- Tim Grover famously trained Michael Jordan, starting in 1989
- Grover also trained Kobe Bryant, helping him win two titles in 2009 and 2010
- Grover says being broken is a gift in an interview
Tim Grover is the legendary trainer of Michael Jordan and the one person who helped Jordan gain the edge he needed to defeat “The Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons. He helped Jordan achieve this by having MJ understand that being broken is a gift.
First, Grover had to discover this lesson for himself before he could lend his knowledge to others.
“Where I’m at, I’ve been broken so many times, you can’t break me anymore. You literally can’t break me anymore.
“It took years, and years of being broken and understanding that, ‘You know what, I need this piece, I don’t need this piece.’ When they try to put the pieces back together again… ‘I wanna be whole.’
“You know what, no, you don’t want to be whole. There gonna be some pieces that don’t fit.”
This mindset from Grover meshed perfectly with Michael Jordan, who already had a killer mindset. Grover’s teachings, along with his training regime, helped to unlock Jordan’s true potential.
The Pistons used to literally beat Jordan up on the floor, using tactics known as “The Jordan Rules.” Grover put MJ on a strict workout plan that helped develop his strength so that he could handle the beatings from Detroit.
Along with strengthening his body, Grover helped Jordan to understand that being broken by the Pistons could be a good thing, as it taught Jordan how to win. Jordan once famously passed this knowledge over to a young Shaquille O’Neal:
“Michael Jordan told me after they swept us, ‘before you succeed, you must first learn to fail,’” Shaq explained.
Once Jordan found this potential, as most already know, he was unstoppable. This leads to one important question: How did Tim Grover start to train Michael Jordan?
How Tim Grover Started To Train Michael Jordan
Most NBA fans know Tim Grover trained Michael Jordan and that this training was crucial in helping Jordan defeat the Detroit Pistons in 1991. But how did Grover start to train Jordan?
Grover became Jordan’s trainer by accident. Back in 1989, Grover read an article in the newspaper that explained the Pistons’ rough tactics against Jordan on the basketball court.
Grover wanted to help Jordan, believing he knew how to change MJ’s fortune. Unfortunately, Grover didn’t think he could get in contact with Jordan because MJ was on another level when it came to his celebrity status.
So, Grover did the next best thing: he wrote 14 letters to Bulls players not named Michael Jordan. This way, Grover could still enhance his career by working with professional basketball players.
These letters written by Grover were what ultimately led to his connection with Jordan. It wasn’t planned out, but trying to get his foot into the door, at least, led to Grover finding his ultimate success.
“I said I’m gonna send out letters to all the other Bulls players…” Grover said, via Essentially Sports. “So I hand-wrote letters to 14 of the Chicago Bulls players. The one person I did not write letter to was Michael Jordan. I never worked with a professional athlete, there’s no way they’re gonna let me work with him…
“So one letter was sitting open in a locker room. And Michael actually reached inside that locker and pulled out the letter and read it and gave it to the team physician and athletic trainer for the team at the time and said, ‘Find out what this kid’s about’.
“Three months went by, and they were like, ‘Hey, listen, we want you to go meet the client. So I took the address… I ring the doorbell… Michael Jordan ends up opening the door. Michael invited me in the house. Big mistake: I had Converse shoes, so I had to take those off before I went into the house. So we go downstairs talk for about 30-40 minutes. He was all about, ‘I just want to get bigger & stronger… I wanna be more athletic, I wanna do things.’”
Grover continued to work with Jordan for the remainder of his NBA career and even with Jordan when he tired out baseball. This partnership led to Jordan winning six NBA championships, with a perfect 6-0 Finals record.
Jordan was already successful before Grover came along, but without him, there’s no way he wins six titles. Grover and Jordan both discovered that being broken is a gift, and it led to great things for both of them.
Tim Grover Trained Kobe Bryant As Well
Michael Jordan wasn’t the only big-name athlete that Tim Grover has worked with. After partnering up with Jordan, this led to Grover becoming a hot commodity in the training business.
Grover has worked with stars Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Dwyane Wade. The biggest name outside of Jordan that Grover has worked with is Jordan’s heir apparent, Kobe Bryant.
Grover began to train Kobe in 2007, and their partnership lasted until 2012. The teamup of Grover and Kobe helped to get The Black Mamba back to the top after failing to win an NBA title since the departure of Shaquille O’Neal from the Los Angeles Lakers.
Eventually, Kobe did get back to the top, winning back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010. This solidified his place as one of the greatest players in NBA history.
At first glance, this looked like a partnership bound to happen. Kobe famously played very similarly to Jordan. Kobe even developed the same fadeaway jumper Jordan used to terrorize his opponents.
Still, Kobe and Jordan were very different when it came to their workouts and habits. Grover once spoke about these differences between the G.O.A.T. and The Black Mamba.
“Different body types, different stages in [their] career, different areas that needed to be addressed,” Grover said in an interview with CNBC Make It.
Grover also touched on the differences between the two-star players in his book, “Winning: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness. Grover wrote: “I don’t like to compare because to me they were so different and unique that it’s an injustice to both.”
Grover also wrote: “Kobe worked harder. MJ worked smarter.”
This is great insight from a legendary trainer who worked with the best of the best in the NBA. All it took was figuring out how to navigate through negative situations that occur in our everyday lives.
Once we grasp these setbacks and learn from them, nothing can stop us from being great. Remember, being broken is a gift if you learn from it, as Tim Grover has.
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