Star Players Pass the Ball

Lessons in championships, triangles, and making more stars from the Chicago Bulls.

The triangle offense illustrated, from episode four of The Last Dance

I don’t care a whit about sports, but I’ve been really enjoying The Last Dance, a new documentary series about the rise of the Chicago Bulls. Sportsball aside, the series is just plain great storytelling, about a group of extremely competitive, talented, egotistical, flawed, and driven human beings who came together, won a bunch of championships, made a bunch of money, and had a lasting impact on sports and culture.

There are also a few lessons to learn about scaling teams that apply far beyond basketball.

My favorite story arc so far comes in episode four. It’s the summer of 1989, and the Bulls coach, Doug Collins, is replaced with the new coach, Phil Jackson. Even at this early point in his career, Michael Jordan had established himself as an NBA star. When he got the ball in his hands, Jordan scored–and everybody knew it.

So Collins’ offense consisted of feeding the ball to Michael Jordan. Everyone’s job on the team was to get the ball to Jordan. Jordan scored, and he scored some more, and he racked up individual trophies and titles — Rookie of the Year, League MVP, NBA All-Star, Defensive Player of the Year.