"The new generation was starting to call LeBron the GOAT" - Shannon Sharpe talks about the suspicious timing of Michael Jordan giving the green light to The Last Dance documentary
It seems as if the basketball world simply cannot get enough of the late talk involving the Chicago Bulls dynasty of the 90s. Since "The Last Dance" documentary was released last year, fans of the NBA have been glued to the screens as they've heard legendary stories that were never released to the public. The documentary generated a chaotic amount of buzz throughout the basketball world, as fans were fascinated with the behind-the-scenes drama that took place during the Chicago Bulls' legendary run of multiple championships.
Not everyone was a fan of the documentary though, as a number of teammates from those Chicago Bulls teams have come out and voiced their frustration with the documentary. Most notable has been Hall of Fame forward Scottie Pippen. Scottie Pippen announced last week that he was releasing a memoir titled "Unguarded." In that memoir, Pippen goes on to talk about his side of the story, including his reactions to "The Last Dance" documentary. The other day, GQ released a couple of excerpts from the memoir that talked about the fact that Pippen thought teammate Michael Jordan only released the documentary to make sure fans wouldn't think LeBron James had become the greatest player to ever play in the NBA. Speaking on Undisputed, analyst Shannon Sharpe went into detail as to why he's behind Pippen's comments about the strategic timing of Michael Jordan's release of the footage.
"For some reason after sitting on the footage for 2 decades, Jordan gives the okay to do the documentary on the day of the Cavs' parade. The new generation was starting to call LeBron the GOAT."
.@ShannonSharpe on Scottie Pippen saying MJ used 'Last Dance' to outshine LeBron:
"For some reason after sitting on the footage for 2 decades, Jordan gives the okay to do the documentary on the day of the Cavs' parade. The new generation was starting to call LeBron the GOAT." https://t.co/ELnyfVMhtr
Michael Jordan's decision to release the Bulls' footage worked wonders in his favor
Shannon Sharpe does bring up some interesting points, as the timing of the documentary was always extremely interesting after Jordan had the footage for so many years. Throughout the documentary, the basketball world was shown just how ruthless of a competitor Michael Jordan was. He was someone that would go to extreme measures to try to get in the best possible position to have success. Sharpe's focus on the timing of the release is going to set the basketball world on fire. This is mainly because it was right after the most recent championship won by LeBron James. The debate comparing LeBron James and Michael Jordan has always been one of the most controversial in NBA history, and it's one that surely won't go away anytime soon. Pippen is convinced that Jordan strategically released the documentary in a way to "remind" the public just how good of a player he was.
While some of his teammates didn't appreciate the way they were portrayed throughout the documentary, it's not much of a surprise that Jordan continued to be the center of attention throughout. Pippen has gone on to echo the fact that he didn't appreciate how he was portrayed throughout the series, and has made that vocal with the early releases of his memoir. With "Unguarded" scheduled to be officially released on November 9th, this won't be the last time we have heard of more stories involving the Chicago Bulls dynasty of the 1990s.