The Last Dance: Michael Jordan’s baseball career, LaBradford Smith among 5 things we learned in Episodes 7-8

4. Jordan’s summer of motivation in ’95

Nothing motivated Michael Jordan quite like winning, so it’s no wonder he loathed the Bad Boys Detroit Pistons, a team that knocked his Bulls out of the playoffs three straight years before they finally surpassed them and started winning titles. However, the only other team to beat MJ’s Bulls in the playoffs during the ’90s — the Orlando Magic — also carved out a special place of vengeance in his heart.

When MJ returned to basketball, he came back in mid-March, with just a few weeks left in the regular season. After having been away from the NBA for 21 months, his body was now a baseball body and his conditioning wasn’t where it needed to be. Against a great Magic team, MJ and the Bulls faltered, losing a second-round series in six games, punctuated by Jordan’s two turnovers in the final minutes of Game 1.

“Being away from the game that long and just how much the body had changed, I was very unsure that he could perform at the level that he’s accustomed to performing on a regular basis,” said his trainer, Tim Grover.

Switching back from No. 45 to No. 23 in that series wasn’t enough to save the Bulls, but Jordan dedicated his entire summer to proving to the world that he was still basketball’s alpha.

“I honestly think one of the best things that could’ve possibly happened, as much as everyone hates losing, is that we lost to Orlando,” Bill Wennington said. “Because Michael came back with a vengeance.”

Jordan made immediate plans with Grover to get his body ready for the next season, despite the fact that he’d be filming Space Jam over the summer. Between daily filming, weight training and pickup games at the Warner Bros. facility that was built so MJ could continue to lift and play basketball, that summer was a gauntlet to prepare for his revenge tour.

“I don’t know how he did it,” Reggie Miller said. “I don’t know how he filmed all day and then had the energy to play three hours. We would play until 9 or 10 at night, and he’d still have to get weightlifting in, and then his call time was at like 6 or 7 in the morning, so I don’t know how. This dude was like a vampire.”

Jordan was ready for retribution, but Scottie Pippen was the only player still on the Bulls roster from when he last played. The initiation process was brutal for the new guys.

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“By the time camp started, he was in incredible shape, but he was also, like, frothing at the mouth,” Steve Kerr said. “That’s how angry he was from losing. So every day in training camp was just a war. Every day was a battle, and he talked a lot of s**t.”

What followed was a historic 72-win season, a sweep of the Magic in the conference finals and a championship over the Seattle SuperSonics, but it all started with a defeat at the hands of Orlando and an insanely focused summer of ’95.