“Didn’t Realise Michael Was Such an A******”: Michael Jordan’s 2009 Honor Resulted in Eye-Opening Heartbreak for Bulls Legend

“Limits, like fear, is often just an illusion”: quotes like this proved that the Chicago Bulls legend delivered one of the most iconic induction speeches ever. Michael Jordan shared some inspirational and heart-touching lines during his Hall of Fame speech in 2009. However, there were also sections of it which changed some people’s perspective on Jordan. 

Famously known as the villain of the ‘Last Dance’, Jerry Krause shared a part of the speech, which he believes to be the highest form of disrespect. Featuring late legend Dean Smith, let’s take a look at how the 6-time champion berated his own college head coach in his speech. 

The bad side of Michel Jordan’s Hall of Fame speech, as per Jerry Krause

During his induction speech, MJ did not leave out the most influential people of his life and career. North Carolina head coach Dean Smith was one of them. The two even won a NCAA championship in 1982. Though Smith played such a pivotal part in his career, Michael Jordan still went on to call out the coach in his speech. Or so says Jerry Krause.

Former Bulls manager Krause and Jordan had a feud that resulted in the end of the Bulls dynasty involving Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman. Krause felt it would have been acceptable even if Jordan called him out in his speech. But berating his college head coach was unfathomable. 

Jerry Krause shared his disappointment, “I was surprised that he’d done it on that stage. I was very shocked that he nailed Dean. Me? You could expect it. Dean? That was hard. Dean must have sat there thinking, ‘What?’ Dean must have been shocked.” 

That was not the extent of the former GM’s revelations. Krause let his true feelings be known when he said, “He [Jordan] is one of the smartest basketball players I ever worked with, but that Hall of Fame thing, that speech, helped me make people realize how stupid he is. I had umpteen people come up to me after that speech and say, ‘I didn’t realize Michael was such an a******’.“

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Despite facing no heat during Jordan’s HoF speech, Krause did catch several strays in ‘The Last Dance’. But years before the Netflix series aired, this part of MJ’s induction speech offended Jerry Krause.

What did Michael Jordan say about Dean Smith? 

Back in the college days, Dean Smith was on the Sports Illustrated magazine and he was asked to pick out his top four starters. As you could have guessed, Smith missed a chance to mention Jordan. Well, MJ did not forget it.

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Jordan shared in his speech, “The day that he was on the Sports Illustrated and he named four starters and he didn’t name me – that burned me up… from a basketball sense I deserved to be on that Sports Illustrated.”

The 5-time MVP shared a lot of memorable moments on his time with the late Tar Heels coach. One could say he was just mocking his favorite coach, but Krause believes that was petty and disrespectful. There were a few others who thought of it in the same way. But, we would like to know what you think about this. Share your take in the comments below.