Michael Jordan showed me what it meant to be a star, says BJ Armstrong | NBA News

“There is no preparation” to handle the level of fame experienced by Michael Jordan in the 1990s, former Chicago Bulls teammate BJ Armstrong said.

There were obvious advantages to being teammates with Michael Jordan. Many of his Chicago teammates own multiple championship rings, appear in some of the most replayed NBA highlights of all time, and have a lifetime of stories to tell about one of the best ever to hit the field. .

BJ Armstrong also learned to move quickly, that is, off the court.

Whether it’s during his rookie season when his position in the Bulls locker room was adjacent to Jordan’s locker, or at a dinner with six-time NBA champion and Kobe Bryant about a quarter of a century later, Armstrong often found himself with a front. row of seats to witness the true cost of fame for the world’s most recognizable athlete.

“I remember when I was a young player I had a dream to play in the NBA,” said Armstrong, the former NBA guard and a three-time NBA champion with the Bulls, who is now a California-based sports agent. The Associated Press. “And I vividly remember when I came to Chicago thinking, ‘You better be careful what you wish for, because you might get it.’ Michael was the first person to show me what it meant to be a star … but you can’t to be that star and not accept all the things that came with it. “

The tension of Jordan’s virtually unprecedented level of stardom is one of the dominant themes in episodes five and six of the 10-part documentary series The Last Dance. You can watch the new episodes on Netflix through your Sky Q box from 8 a.m. on May 4.

Every story about Jordan always seemed to become a great story, and Jordan felt some things were overdone, like his infamous stances about not wanting to endorse political candidates publicly or going with his father to Atlantic City for a quick game trip during the Eastern Conference 1993 Finals

“We understood his pressures, he understood what we needed and that was just a special group of people who came together,” said Armstrong, who was Jordan’s teammate for the 1991, 1992 and 1993 championships. “I wish no man stardom. When I hear people say, ‘This guy is a star,’ I always say, ‘Good luck.’ What it takes to be a star at that level is beyond. Always having security around, dealing with tickets, I always had to. be on. There is no preparation for that.

“I always say, to this day, that the Air Jordan guy was great and God bless him. But I will always remember Michael the guy.”

Knowing that there would always be a huge horde of media in Jordan’s locker, Armstrong found himself quickly dressing and pulling away because otherwise his shoes would be trampled and his space would be overrun.

If you forgot what that exercise was like, you received a reminder in 2014.

Jordan was in Los Angeles and a dinner was arranged with Armstrong. Armstrong came to the restaurant and found a third seat at the table, asked Jordan if a guest was coming, and was told that Bryant would be joining them for lunch.

Armstrong and Bryant knew each other; They shared one agent, Arn Tellem, at a time. Bryant arrived and before long, he and Jordan were dissecting each nuance of the other’s game. In the end, they decided that Jordan would have a slight advantage because his hands were bigger than Bryant’s.

“They were playing a virtual 1-on-1 game at dinner,” Armstrong said. “I just sat there and listened to them talk about their love for the game. They were so sophisticated; they talked about footwork, how they conditioned themselves, how they would face each other. The detail they had, the respect they had for the game. .. I wish I had seen them play (against each other) at their best. “

Word spread over the night that Jordan and Bryant were in the restaurant. Finally, one exited through a back door, another through a side door, and Armstrong stayed to fight a crowd.

“It was chaos,” Armstrong said. “And they were in basketball heaven.”

Watch The Last Dance, a 10-part documentary series about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls from 1997-98 on Netflix through its Sky Q box – episodes 5 and 6 premiere on May 4 starting at 8am.

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