ESPN’s epic 10-part documentary series “The Last Dance” left many basketball fans positive that Michael Jordan was, without question, the greatest basketball player of all time – but some critics have questioned just how objective the depiction of Jordan’s Bulls really was. Jordan, of course, had full control over the release of the project, and the footage was only ever unsealed with his blessing.
Since the series aired, former Bulls big man Horace Grant sounded off on the documentary, calling Jordan a liar and saying that the show was “B.S. in terms of the realness.” Scottie Pippen was also reportedly upset by his portrayal.
According to the guy who quite literally wrote the book on Jordan, “Jordan Rules” author Sam Smith, The Last Dance was more like a show “based on a true story” than it was a accurate examination of history. In an interview with on the Bonta, Steiny and Guru show on 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, Smith said that Jordan lied or made up several things that ended up in the series, and debunked Jordan’s claim that he wanted the Bulls’ roster to return after 1998 for another run at a title.
Via 95.7 The Game:
“There were several things in the documentary that I saw, I would know, that (Jordan) made up or he lied about. They weren’t major things, but it was like when a TV movie comes on and they say, ‘This is based on a true story.’ That’s what that was. It was based on a true story.
…. They weren’t major, but the thing at the end [about a potential return after the sixth title] was a complete, blatant lie. I know what happened.”
