Michael Jordan's contentious relationship with former Bull Scott Burrell is expected to be one of the key storylines throughout the "The Last Dance," which debuted Sunday night.
Burrell is now the men's head basketball coach coach at Southern Connecticut State University, and told me on the most recent episode of the Bulls Talk Podcast he thinks the those Bulls would have won more titles if the team had stayed together after the 1997-98 season.
"I definitely agree with that," Burrell said, responding to the point that Phil Jackson won five additional titles with the Los Angeles Lakers. "Number one, from my point of view, I would have felt more comfortable coming back since I'd been in that situation before. So I thought I would have played better, number one. I would have helped a lot more than I did. But I also think they would have brought in more free agents, younger guys that would do the job that needed to be done, that some of the older guys couldn't do or just needed a little more energy.
"I definitely think when you have those three guys — and people forget about Toni Kukoc — how good he was, and the role that Steve Kerr played. Everyone had a role and everyone did their role. But I think they would have plugged in the holes that needed to be filled and we would have still been NBA champs for a couple more years after that."
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Naturally, Burrell's main reason for this theory came down to the drive of Michael Jordan.
"You had to pull Michael Jordan off the court for someone else to win a championship. You would have to drag him off because that's how competitive he is."
Asked what his impressions were of former Bulls general manager Jerry Krause, whose position with players appeared tense at times in the first two episodes of the documentary, Burrell said the players' opinions on the dynasty's expiration date differed from Krause's.
"It's tough to speak on Jerry because the issue between Jerry and management, and Jerry and some of the players, it's totally different than what I had to deal with at that time. So from what I saw on the outside looking into all those issues — they didn't want it to end at the same time," Burrell said. "Jerry thought it should break up. He wouldn't have re-signed any free agents. So everybody was on the last year of a contract.
"I just think it's tough to break up a team that's winning. That's my point. Let them get knocked off to end the run of the dynasty the Bulls had. Whether it be to get more free agents or whatever it is, do your best to put the team together that's still competitive to win. Ever since then obviously, you see how the Bulls have been. So it's tough to get a championship team and keep a dynasty going. You should let it go as long as possible."
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