ESPN’s Bulls/Jordan documentary “The Last Dance”

[Anonymous]

You must not watch basketball if you don't think the NBA players play defense now.

The hand-check rule changed so the framework the players can play under is different, but they are doing everything they can within the rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You must not watch basketball if you don't think the NBA players play defense now.

The hand-check rule changed so the framework the players can play under is different, but they are doing everything they can within the rules.

So the hand-check rule is the reason EVERYBODY just wants to chuck 3's instead of driving? I'd think it would be easier to take it to the hole with the hand-check rule. Is hand-check rule also the reason NBA players flop and cry to officials like European football players? Is it the reason they are all lovey-dovey best friends and don't want to hurt each others feelings by playing aggressively? They all want to be friends and orchestrate it so they can play with their bros and then take days off citing "load management." . For some reason, the competitive drive is diminished in today's game. Hand-check rule may have been a contributing factor, but I think it's more of a cultural change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is some pretty good content, but Jordan had full creative control over the whole thing, so it’s not as good or insightful as it could have been given the amount of footage they had available. Last nights episodes had a bunch of filler on playoff series about which we already know the outcome and didn’t need that much prolonged coverage. Also the jumping back and forth with the chronology is a little distracting/annoying. If it is supposed to be for artistic merit, I’m not really seeing the point.

I’ve heard this criticism but I disagree. It’s a great way of showing the background—not just of Jordan but of every key player on that ‘98 team. Look at last night’s episode, how they brought up Kukoc but went all the way back to ‘90 Draft, and then ‘92 Olympics (I had no idea how Jordan and Pippen were out to get him!) to tell his story. It made it interesting. How boring would it be if they went from early 80’s to 98 in a linear manner?

No, I understand this point, but they just seem to do it randomly. Like jumping from 98 to 92 and back, when it doesn't really add much because all of those jumps were about Jordan, not adding context. I guess my critique is that it is over-deployed to the point of being a distraction, not that it should be nixed altogether.

I don't like so much jumping back & forth.

Also zero mention of his wife & kids. It's really strange.

The man who produced the doc said he didn't need them to tell the story he wanted to tell, so they aren't in it.

*the story Jordan wanted to tell

Correct -- the story Jordan wanted to tell. And it's a good story, but a neutral or outsider documentary would get the really nitty gritty stuff about Jordan that is so much darker than this puffy celebration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is some pretty good content, but Jordan had full creative control over the whole thing, so it’s not as good or insightful as it could have been given the amount of footage they had available. Last nights episodes had a bunch of filler on playoff series about which we already know the outcome and didn’t need that much prolonged coverage. Also the jumping back and forth with the chronology is a little distracting/annoying. If it is supposed to be for artistic merit, I’m not really seeing the point.

I’ve heard this criticism but I disagree. It’s a great way of showing the background—not just of Jordan but of every key player on that ‘98 team. Look at last night’s episode, how they brought up Kukoc but went all the way back to ‘90 Draft, and then ‘92 Olympics (I had no idea how Jordan and Pippen were out to get him!) to tell his story. It made it interesting. How boring would it be if they went from early 80’s to 98 in a linear manner?

No, I understand this point, but they just seem to do it randomly. Like jumping from 98 to 92 and back, when it doesn't really add much because all of those jumps were about Jordan, not adding context. I guess my critique is that it is over-deployed to the point of being a distraction, not that it should be nixed altogether.

I don't like so much jumping back & forth.

Also zero mention of his wife & kids. It's really strange.

The man who produced the doc said he didn't need them to tell the story he wanted to tell, so they aren't in it.

*the story Jordan wanted to tell

Correct -- the story Jordan wanted to tell. And it's a good story, but a neutral or outsider documentary would get the really nitty gritty stuff about Jordan that is so much darker than this puffy celebration.

Like the part that he's actually an @sshole?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is some pretty good content, but Jordan had full creative control over the whole thing, so it’s not as good or insightful as it could have been given the amount of footage they had available. Last nights episodes had a bunch of filler on playoff series about which we already know the outcome and didn’t need that much prolonged coverage. Also the jumping back and forth with the chronology is a little distracting/annoying. If it is supposed to be for artistic merit, I’m not really seeing the point.

