Will Perdue knew ESPN’s “The Last Dance’’ was going to be big.
And Perdue knows big, with the 7-footer winning three NBA titles as a member of the Bulls in the first three-peat, and then holding up a fourth Larry O’Brien Trophy with the Spurs in 1999.
What the former center didn’t see coming?
The rehashing of emotions of those involved in the documentary, coming out on a daily basis all these years later.
“I figured, hey, everybody talks about it on Monday, all right, Tuesday is a new day, you have the NFL, baseball talk, there’s other things going on … but every day man, it is just unbelievable,’’ Perdue said in a phone interview Wednesday. “All the attention it’s gotten, and it has not died down.’’
Episodes 3 and 4 sure haven’t.
Then again, the rehashing of the rivalry with Detroit’s “Bad Boys’’ and anything Michael Jordan-related seldom ends well. That’s been the case since the two episodes ran Sunday night.
Anyone that knows Perdue’s straight-shooting style as a pre- and postgame analyst for NBC Sports Chicago, knows, yes, he does have a certain allegiance to his former organization, but this was also a guy that Jordan once punched in the face, didn’t exactly always enjoy life with former coach Phil Jackson and was traded to the Spurs straight-up for Dennis Rodman.
He makes a living trying to be objective.
That goes out the window when it comes to former Piston Isiah Thomas, and the daily campaigning Perdue thinks Thomas has been doing this week, all to rewrite the narrative of Thomas’ own legacy.
The main focus in the latest “Last Dance’’ was Thomas and the Pistons walking off the floor without shaking hands after they were swept in Game 4. It was Bill Laimbeer’s idea, and Boston had done it to the Pistons years earlier, but it’s the way Thomas has been trying to spin it in his favor that irks many former Bulls, including Perdue.
“Listen, I actually thoroughly enjoyed Bill Laimbeer’s interview on [ESPN’s] ‘The Jump’ [Monday],’’ Perdue said. “He owned it, he talked about it, he called us whiners, it’s no big deal to him, thank you very much, moving on. But I get the idea that Isiah is almost out there calling shows, ‘You gotta let me on, I need to defend myself.’ ”
While the documentary has shown Jordan’s disdain for Thomas, the former Chicago high school legend, Perdue made it clear that a long line of players after Jordan also feel that way.
The feeling is Thomas has been trying to excuse his actions for years, changing the reasoning at least four times. The latest was Thomas saying Jordan painted the Pistons as thugs and that was “racialized language.’’
“Here’s the problem I have, and I’ll be very honest about it,’’ Perdue said. “We all made mistakes, we all did things we shouldn’t have done, heat of the moment, got emotional, but the problem I have with Isiah — and listen, those that live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, I’ve made plenty of mistakes, personally and professionally — but what I don’t like is when you try and defend yourself as something you’re not.
“Was [Thomas] a great high school player in the Chicagoland area? Absolutely. I had many tell me he might have been the best. Was he a great player in college in Indiana? Absolutely. Might have been one of the best to ever play there. Was he one of the best point guards ever in the NBA? Absolutely, and I respect him for all of that. That dude was a magician with the basketball. But what I don’t like is when guys step up and talks about ‘racialized language’ … what in the hell?
“But what bothers me the most and sticks out, when I first came into the league, and guys that I know personally, that played against him on a regular basis, talked about how dirty he was. Talked about how cheap he was as a player. He used to have this sweep move with the off foot that trip the guy he was guarding, and the officials would always put their hands together that they give when it’s incidental contact, play on. And as you’re tumbling to the ground, he would steal the ball and go the other direction. It was just dirty. Some can say, ‘Hey, if they’re not going to call it you might as well do it.’ But what also stood out for me that I never understood, he drove the CBA [Continental Basketball Association] into the ground because [former commissioner] David Stern wouldn’t pay him a couple more million dollars to buy it. How many people lost jobs because of that, and franchises that were legendary franchises like in Sioux Falls where thousands would come to the games. Coaches, players, people lost their jobs, but yet he was so petty that he just ran it into the ground and didn’t put any more money into it because he bought it and thought he could flip it, have the NBA buy it for millions of dollars in profit.
“Now he’s out there whining about a personal attack on him. He’s basically trying to get every angle to get people on his side.
“That’s why I have no problem with Laimbeer. I’m not saying I agree with it and it was right. Let’s be honest here, our best player [in Jordan] not only went through and shook hands with those guys in 1990 and 1989 [when Detroit won], but how often does this happen? The guy from the losing team does an interview on TV walking off the floor [after those series]. If you want to pass the buck and blame it on the Celtics, that’s great. If you have an adversary that’s been trying to kick your ass for three years, and they finally do it, and do it in dominating fashion. Now let’s be clear, it looks like we swept them 4-0, which we did, but every game was difficult. Every game was a battle. People say, ‘Hey, you kicked their ass.’ But it took everything we had to beat them every single game. My thing is just stop trying to rewrite history, Isiah.’’
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Last Dance? Will Perdue goes in hard on Pistons Bad Boy Isiah Thomas - Chicago Sun-Times
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