Pippen will be joined by former Bulls teammates Horace Grant and Luke Longley to refute ‘The Last Dance’.
When “The Last Dance” came out on Netflix, most of us were just thankful to have something about the NBA to watch in the absence of live basketball games. But for those depicted in the documentary focused on covering the end of the Chicago Bulls‘ dynasty under Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, the documentary was neither kind nor accurate.
Pippen, in particular, took umbrage with how he was framed in the film, as did former Chicago teammates Horace Grant and Luke Longley. Now, that trio has announced they will go on what they are billing as the “No Bull” tour to refute some of the things portrayed in “The Last Dance” that they do not agree with.
Former NBAer Gilbert Arenas recently weighed in on the news on his “Gil’s Arena” podcast, and shared how he is not into this move by Pippen and Co.
Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear why.
Pippen is launching his “No Bull” tour with teammates Horace Grant and Luke Longley to tell, as they frame it, their version of the events behind “The Last Dance.”
By now, it is no secret that there is no love lost between the main stars from the Chicago Bulls dynasty era of the 1990s and early 2000s that were fueled by the excellent play of His Airness Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Even before “The Last Dance” Netflix documentary on MJ and the Bulls that kept us all sane in the depth of the pandemic, rumbles abounded about the distaste those stars all held one another in, especially Pippen and Jordan.
But now, Pippen has taken things to a new level, launching what he is describing as his “No Bull” tour with teammates Horace Grant and Luke Longley to tell, as they frame it, their version of the events behind “The Last Dance,” and not everyone is feeling it.
To talk it over, the hosts of the “Locked On Bulls” podcast, Haize and Pat The Designer, sat down and drilled deep on a recent episode.
Former Chicago Bulls Scottie Pippen, Luc Longley, and Horace Grant are embarking on the “No Bull Tour” to discuss “The Last Dance.”
In 2020, “The Last Dance” took over the world. Everyone wanted to learn about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, and the documentary provided an inside look unlikely anything the sports world has seen. It was an incredible viewing experience, but not everybody felt that way by the time it concluded.
Some of Jordan’s teammates, most notably Scottie Pippen, weren’t huge fans of “The Last Dance.” In the years following, Pippen, in particular, has gone on a rampage, slewing Jordan and the doc every chance he gets. And now, he’ll have a chance to tell his side of the story on a much grander scale.
In partnership with the NBL, Pippen and former Bulls teammates Luc Longley and Horace Grant are embarking on the “No Bull Tour” to discuss the documentary, among other things.
''This is going to be a no bull***t tour'' đ
You won't want to miss this… 13 rings, 1 stage and absolutely NO BULL đ
Did ‘The Last Dance’ poison his legacy? Is this a chance to right that wrong?
Was his booing at the Chicago Bulls‘ recent “ring of honor” ceremony a turning point in Jerry Krauseâs legacy with the team he helped win six NBA titles? The world was horrified as his widow watched fans of the storied ball club treat her deceased partner with disrespect, but the incident also cast an intense light on how he came to be seen so negatively.
Namely, as the villain of Michael Jordan’s Netflix documentary “The Last Dance,” which cast the Bulls GM in a negative light at Jordan’s supposed behest. And while it is not clear whether His Airness personally asked for such a frame for his former boss, a generation of fans certainly became accustomed to seeing Krause as the bad guy for doing what ownership asked of him.
The folks behind the “CHGO” YouTube channel put together a clip exploring this unexpected outcome of an embarrassing moment for the team with historian Jack Silverstein.
Luc Longley was too embarrassed by the end of his career to appreciate his success.
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A core memory of my childhood as it relates to basketball is watching and rooting for the Chicago Bulls with my dad in the back half of their 1990s run of titles.
Michael Jordan was the key driving force in that fandom, which effectively ended with his retirement and the dismantling of the team in 1998. But before his exit, I had learned to appreciate every player who had a role in winning those championships. I knew the names of everyone on the roster and kept up with their careers after they left the Bulls.
So, imagine my surprise when I saw the story on ESPN today about how Luc Longley couldnât appreciate those days the same way.
If you’re too young to remember Longley, he’s the most decorated NBA player from Australia and was the starting center for the Bulls’ final three championships — though you might have missed him in ESPNâs The Last Dance documentary because he wasnât featured much.
His career went downhill after â98, starting with a trade to the Phoenix Suns up until his last season with the New York Knicks in 2000. As he explained in the profile by Olgun Uluc, those later years soured the good feelings he had from Chicago so much that he kept his rings in a safe out of sight.
