Mike had three former Bad Boys members as his teammates in Chicago.
Nobody hated the Bad Boys more than the GOAT himself, Michael Jordan. MJ’s path to greatness had to go through Detroit in the East, and when he was on the rise, the Pistons were on top. Not only did Jordan have to beat the Pistons, but he also had to get beat up by them before he figured out how to defeat them.
That’s the reason why Jordan was never shy in saying that he hated Detroit. Yet, while MJ kept saying that the Bad Boys’ brand of basketball had no place in the NBA, the Bulls signed multiple players from that “dirty” Pistons team.
According to former Pistons big man William Bedford, Mike was a hypocrite for demonizing the Pistons physical play because he ended up playing with three former Bad Boys members in Chicago.
“It didn’t clean up, it didn’t stop,” Bedford said during an appearance on Vlad TV. “Other teams picked it up. The New York Knicks picked it up right after us. So, you know, that bad boy image didn’t stop. It didn’t get to anywhere, you know, and he beefed up to get those next championships, too. They started playing the same way. Why? Because you got our players.”
Jordan’s Bulls signed three Bad Boys in 1996
In 1996, the Bulls signed three players who were part of Detroit championship teams – John Salley, James Edwards, and Dennis Rodman. Salley and Edwards, however, appeared in a limited number of games. Spider averaged 2.1 points per game in 17 appearances, while Buddha put up 3.5 PPG in 28 games played.
But Rodman ended up playing three seasons with MJ’s Bulls while becoming a key contributor during their second three-peat. The Worm averaged 5.2 PPG, 15.3 RPG, and 2.8 assists per game in 199 regular season games for the Bulls. According to Bedford, the Jordan legacy would’ve been different without him.
“How could you change from being a bad boy to them days of rugged playing to gaining it and saying the NBA gonna be…No, you inherited it,” added William . “If it wasn’t for Dennis Rodman coming from the Pistons, he wouldn’t have gotten that six.”
Salley agrees with Bedford
After his appearance on VladTV, DJ Vlad also had Salley as a guest, and he asked Spider to comment on his former teammate’s criticism of MJ. Not surprisingly, the ex-Pistons center agreed with that Jordan was being hypocritical about those Detroit teams.
“Right, me, Buddha(James Edwards), Dennis Rodman,” said Salley. “Pillars. They needed that. They needed that stability. And they had four. They had Phil Jackson. Phil Jackson had literally the offense with Tex Winter…That’s why the Bulls were who the Bulls were.”
Mike heavily criticized the Pistons for being a dirty team and said they were bad for basketball. But he ended up having three of them on the Bulls during their second three-peat. Bedford doesn’t have MJ’s superstar status or credibility. But he makes a good point here.