“My pet project.” That is how Michael Jordan referred to Scott Burrell on Tuesday.
“He called me that?” Burrell laughed when he heard it.
What does it mean?
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“He’s been working me all year–verbally, physically. I mean, he’s been trying to make me better all year,” the former Golden State Warrior said. “Anything he’ll say to an opponent, he’ll say to me.”
Has it helped?
“He fires you up to play. He made me regain the fire for playing basketball again. A lot the fire went out in Golden State. Definitely he brought it back.”
Though he acknowledged being hard on Burrell at times, Jordan appreciates him as a teammate and said he’s especially motivated to get championship rings for Burrell and Joe Kleine, the only Bulls who don’t have them.
“They’re the guys that I would love to see enjoy themselves, Joe the most because he has been in the league the longest. I’d love to see what he’s going to do in terms of celebrations.”
Still strutting: The Bulls have long been known for walkin’ the walk, for having that little swagger that tells everyone they’re good and they know it. But after the Pacers pushed them to seven games in the Eastern Conference finals, some thought they were stripped of that swagger.
“Swagger is a sense of confidence, and I always believed we had that confidence,” Jordan said. “People might have said we lost that swagger because we’d gone through a seven-game series. Maybe so, but not much.
“We still believe in ourselves, and we go out basically to defend that. I think we’ve done a good job of doing that even though teams have looked at us as being tired and possibly more vulnerable. But we always had that inner confidence, and maybe you’re starting to see it a little more because we have a good feel for where we are.
“That confidence never disappeared from the Chicago Bulls.”
Bearing a grudge: Jazz players are beginning to think the Bulls aren’t taking them seriously, and it wasn’t just the barrage of three-pointers late in the final minutes of Sunday’s 42-point blowout. Utah also is taking Dennis Rodman’s antics as a slap in the face.
“I don’t think they’re taking us serious at all,” Karl Malone said. “When you see things like that, it makes you want to come back and play hard.”
Shandon Anderson said the Bulls were taunting the Jazz during Sunday’s game.
“It’s just in their attitude when we play. It’s a lack of respect. I think they’re undermining us as basketball players, telling us, `We don’t have any respect for you guys and you don’t have any reason being here.’ That’s something that we as a team have to step up and attack.”
Utah has been here before. The Jazz was blown out by 22 points in Game 3 of its second-round series with the Spurs. Utah bounced back to win the next two games, including Game 4 in San Antonio.
“I like our attitude right now,” Malone said. “We’re looking forward to the game.”
Nothing new: The Bulls’ ability to smother Malone and John Stockton and the rest of the Jazz has surprised some, but not Jordan.
“To be able to take an explosive team and shut them down, we’ve done that for many years,” he said. “And in championship years, we’ve always done that.
“It’s been the key, and that can restore any team’s confidence, knowing you can hold another team to a certain amount of points. So our defense is certainly our confidence booster.
“But we want to continue to improve on our defense. Yeah, it was great (in Game 3), it was good defense. But we don’t want any loopholes in our defense, and I’m pretty sure when we look at the tape we can find where those loopholes were and what easy shots they missed (in Game 3) and make sure they don’t get the same looks.”
Never know: Jordan was asked if he could ever conceive of the Bulls losing by 42 points.
“Us being beaten by 42?” he said, eyes wide. “No. I don’t think we can get beat by 42.
“But I’m sure (the Jazz) thought the same way.”
Firing blanks: OK, Utah’s 54-point “output” in Game 3 Sunday seemed an aberration. Yet scoring is down throughout the league, and the decline has been a trend for the last few seasons.
And Jordan loves it.
“It’s more competitive that way,” he said. “And it’s more thoughtful. It’s more of a mental game instead of just an athletic game. Defense wins championships. The trend is being set if you look: Defense is starting to improve. There are more knowledgeable and more versatile players who can make adjustments.”
Old reliable: Jordan hasn’t missed a game–regular season or playoffs–since he returned from his baseball hiatus, a 331-game streak.
Questions surrounding his future always hinge on political aspects of the organization. What about the physical aspect of coming back for another season at age 35?
“I feel good,” Jordan said. “As long as I can have time enough to prepare myself for the grueling season, I’m not worried about playing a full season. Or a full couple of seasons.”
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Bury the hatchet: Remember when Toni Kukoc first came to the Bulls and much was made of Scottie Pippen’s jealousy over his contract?
Remember the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona when Pippen, an original Dream Team member, made it his personal mission to shut down Kukoc in the United States’ blowout victory over Croatia?
Pippen says all those hard feelings are in the past.
“My relationship with Toni is great,” Pippen said. “A lot was made of it before he got here, that I hated him. But I’ve never shown any dislike to Toni. And hopefully he’s never felt that I disliked him.
“He’s grown a lot as a player. He’s learned the game, and I’m glad that we’ve been able to find him a starting spot in the lineup because he’s been very productive for us.”
You’re excused . . . maybe: As Rodman sprinted off the United Center floor Tuesday to shouts of “There goes Rodzilla” from his teammates, the hundreds of media members on hand didn’t notice that Jud Buechler had skipped practice.
Buechler was with his wife, Lindsey, who gave birth to the couple’s second child.
“That’s not a good excuse,” Steve Kerr deadpanned.
The quote: Phil Jackson on Rodman: “Dennis is not a normal person in our society, but he’s great at what he does here. That is what’s so remarkable about his game. All the adversity that Dennis has had to face in his life, he’s still able to do something that is absolutely spectacular and be successful at it. I think that’s why the fans who understand him love him and the people who can’t stand him despise him.”