is analyzed that the power of ‘leadership by example’ was great in that many of his colleagues followed him even though he pushed and trained enough to be called a dictator. Even Jordan, pointing with his finger and demanding the improvement of his teammates, would have been met with immediate backlash. It is true that Jordan was extremely close and sensitive, but in the meantime, he himself whipped himself harder.
Even when he trains, he adds himself, and whatever he is told, he demands what he has done. There are many colleagues who would have thought ‘unlucky’ to the inside, but the person who said that would have had no choice but to follow ‘that terrible guy’ because he trained like he was going to die beyond that and added to it his grades. As can be seen from the fact that he is called the ‘King of Jojo’ among domestic fans, Jordan’s fighting spirit was beyond imagination.
Not only did he have a strong desire to compete in the big picture, but he hated losing even a small thing, and he tried to perfect the process. As mentioned earlier, until the first championship match, Jordan was followed by the modifier ‘Basketball alone’. As was the case throughout his playing career, Jordan rushed to break it whenever there was a bad modifier or something that was personally offensive to him.
As if to prove this, he recorded 11 assists in addition to averaging 31 points in the first final. It was as if they were protesting, ‘Do you still think I’m playing basketball alone?’ The victim of the second championship was the Portland Trail Blazers led by Clyde Drexler, who were competing for the best shooting guard in the league at the time. The buzzword at the time was the ‘three-point shot’.
Jordan’s career 3-pointers aren’t bad, but he hasn’t shot many. He enjoyed his breakthrough and mid-range game rather than the three-pointer. For this reason, Drexler, who was a matchup opponent, intentionally gave up space during the first game and defended to induce a 3-point shot. It touched little Jordan again. The sarcastic Jordan made 6 of his 3-pointers that day, and what is surprising is that he put 6 of them into the rim in a row. It can be said to be a crazy desire to compete, but what is even more frightening is the part that made that competitive desire a reality.
Against Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns, who were in the middle of the water, he led the third championship with a terrifying firepower pouring an average of 41 points, but he seemed to retort silently, saying, ‘Barkley is great, but not for me’. After returning from his retirement and losing the playoffs to Anfernie Hardaway and Shaquille O’Neal’s Orlando Magic, Jordan gnawed his teeth and prepared for the 1995-96 season.
At the time, Grant, the protagonist of the first three consecutive losses, was transferred to free agency, so Dennis Rodman, known as a bad boy, was recruited to fill the vacancy of power forward. Regarding this, the media expressed concerns about ‘Can Jordan control Rodman well?’ and ‘Isn’t the starting lineup too old?’ Again, Jordan didn’t just let it go.
With Rodman in charge of defense and rebounding without major incidents, Chicago vomited a spirit of 72 wins and 10 losses, the highest number of wins in NBA regular season history at the time. The opponent in the finals was the Seattle SuperSonics of Sean Kemp and Gary Payton, who were in full swing, but Jordan fought hard despite a back injury and won his fourth championship. Afterwards, John Stockton and Karl Malone, who are called the best duo in history, blocked the chance to win the Utah Jazz twice, and Jordan completed the legend of two three-game losing streak and undefeated finals.
As can be seen from various examples and results, Jordan did not lose to anyone in the mental aspect and was notorious for breaking the opponent’s mentality. In addition to that, he raised the mentality of his colleagues and made Chicago a strong team that could not be defeated by anyone. The various influences Jordan had on his colleagues at the time are immeasurable, but most of all, it is considered that the biggest part was that he instilled the belief that ‘if you are with me, you will not lose’ and ‘UP’ your mentality.