I’ve heard this criticism but I disagree. It’s a great way of showing the background—not just of Jordan but of every key player on that ‘98 team. Look at last night’s episode, how they brought up Kukoc but went all the way back to ‘90 Draft, and then ‘92 Olympics (I had no idea how Jordan and Pippen were out to get him!) to tell his story. It made it interesting. How boring would it be if they went from early 80’s to 98 in a linear manner?

No, I understand this point, but they just seem to do it randomly. Like jumping from 98 to 92 and back, when it doesn't really add much because all of those jumps were about Jordan, not adding context. I guess my critique is that it is over-deployed to the point of being a distraction, not that it should be nixed altogether.

I don't like so much jumping back & forth.

Also zero mention of his wife & kids. It's really strange.

The man who produced the doc said he didn't need them to tell the story he wanted to tell, so they aren't in it.

*the story Jordan wanted to tell

Correct -- the story Jordan wanted to tell. And it's a good story, but a neutral or outsider documentary would get the really nitty gritty stuff about Jordan that is so much darker than this puffy celebration.

Like the part that he's actually an @sshole?

He is, no doubt. But it seems like he wasn’t always that way!
Let’s face it, he was nasty, but Doug Collins’ ”feed Michael” basketball, and all the diversification of his brand by his agent really really made him into the type of a-hole who constantly smokes cohibas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You must not watch basketball if you don't think the NBA players play defense now.

The hand-check rule changed so the framework the players can play under is different, but they are doing everything they can within the rules.

So the hand-check rule is the reason EVERYBODY just wants to chuck 3's instead of driving? I'd think it would be easier to take it to the hole with the hand-check rule. Is hand-check rule also the reason NBA players flop and cry to officials like European football players? Is it the reason they are all lovey-dovey best friends and don't want to hurt each others feelings by playing aggressively? They all want to be friends and orchestrate it so they can play with their bros and then take days off citing "load management." . For some reason, the competitive drive is diminished in today's game. Hand-check rule may have been a contributing factor, but I think it's more of a cultural change.

Watching this, they are treating Jerry Krause like a punching bag—all the players hated him! But the proof is in the pudding and the team was successful. In today’s NBA he would have been fired as soon as Jordan said so. It’s more than just hand-check rule that’s watered down the NBA. It’s way to player-centered. There’s too much emphasis on placating the players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You must not watch basketball if you don't think the NBA players play defense now.

The hand-check rule changed so the framework the players can play under is different, but they are doing everything they can within the rules.

So the hand-check rule is the reason EVERYBODY just wants to chuck 3's instead of driving? I'd think it would be easier to take it to the hole with the hand-check rule. Is hand-check rule also the reason NBA players flop and cry to officials like European football players? Is it the reason they are all lovey-dovey best friends and don't want to hurt each others feelings by playing aggressively? They all want to be friends and orchestrate it so they can play with their bros and then take days off citing "load management." . For some reason, the competitive drive is diminished in today's game. Hand-check rule may have been a contributing factor, but I think it's more of a cultural change.

No, the reason they shoot threes is because those shots are worth 50% more than a drive to the basket.

As for the too friendly nature?

[Anonymous]

Episodes 7 & 8 tonight. Damn that Jordan was a real a-hole! I always respected those 90s Sonics, and now I respect George Karl even more! Why should he act all happy to see him? They wanted to BEAT him!
And Gary Payton—paraphrasing, but MJ says “I’m OK with him.” Well now we know why he hates Isaiah Thomas: he beat him!

[Anonymous]

How weird it it Jerry Sloan dies dats after being featured so prominently I last dance??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How weird it it Jerry Sloan dies dats after being featured so prominently I last dance??

Unless you're thinking of Jerry Krause, who has been dead for a while, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was minimally featured solely for coaching the team that lost to the '98 Bulls.

[Anonymous]

I loved Jordan and that Bulls team as a kid. However, watching this - this rhetoric of ‘win at all costs’ is tiresome. No need to promote being a d*ck to your teammates under the guise of ‘making them better’