"Don't put a saddle on a mustang": What did we as coaches learn from "The Last Dance"?

Firstly, I hope this blog post finds you, your family and friends in good health; as the strange times continue with new territory for us coaches, I hope we can continue to follow the advice of health professionals and leaders of our countries to keep our communities safe and well, including all our athletes, coaches and administrators involved in our respective sports. Writing from Australia, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer and brighter from the commitment of many and I encourage everyone to follow the guidelines offered. I like many others during the isolation period enjoyed watching “The Last Dance”; I differently than everyone else waited until pretty much the final week to binge watch the series!! I genuinely loved watching the series, the back stories and how one of the greatest sports figures of all time went about building his craft and excelling on the biggest stage, time and time again. However, I always had the nagging question to myself of how critical Phil Jackson was and what steps did he take in creating the ideal atmospheres (or controlling Jordan’s high expectations of others) for the group as a whole to excel?

A LOT of articles have been written around “The Last Dance” and Jordan’s actions in particular. The Irish Examiner (https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/sport/columnists/kieran-shannon/kieran-shannon-there-will-never-be-better-than-jordan-23-takeaways-from-the-last-dance-1000564.html), UK The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/may/20/the-last-dance-espn-lebron-james-michael-jordan-nba) and Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald (https://www.smh.com.au/sport/misfits-grudges-loyalty-and-other-takeaways-from-the-last-dance-20200519-p54uce.html) to name a few have looked at the impact this documentary has had in the argument for how Jordan is one of the greatest sportsman, let alone basketball player, of all time. Even the timing of the release of the documentary, during a period where we are starved of live sport, can be perceived as excellent execution by Jordan and his team. The series highlighted Jordan’s unrelenting desire to win and his abrasive attitude to ensure people would be capable to compete and complete his goals. Jordan was clear from the outset about his hope that the Chicago Bulls someday will be respected the way a Boston Celtics or Los Angeles Lakers (were); he kept adding to his goals to ensure he was going “one-up” on anyone from Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, the Detroit Pistons and other critics such as Walt Frazier.

However, for me watching the series, it’s interesting to repeatedly see how devoted Jordan was to head coach Phil Jackson and hear so clearly that he was willing to play for no one else in Chicago. Add the complexities Jackson faced in managing Pippen, Dennis Rodman and the two Jerrys — Jerry Reinsdorf, the Bulls’ owner, and Jerry Krause, the general manager — who seemingly indefensibly conspired with the breakup of a dynasty rather than doing everything they could to hold it together (although Jackson had the final vote when offered an extra year by Reinsdorf) and you can start to deeply appreciate the complexities in maintaining such a high performing environment for so long. So I wanted to question and consider what areas did Jackson excel in to allow his Bulls squad to perform on such a high level for so long?

Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr, another key figure in the documentary after spending three and a half seasons as Jordan’s teammate under Jackson, was recently quoted as saying:

I never even felt like Phil got enough credit when it was happening because of Michael’s presence, or when he went to L.A. and having Kobe and Shaq there.

I think people always underestimated Phil’s talent as a coach, but he was so brilliant and so unique in his style….With all the fame and notoriety that surrounded the team and Michael in particular, Phil was just an incredible leader and coach. Very few, if any, people would have had the right skill set and temperament to keep a team like that together and moving forward.

Other players such as Will Perdue discussed how Jackson took it upon himself to get the best out of individuals. He investigated and identified how to motivate each individual; combining this approach with Jordan’s abrasive training nature to continually add and apply pressure to different individuals, to breaking point on many occasions, work hardened them to an arguably more physical and demanding league than today’s game. Coaching success stems around the competence, confidence, connection and character developed of the athlete as a result of the coach-player relations yet coach adopted transformational leadership styles would result in positive intrinsic motivations and increased athlete effort; it’s safe to say Jackson developed a transformational style of leadership. Bass (1985) recognises this style of transformational leadership as the ability to inspire and motivate followers to exceed performance expectations by shaping follower’s beliefs and attitudes. This form of leadership can be developed by inspiration or motivation to team members, through creating a vision of common goals, idealising influence through modelling behaviours or values, individualising consideration, through allowing for other’s needs and feelings and intellectual stimulation through encouraging creativity. Combined with transactional leadership style, which is combining contingent rewards and corrective actions, the optimal leadership state is recognised as more frequent transformational and transactional leadership adopted styles, combined with more relaxed attitudes such as Jackson’s (Price, 2013).

