Michael Jordan’s relentless competitive spirit is one of the reasons he is widely regarded as basketball’s GOAT.
The basketball legend won six NBA Championships, and was named NBA Finals MVP six times, and the regular season MVP five times.
He is one of the highest paid athletes of all time and is still involved in sport through work with Nike and his NASCAR team, 23XI.
But the competitive fire that made him such a success story, on and off the court, meant he could be hard on his teammates.
And former Chicago Bulls forward Scottie Pippin revealed that there was one player Jordan didn’t believe was good enough to win games late on.
Writing in his book, Unguarded, Pippin said that Jordan told his Bulls teammates not to pass to Bill Cartwright in the last few minutes of games due to his ‘bad hands’.
“Bill, to put it mildly, didn’t appear to be the answer to our problems in the post,” Pippen wrote.
“He had bad hands, couldn’t spot open teammates when he was double-teamed, and was unable to keep up with our speed, the best in the league.
“Michael wasn’t pleased. That also is putting it mildly. He told the rest of us to stop passing the ball to Bill in the last few minutes of a game.
“Bill was a smart guy. He saw what was going on. He was ready to kill Michael, and I didn’t blame him. ‘That motherf–ker,’ Bill said one day when Michael wasn’t around.
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Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant were once opponents as well as friends (Credit:Getty)
“I don’t care what that f**ker says. Just get me the f–king ball.’”
The Bulls acquired Cartwright back in 1988 as part of the trade that sent Jordan’s friend and teammate Charles Oakley to the New York Knicks.
Cartwright was part of the team that won three straight NBA titles for the Bulls alongside Jordan and Pippin from 1991 to 1993.
And while he was initially frustrated at the deal, Jordan admitted he was wrong years later.
“I was wrong with the Oakley-Bill Cartwright trade,” Jordan said.
“It was the best trade at the time. I still love Charles Oakley, and I loved having him on our team, but in terms of what Bill Cartwright brought to the team, he made a difference.”