ESPN has already teased that on Sunday, the fight between Michael Jordan and Steve Kerr at a Chicago Bulls practice will be reviewed during “The Last Dance.”
The Jump discussed this fight Tuesday and how it wasn’t particularly unusual for players to go at it like this in practice in the 1990s.
Jordan had returned to the Bulls after retiring to play baseball, but he still hadn’t gotten to know his new teammates. It was a different group than the last time they held the championship trophy.
Brian Windhorst, referencing past interviews Jordan has done, said the star has called it a wake-up call.
“Michael has said in other interviews that he really hadn’t connected to his teammates after coming back from baseball and that this was a wake-up call,” Windhorst said. “Not only that he needed to get to know his guys a little bit better, but he needed to moderate his behavior a little bit.”
Windhorst wasn’t sure if that had made a difference, but fights at practice weren’t unusual.
Kerr did an interview with Rachel Nichols prior to The Jump segment and said fights at practice were not uncommon at all.
“Practice fights happened all the time and practices were very different back then,” Kerr said. “There was intense competition in practices. we scrimmaged, we competed, we butted heads. And on every team that I was ever on, there were 3 or 4 practices fights a year.”
Jay Williams, also on the segment, agreed.
Michael Jordan breaks down exactly how he ended up punching Steve Kerr in the face during Bulls practice. Afterward we discuss the difference between then, when a fight could go largely unnoticed, and now, where if a guy subtweets his teammate, there is large-scale FREAKING OUT. pic.twitter.com/DHwcDQ2dnm
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) May 5, 2020
“It happens multiple times throughout the course of the season,” Williams said. “Guys get in fights, guys throw punches, but ultimately I think that experience can bring a team a lot closer.”
Kerr has said in the past he thinks it helped him gain some respect from Jordan.
Williams said that it was probably good for Kerr: While Kerr wasn’t ultra-athletic, showing he had fight could prove to Jordan that he was fit to play against the New York Knicks and other physical teams of the league.
“I thought it was really good for (Jordan) to see a guy like Steve Kerr that may not be as athletically gifted as Michael Jordan, but was relentless and not willing just to back down,” Williams said.
“That’s the type of fight that you do need on the team obviously when they went on to win 3 more championships.”
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