Previous studies have also addressed peer transformational behaviours and leadership style is related to group cohesion and collective efficiency; this is created by idealised influence by leading by example, showing optimism regarding team collective goals and setting high standards while acknowledging the needs of others and gaining cooperation through sacrifice (Bass & Avolio 1994). However, peer leadership behaviours such as Jordan’s, can be overshadowed by coach leadership behaviours in relation to individual outcomes such as perceived competence and goal attainment. However, Jordan’s personality and influence on the group was so strong, Jackson was the one holding together and building on team cohesion. These research findings offer greater weight to the ideas that the relationship of peer and co-player leadership offer group social support and continual positive feedback (or often negative feedback in the cases shown in “The Last Dance”) whereas coaches such as Jackson need to focus on individual development and progression, highlighted by Perdue’s comments. These ideas are highlighted during the series, although evidence would suggest that Jordan had instigated the control as opposed to being offered it by Jackson yet MJ did admit he was pulled into line a few times by Jackson when he overstepped the mark! However, I believe Jackson recognised the leadership dynamics and his willingness to allow player leaders to be identified, creating connected individuals and responsibility being distributed amongst the group through social networking which is important within team dynamics.

Another impressive skillset of Jackson was his ability to pull together a group of individuals with different personalities and regular changes due to trades yet kept them focused on their goals. Sydney Morning Herald’s Phil Lutton wrote:

Some of the greatest teams have layer-upon-layer of dysfunction that rails against the idea of homogeneous personalities and renditions of folk songs around the camp fire. More important was the collective goal and the standards required for that to be achieved. For Jordan, as long as Dennis Rodman rebounded like a freak and exuded defensive energy, he could be forgiven his imperfections and mid-season Vegas jaunts. Winning always trumps controversy.

Jackson himself was initially identified as a personality; as depicted in episode four of the series, Jackson was an eccentric individual. From being described as too caring and a hippy, none of those traits seem for the making of head coach during that time period and very different from the mould of current NBA coaches. However, he was genuine of his love for basketball and his coaching philosophies. He embraced the individualities of his players, having high demands and expectations when at training and playing yet allowing his players to be themselves and relax when away from the court, something Jordan acknowledged when rushing for a golf tee off time after training! Ultimately, a coach’s ability to acknowledge and develop positive interpersonal connections, driven by interpersonal skills and united sense of purpose and achievement, can offer solid base for positive relationships and performance atmospheres. Let’s consider some of the ways Jackson balanced the complexity of the group by creating narrative to drive performance and focus. One that stands out is his ability to create themes and story like narrative for collective and collaborative success. Let’s remind ourselves with the early scenes of episode 2; handing out team books for the final season titled “THE LAST DANCE”. This created a unified sense of purpose, extra drive (probably when no extra drive was needed) and a theme which could be drawn upon throughout their final season.

Fellow coach and blog writer David Sharkey recently wrote and shared this idea of using themes or stories and how effective they are at creating team bonds. (https://thegreatwhitesharkey.com/2020/05/03/the-use-of-themes-in-coaching-a-framework-for-coaches/). Sharkey writes:

My biggest piece of advice here is: start with the players. Think about what might resonate with them. If you are new to the club or the environment, do your utmost to find out as much as you can about the group. It is also integral that you know the story inside-out. You should delve deep to find areas that might fit – or identify areas that could clash and might be a reason to not pursue this theme or story.

Study your chosen story carefully and examine what kinds of behaviours or values you wish to promote. If this story is going to grip and inspire your players, make sure they are emulating people and values that align with the team’s goals and reputation.

It is imperative that you do not take a ‘Lone-Wolf’ approach to using a story or theme in coaching. Ensure you explain the purpose behind your story and why you think it will be worthwhile. Draw on the advice and support of your coaching group first and then a small number of key individuals who are leaders due to their technical ability or their social influence. If you cannot convince these people to support the story, you may have trouble selling it to the wider group.