“Candidly, the ending of my career was a scripted nightmare,” Longley said. “I had a miserable end of my NBA career. I had an ankle that was degenerating, and I had a couple of bad years in Phoenix. As it was exploding, I was in New York not able to really train. Coming out of Chicago, where it had been such a basketball utopia sort of a situation where we’re winning… to have my body break down at the same time, and not be able to play well. ⌠I hated it; I was really sad about it.”
Longley was embarrassed by the end of his career, and man, that sucks. He played 10 years at the highest level and won three titles on the most popular team of all time. Thatâs something to be proud of, which brings us back to The Last Dance.
Longley’s omission from the documentary apparently created an uproar from people wondering why he wasnât in it, and that noise was enough to remind Longley how much people cared, particularly in his home country. It brought him back out of the shadows.
The following year, ABC produced a story on Longleyâs rise to the NBA, and now, NBA.com has a documentary out today focusing on Longley and the Bullsâ second three-peat through his eyes. I haven’t watched it yet, but I can’t wait to dive into more content around a team that meant a lot to me.
It sounds like I’m not the only one.
đŚđş A trailblazer of Australian basketball, Luc Longley reached the summit of the NBA with the @chicagobulls.
The NBA celebrates Lucâs lasting impact on the sport with a new 4-episode documentary, which premieres on Wednesday, August 2 on https://t.co/B0749IWAnz & the NBA App. pic.twitter.com/iIx9YRK5lV
“I had one young man tell me stories about how he watched it with his dad, and that’s how he remembers his dad. That’s how they connected,” Longley said. “Then, you have someone else with their baby named ‘Pippen’. It’s just really quite wild how connected people still are to that era of basketball. I underestimated it.”
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Because the NBA can’t go a day without being unnecessarily dramatic, the latest in the association is a feud that maybe never actually existed between all-star Bradley Beal and potentially the best young prospect in basketball, 16-year-old Cooper Flagg.
FTW’s Bryan Kalbrosky has all the details here, which come from a story shared by Brian Scalabrine that has been denied by Beal, which … this is all just ridiculous. But here’s what you need to know:
Flagg, who was named the 2022 USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year, has previously trained with former NBA big man Brian Scalabrine. The big man has called Flagg a âgenerationalâ talent.
The prospect recently attended the inaugural Jayson Tatumâs Elite Camp in St. Louis. According to Scalabrine, the high schooler was matched up against three-time All-Star guard Bradley Beal.
From there, according to Scalabrine, Flagg was able to get under Beal’s skin with his play. Beal calls cap, and I’m inclined to believe him, but only the people who were in the gym that day truly know.
Michael Jordan turned being cut by his high school varsity basketball team into becoming the greatest, most celebrated athlete in human history. Once he’d reached the apex of his sport, Jordan sometimes imagined slights in order to keep himself motivated.
Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith doesn’t have to make any slights up, though – as his game is being disrespected even after a strong 2022 season. Today ESPN shared their top 10 quarterbacks, as polled by NFL coaches, scouts and executives. Not only did Smith miss out on the top 10, he didn’t get an honorable mention or even a single vote.
A short time later, Smith shared the famous Jordan laughing at his Ipad GIF from The Last Dance.
While it’s ridiculous that he didn’t even get a single vote, Smith can help his case by cutting down on turnovers. He threw for over 4,000 yards and 30 touchdown passes, but Smith also ended the season with 11 picks and eight fumbles – several of which came in the red zone in crunch time. We think that some analysts are letting those examples color their commentary on his game a bit too much – but it’s not difficult to see why most of them are not as high on Smith as the average Seahawks fan.
For what it’s worth, we did our best to balance it all and in the end we had Smith ranked No. 10 in the league at his position.
Luc Longley didn’t have a presence in The Last Dance, but the former Chicago Bulls center is okay with it.
Three years ago, on April 19, 2020, as the world entered quarantine, The Last Dance was released on Netflix, depicting the Chicago Bulls‘ final season together with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen at the helm. It swept the basketball world, and Jordan’s relationships, Dennis Rodman‘s antics, and everything in between became the talk of the town.
The documentary touched on Jordan’s path to NBA prowess and how the team came together, but some people were left out of the story. One of those guys was big man Luc Longley. The Australian center wasn’t a part of the documentary, but when it was all said and done, he was fine with it.
