Michael Jordan boasts of 'really high' basketball IQ and reason behind choosing the sport

Six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan is widely regarded as one of the top three best players in NBA history. Winning two three-peats with Chicago Bulls established Jordan as an NBA legend and he still remains associated with the league. The Charlotte Hornets owner will give his fans a chance to relive his career through his latest documentary, The Last Dance.

The Michael Jordan documentary will explore Jordan's 1997–98 NBA season and will feature interviews from several key individuals from his legendary career. However, before delving into the details of the documentary, here is his famous 1998 interview with ESPN.

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Michael Jordan basketball IQ and more

Jordan spoke to ESPN just before he went on to lift his sixth and last NBA title of his career during the tail end of the same season on which the documentary is set to revolve around. The interview has Jordan addressing several key details of his time with the Bulls - winning the first three-peat, first retirement, mentality of his Bulls roster, playing under legendary coach Phil Jackson and several other things were discussed by Jordan.

Speaking about the now famous, 'Michael Jordan basketball IQ', Jordan told Rick Telander that he always thought he had a high basketball IQ. Jordan believed his basketball knowledge was very high and that he knew every facet of the game with every minute detail and little techniques in basketball always catching his attention. 

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Probably one of the reasons why Michael Jordan opted to make his career in basketball, Jordan addressed his interests in other sports stating he could have been a wide receiver in American football and always wanted to play in positions that allowed him to dictate the game like a pitcher or a base-stealer in baseball. However, ultimately, it was basketball where Jordan found his groove as he admitted he always liked to play an attacking game. 

During Michael Jordan's peak years in the NBA, opponents usually used a double-team approach to keep the Bulls star out of the game. Michael Jordan revealed with time he learnt how to beat double-teams and even used to predict them coming beforehand. This helped him exploit his opponent's tactics and excel in the game, according to Jordan. 

It is highly likely the Michael Jordan basketball IQ story will be explored in the documentary. Along with his legendary NBA career, the Michael Jordan documentary will also reveal some unheard anecdotes from his career. The first two episodes of the documentary aired on Sunday, April 19 and the subsequent episodes will be aired on ESPN for the coming four weeks.

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Michael Jordan The Last Dance trailer

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