Another was coach Phil Jackson's leadership, which former Bulls guard B.J. Armstrong -- a member of Chicago's title-winning teams in 1991, 1992 and 1993 -- believes has gotten credit but isn't always understood by outsiders. As an example, Armstrong recalled moment early in his Bulls tenure in which Jackson approached him and challenged him by first asking permission to challenge him.
"Phil had the confidence to believe in us," Armstrong said on the Laurence Holmes Show on Wednesday afternoon as he reacted to the first two episodes of "The Last Dance." "When someone believes in you like that, it gives you a different outlook. Phil was one of the first coaches that asked me the following question: ‘Do I have permission to tell you the truth?’ And I thought that was a very powerful thing to hear from a coach, to hear from someone that you respected, when someone asked for permission to coach you. And that was the type of relationship and understanding that I came to appreciate later because when you’re in a position to teach, there’s trust-building. Just because you’re the coach, you don’t automatically have the authority. You have to work the people. You have to gain the trust of the people. You have to establish theses relationships. The fact that Phil Jackson asked a young kid when he didn’t have to and said, ‘Hey, do I have permission to coach you?’ Those are very powerful lessons that you learn. That’s only happened to me a couple times in my entire career, that coaches would actually ask me that question. That just lets me know that he saw me for who I was. And I saw him – yeah, he was the coach and I was the player, but behind those (titles) were people. That was just one of the lessons that I always respected about him, respected about that group. Because the relationship was built on respect, and we all respected one another. Those were great times."
Listen to Armstrong's full interview below in which he reacted to the first two episodes of "The Last Dance."