Coincidently, his inspiration for Sharkey’s blog post and ideas around it stemmed from NZ Rugby side, Crusaders coach Scott Robertson, of which I listened to a podcast with Russell Earnshaw from The Magic Academy during the week. During their chat, he also discussed the importance of story telling and creating engaging atmospheres for his players to relate to and take ownership of, a skill he says former All Blacks coach Wayne Smith was particularly good at. Even from “The Last Dance” documentary, the now great GSW coach Steve Kerr regularly used storytelling to engage his star squad with one of the most notable occasions being the 1991 Finals story when Jackson asked Jordan to trust and pass to the open John Paxon to win the series. During the 2018 Western Conference series, Kerr used this story for impact and effectiveness with his then MVP power forward, Kevin Durant, asking him to also trust his teammates early (https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bulls/steve-kerr-told-michael-jordan-bulls-story-give-advice-kevin-durant). Actions like this, alongside another example also 2018 when Coach Kerr allowed his team to run the time outs during a game, highlight the adaptive nature, strong core values and defined purpose Steve Kerr has established in himself and his group of players at Golden State. His willingness to continue to learn and evolve as a coach while being true to the culture developed and following the vision established and core values identified responds well to the modern day athlete, skills am sure he identified and developed from Jackson’s tutelage. However, knowing team environments offer layered complexities, having potentially multiple coaches, players and socially dynamic groups within the Bulls squad outlined in “The Last Dance”, I believe Jackson identified his group of players and adopted coaching methodologies to allow him to be authentic to himself and respond to his player’s needs.

Like Superbowl winning coach Pete Carroll has previously defined “(we’re just) helping people be great competitors, teach them how to persevere (and be resilient) and unleash their passions”. Sophia Jowett’s research into coach-athlete relationships looked at the interrelated emotions and behaviours captured through constructs of commitment, closeness and complimentary, tied in later studies with coordination (Jowett, 2004). In this sports research, commitment (or perseverance) within coach-athlete relationships is recognised as intention to maintain a loyal, long term relationship while showing closeness as mutual trust, respect and appreciation for roles played in partnership, all areas Jackson covered in spades with the Bulls squad. His ability to have mutual relatedness, common ground in beliefs and actions while having stress-free interpersonal behaviours displays coordination and complimentary aspects for successful coach-athlete relationships and support athlete's goals and targets. Meaningful connections is key here; interests are not discovered through introspection but through triggers with the outside world; you would regularly see Jackson discussing other sports and considering time away from the court for the team. High quality coach-athlete relationships, which are optimised by mentioned harmonious passion, result in higher subjective well-being within player (Lafrenière, 2008), an area which is critical for the development of self-determined motivations and mastery mindset such as Jordan and co. The main aspects of influential and successful relationships revolve around ideals such as mutual trust, respect, support, cooperation, communication and understanding of each other and impact of each other within the relationship, areas Jackson was particularly strong in.

The further we get into “The Last Dance,” the more we learn that Jackson was not only an X’s and O’s coach, but he also had a high level of emotional intelligence, which put him ahead of his time. From Jordan wanting to be “the guy,” or Pippen wanting to sit out, to Rodman wanting a 48-hour “vacation,” Jackson had a true understanding of the team and the individuals within it. Most coaches in this situation probably could not have handled all the twists and turns that Jackson faced. Coaches such as Jackson’s involvement in Jordan’s success should not be ignored; studies recognised high levels of individual’s intrinsic motivations when coaches exhibit a leadership style that empathised training and instructional behaviours while exhibiting democratic behaviour rather than autocratic leadership styles (Amorose, 2007). Coaches need to offer and monitor accountability and feedback of control offered and adopted by players whilst encouraging player autonomy in learning and tasks, as autonomy leads to engagement, which results in drive for mastery. This could be through applying Galinsky and Maddux’s research to sporting context would recognise that “taking perspective of (player) produced both greater joint gains and profitable individual outcomes”. In a sports context, this could be seen as improved coach-athlete relationships, regular player involvement in decision making processes, honest and accurate goal attainment for coach, player and playing group as a whole and personal development from all stakeholders. Recognizing Jordan as one of the greatest of all time, Head Coach Jackson seemingly fit into the equation and offered environments to push himself in by understanding MJ’s personal strivings, motivations and typical tendencies, subsequently offering consistent, critical yet non-controlling feedback and offer support and praise for effort, strategy and exploration of skills and abilities, something that only unique coaches such as Jackson could offer at this time.