The epic Bulls documentary “The Last Dance” premiered on Sunday night and captivated the nation, and the first episode spent a short time recapping Michael Jordan’s transition from being college basketball superstar at North Carolina to his life as an NBA rookie. The Bulls selected Jordan third overall in 1984, following a 27-win year, and he quickly turned around a hard-partying squad that had dealt with drug issues in the past.
Jordan recalled a story from the preseason in 1984, which he believes happened in Peoria. Jordan was trying to find his teammates in a hotel, and after knocking on a door, heard the people inside get quiet. When he announced it was “MJ” he was allowed inside, and witnessed “things I’ve never seen in my life.”
“I walk in and practically the whole team was in there. And it was like, things I’ve never seen in my life, you know, as a young kid. You got your lines over here, you got your weed smokers over here, you got your women over here. So the first thing I said, ‘look man, I’m out.’ Because all I can think about is if they come and raid this place, right about now, I am just as guilty as everyone else that’s in this room. And from that point on, I was more or less on my own.”
