Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were the two main men that won six championships for the Chicago Bulls. But they were surrounded by various role players for all those wins, with Luc Longley being one of those players.
Longley was a regular starter for the Bulls in their three championship runs from 1996 to 1998. And Michael Jordan once told the epic story of how he tried to hype Longley up during a game and it backfired.
“He may not like this story,” Jordan said in a video documentary about Longley. “In 98, we’re playing the Utah Jazz. The first quarter ends, Luc has 12 points, 4 blocks, and 4 rebounds. And I go to Luc and I say, ‘That’s how you f**king play, man. You do that, we dominate! We up by 16.’
“At the end of the game, Luc had 12 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 blocks. We were up by 16, we lose by 15. And I said ‘You know what Luc? That is the last time I’m going to give you a compliment in the middle of the game.’”
(starts at 26:46 minutes)
Luc Longley didn’t have a game with 12 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 blocks against the Jazz, but he did once against the Celtics in 1996. Michael Jordan might be forgetting the details of the story but the point he was making was evident. His leadership style was unique, as was his approach. No one wanted to win and dominate as much as MJ did, and sometimes it led to hilarious moments like this one.
Michael Jordan And Luc Longley Had A Contentious Relationship As Teammates
Michael Jordan may be remembered as the ultimate champion, but he’s unlikely to be remembered as the best teammate. Even his running mate for all those championships, Scottie Pippen, has a terrible relationship with the man. And while Luc Longley seems to have a better equation with him now, he revealed in a book that he didn’t like Jordan.
“I’d have to say after he came back, I really didn’t like the guy,” Longley wrote in his 1996 book, Running With the Bulls. “I found him difficult to be around and he and I didn’t see eye-to-eye. We were at each other’s throats in practice… That was a case of frustration from both of us, mostly from him.”
Between 1996 and 1998, Longley averaged 9.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game for the Bulls. He was a pivotal piece in the second three-peat for the Bulls and will always be remembered in Chicago as a part of the greatest team in franchise history.
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