MJ Mondays | No One is Bigger Than The Team

Michael Jordan wanted to be the best. He competed to win, and he hated to lose. Because he wanted to be the best, he was the hardest worker in the gym. By his 5th year in the NBA, he had become the Rookie of the Year, regular-season MVP, All-Star game MVP, and Defensive Player of the Year. MJ was leading the NBA in scoring every year, and he was on his way to becoming the best individual player in the game.

But Jordan wasn't having team success. He was criticized because he wasn't winning at the level of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Isiah Thomas. The Chicago Bulls hired Phil Jackson as the coach, and Phil's goal was to emphasize team play and to take the pressure off of Michael by teaching him how to get his teammates more involved.

Michael Jordan said that he wasn't always a fan of Phil Jackson. He said, "[Phil] was coming in to take the ball out of my hands. Doug put the ball in my hands." Phil had a philosophy to get them away from 1-on-1 basketball and more team basketball.

Phil met with Michael and told him that he probably wouldn't be the scoring champion again. The spotlight is on the ball and if one person always has the ball, they are easier to defend. 

Phil told Michael, "I am not worried about you, but we to find a way to make everybody else better. We have to create other threats." The triangle offense allowed everybody to play where they felt comfortable doing what they do best.

The success of the Bulls relied on Michael adjusting to this new philosophy which tries to relieve him of some of the offensive pressure. While Michael struggled with this at first, he realized how important being a team player is if you are trying to win at the highest level. Jordan had done it all statistically, but he still wasn't seen as a winner. His game and success took off when he became a better teammate and made those around him better. B.J. Armstrong said, "He realized that him scoring all the points wasn't going to win the last game of the season. He made a conscious effort to say, 'No individual is going to be [bigger than] the team.'"

Michael Jordan was the largest icon that the NBA has ever seen, and he understood that he didn't need to have the ball in his hands all of the time. He and his teammates knew that they had to make a change if they wanted to be champions.

If the greatest player to ever play can continue to learn, grow, and change his game, and if we see that those changes helped him become a champion, what are some lessons that we can learn or some adjustments that we can make to our game?