The Last Dance Director Defends Michael Jordan In His Emotional Statement Explaining His Philosophy And Life Values

Michael Jordan is the greatest. There is no question about that. His achievements are monstrous and place him right at the center of the Mount Rushmore of Basketball. Though there are no questions about his talents, do people really think MJ is a nice guy?

Most of them would think about it. They can’t straight away answer the question, as if you look at MJ’s past differences with his teammates, you might get a negative shade about his personality. He might have come out like a bully. 

However, to prove everyone wrong, MJ delivered an emotional monologue at the end of Episode 7 in ‘The Last Dance.’ From incidents about punching Steve Kerr at practice to depriving Horace Grant of his meal for playing badly, MJ has endured his fair share of bad portrayal by the media. 

The final minutes of Episode 7 struck every one right in the feels. The emotional segment got people deeming it the best moment of the 10-part docuseries so far. As transcribed by Sporting News, MJ addressed his critics for shedding the poor light on him. “’Well, he wasn’t really a nice guy. He may have been a tyrant.’ Well, that’s you, because you never won anything.”

“I wanted to win, but I wanted them to win and be a part of that as well. I don’t have to do this. I’m only doing it because it is who I am. That’s how I played the game. That was my mentality. If you don’t want to play that, don’t play that way. Break.”

‘The Last Dance’ director thinks Michael Jordan is a nice guy

Jason Hehir, the director of the most successful documentary produced by ESPN, joined the ‘Jalen&Jacoby’ show recently. Speaking about the emotional part placed in Episode 7, he said, “That only took place 45 minutes into our first interview with him.” Hehir describes MJ as a nice guy based on how he treated him and his film crew when they were around.

But, people did have a different image when they talk about Michael Jordan from the 90s. “You’re not going to get this plethora of stories about how nice Michael Jordan is if you google ‘Michael Jordan nice guy’. You actually get the opposite of that. I was interested in dispelling that myth,” Hehir said.

Crediting MJ for his respectful behavior, the director wanted to give the Jumpman a choice to open up about his views on this thought. When Hehir asked him a question about his nice guy persona and what it meant to be giving that up in return for winning championships, he took MJ by utter surprise.

“Well, I think I’m a nice guy,” Hehir quoted Jordan. Getting into answering the question, Hehir could see him getting more emotional moving into the subject. Within 45 minutes of their first interview, MJ teared up, according to the director. 

The way MJ lives, abiding by his values makes him seem so adamant. After choking up a bit upon talking into the matter, ‘His Airness’ wanted a break so he got up from the chair and walked away. Now Hehir didn’t know what to do. Looking at a bathroom next to him, he immediately walked in and started thinking about what he had just witnessed. 

“I remember sitting there just like splashing water on my face.” Reflecting on what exactly happened, he assured himself that it was going to create huge waves. “That’s a moment that is going to be a powerful moment in the documentary.”