When the show came out, and Longley wasn’t a huge part of it, there was local backlash, and it resulted in ABC putting out a two-episode documentary on Longley alone. Now, he said that he’s glad The Last Dance left him out.
âThis didnât happen – they were all Jordan, [Scott] Pippen and [Dennis] Rodman [jerseys]- there were Longley jerseys but never a display or a shop window like this,â Longley told The Sydney Morning Herald. “I wish my kids could see this. When we were in the middle of it, it was just part of the landscape of being a Bull. I didnât take it for granted, but I didnât feel the same level of pride in it as I do now for whatever reason. Thank you for leaving me out of the Netflix doco because this wouldnât have happened if they had put me in it.
Longley won three championships with the Bulls, and now, he’s getting the flowers he deserves from his local community.
To cap his illustrious career as the arguably greatest NBA player of all time, Michael Jordan led the Bulls to the 1998 NBA title. After the acclaimed documentary — The Last Dance — detailed much of what Jordan and his Bulls teammates went through en route to their final championship together, the legendary 1998 campaign appears to have grown in notoriety.
That rise seems to have also extended to the sports memorabilia market.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that a jersey worn by Jordan in Game 1 of the 1998 NBA Finals was sold in a Sotheby’s auction for $10.1 million. It’s a new all-time record for any piece of sports memorabilia, exceeding a $9.28 million price paid for the late Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” jersey from the 1986 World Cup.
A record-breaking day. Michael Jordan's iconic 1998 NBA Finals 'The Last Dance' jersey has sold for $10.1 million, setting records for a basketball jersey, any game-worn sports memorabilia, and most valuable #MichaelJordan item ever sold at auction. pic.twitter.com/7t8G98N5pW
Notably, it also smashes the previous record for a piece of Jordan memorabilia. The previous record for a Jordan item was a 1997-98 Upper Deck Game Jersey patch card with an autograph that sold for $2.7 million in October 2021. Jordan’s Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz in six games in their 1998 series.
It’s a ridiculously high price, to be sure. But if you’re going to get a collectible from one of the best basketball players ever, it’s somehow almost fitting that you pay one of the highest-ever prices.
NBA analyst and former player Kenny Smith isnât holding back when it comes to his views on a hypothetical Bulls-Rockets matchup from the 1990s. âWe would have beat their ass,â he says.
As the starter at point guard for the 1993-94 and 1994-95 championship squads of the Houston Rockets, Kenny Smith knows the merits and accomplishments of those iconic teams as well as anyone.
âThe Jetâ is also well aware of the popular NBA hypothetical from those days, which has taken on new life in recent years thanks to ESPNâs popular âThe Last Danceâ documentary on the 1990s Chicago Bulls.
Would Houston have won those titles, had Michael Jordan not abruptly taken a mid-career retirement from October 1993 to March 1995? After all, Chicago did win the three NBA championships both preceding and following Houstonâs two-year âClutch Cityâ run in 1994 and 1995.
Many around the Rockets have long bristled at that notion, especially because the 1994-95 team had arguably the toughest championship path in NBA history. Thereâs also the fact that Jordan was playing in the 1995 playoffs, but his Bulls lost in the second round to Shaquille OâNealâs Orlando Magic. Then, in the NBA Finals, the Rockets swept those Magic.
Now a well-regarded television analyst for the NBA on TNT, Smith certainly hasnât shied away from the subject and why he feels strongly that Houston would have won, regardless. In June 2022, during a podcast episode of All The Smoke with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Smith further elaborated on those views. Scroll on for a partial transcript of that conversation, and check out the complete episode below.
From the hundreds of hours of footage of Michael Jordan’s playing days that made it into ESPN’s The Last Dance, arguably the most amazing clips were those of MJ gambling with pretty much anyone at Bulls games who would partake.
The very best of these moments came from watching Jordan lose his money to United Center security guard John Michael Wozniak in a game of quartersâwith the object being to land your coin closest to the wall.
Woz not only took Jordan’s money, but mocked his signature shrug afterwards. It was a ruthless and earned celebration that stood out in the documentary.
It’s also led to a ton of memes and gifs and recreations. The latest of which came from Providence head coach Ed Cooley.
With the Friars in Chicago to take on the Kansas Jayhawks in the Sweet 16, Cooley pulled up a chair in the bowels of the United Center and starting tossing some coins at the wall, looking to make a quick buck.
Just like Woz before him, the coach proved successful.
