Craig Hodges Criticized Michael Jordan For How He Acted With Bulls: ‘When You Have Athletes Who Want To Be Overbearing, Oftentimes That Overbearing Is Because They Have Some Insecurities’

Craig Hodges won two NBA championships with Michael Jordan on the Chicago Bulls in 1991 and 1992. 

However, Hodges wasn’t in The Last Dance docuseries. 

During a May 2020 interview with NBA reporter Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype, Hodges got honest about The Last Dance and Jordan. 

“When you’re in a cooperative situation at work, it’s like a pyramid, brother; he who has the most is on top,” Hodges said. “A lot of people don’t want to say anything. Nobody would stand up to him, but for me, I always felt a balance where I didn’t have to try to kowtow to MJ or try to hang out (or have to hang out) because I was on my studies, man. I’m looking at solutions for downtrodden people. So, a lot of things as far as partying and going out and hanging and gambling and all that, I didn’t do that. I was cordial, I’m respectful.

“Still, to this day, I’m respectful. I just want to know why some of the things are going on and why you feel like, at this point in your life, you have to throw your teammates under the bus? You know what I’m saying? I understand how you feel like you have to motivate people, but is that your responsibility? I was in those circles at the time. When you have athletes who want to be overbearing, oftentimes that overbearing is because they have some insecurities of their own.”

Jordan won five regular-season MVPs, six championships, six Finals MVPs and 10 scoring titles with the Bulls. He’s universally recognized as the greatest player in NBA history. 

However, playing with Jordan wasn’t easy at all. 

“Well, once again, I feel like we’ve sacrificed,” Hodges said. “All the people who played with MJ have sacrificed shots. If you look at the year that he wasn’t there, everybody played and they got to a certain level. They didn’t get over the hump, but they were able to play together and with chemistry that was a lot mellower. When I was young in the league, you would look over your shoulder because you would think the superstar wasn’t pleased with your performance and stuff. And then, as you get older in the league, you look at it and you realize that you have your own personal sovereignty within this thing and you just come and play.

“When I look at it, a lot of times we can highlight superstars because they have a certain drive that none of us – no other humans – have. But come on, man; it gets to be overbearing and just to a point where you just harp on people because that’s the weak link that you find that you can harp on.”

Jordan finished his NBA career with averages of 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.3 steals and 0.8 blocks in 1,072 games with the Bulls and Washington Wizards. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009.