Michael Jordan is the GOAT, and one of the biggest reasons why was his insane competitive nature. That competitive fire often manifested itself in practice, where Jordan was renowned for going after teammates. Not just verbally berating them, but physically attacking them.
Michael Jordan also punched Will Perdue
Perdue joins Steve Kerr and Jud Buechler in the pantheon of Bulls teammates to be punched by Jordan.
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Steve Kerr and Jud Buechler were two known victims of Jordan’s ire, and Horace Grant named 7’ center Will Perdue as another in a recent radio interview on New York’s HOT97:
“Our practices were so intense because Phil, the mastermind behind everything, would put MJ on the second team, me and Scottie would be on the first team, and being competitive like he was, man. Unreal, unreal. Of course punches got thrown, many fights. I’m just so happy that social media wasn’t (around) back then.”
“I hate to tell the story but Will and I are still good friends ... Typical Phil (Jackson) we run this play and Will set an illegal pick on MJ, and MJ said,‘Will, don’t do that again.’ ‘Whatcha talking about’ that’s Will. MJ says alright; Phil says run it again. So naturally we run it two more times, illegal pick. MJ walks up to Will -- boom. Lit him up. It was over; we grabbed Will -- you’re not going to hurt MJ. MJ can take care of himself. The next day on the plane, Will gets on with this huge shiner.”
Yep, Michael Jordan was sort of a crazy person. This kind of stuff makes Kobe Bryant’s “soft like Charmin” outburst tame by comparison. But that crazy helped Jordan be great, and because he was great, he was able to get away with it. A lack of Twitter also helped.
H/T to ProBasketballTalk and No Coast Bias for this story.
