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Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant have gone down as two of the greatest players of all time, but former NFL linebacker Channing Crowder doesn’t believe they were great leaders. Crowder explained what he believes makes a great leader on The Pivot Podcast.
“I would honestly disagree with you on Jaylen Brown being a great leader,” Crowder said. “I don’t think he’s relatable… The best leaders I know, I played with, they could go talk to the undrafted free agent guard, and they can go talk to the All-Pro cornerback. And it’s the same thing. We’re all heading in the same direction.”
Co-host Ryan Clark responded to Crowder’s comments by asking him if he thought Jordan and Bryant were relatable. The 42-year-old, who played six seasons in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins, doesn’t think they were, which is part of why he doesn’t view them as great leaders.
“No, I don’t think they were great leaders,” Crowder said. “You said leadership. I don’t think they’re great leaders. I think they’re great players. I don’t think Jordan was a great leader. After watching The Last Dance, Jordan’s not a great leader.”
The Last Dance documentary came out in 2020 and gave an inside look into Jordan’s time with the Chicago Bulls. He was extremely demanding of his teammates and was very hard on them.
Jud Buechler was one of Jordan’s teammates on the Bulls, and he infamously admitted in the documentary that they were afraid of him. Will Perdue, whom Jordan once punched during practice, said he crossed the line numerous times. Perdue did add, though, that as time goes by and he looks back at what Jordan was trying to accomplish, he thinks of him as a hell of a teammate.
Jordan made it clear in the documentary that winning had a price. He pulled people along when they didn’t want to be pulled. He challenged them when they didn’t want to be challenged. Jordan has said if any of his Bulls teammates thought back then that he was a tyrant, they’re probably appreciative now. Well, Bill Wennington said in the documentary that he was pushing them to be better and his methods worked.
Clark didn’t have an issue with anything Jordan did. He said the goal is to win championships, and great leaders lead you to them. Clark also claimed those Bulls players became better because they were around Jordan.
Crowder appears to think, though, that the success the Bulls had, winning six championships in the 1990s, was down to Jordan just being an incredible player. He then turned his focus on Bryant.
“Do I think Kobe was a great leader?” Crowder said. “Is he going to go talk to the 15th guy on the bench and try to teach him how to keep his elbow in? No. [He’d say], ‘B****, you going to be off the team next week.’ Like, what are we talking about? I think great players can be great players, and I think there’s people with leadership skills.
“So, to ask who is a leader, a leader is somebody that can relate with everybody,” Crowder added. “If you’re extremely talented and can ball, go ball.”
Bryant was another who was incredibly demanding. He wasn’t interested in putting an arm around his teammates and being their friend. Crowder jokingly said Bryant, who won five NBA championships, would tell the 15th man on the Los Angeles Lakers‘ roster that they’d be off the team soon, and something along those lines did actually happen.
Jeremy Lin recounted an injured Bryant showing up to a Lakers practice before the trade deadline in 2015. He ruthlessly told his teammates, “I just came by to say bye to some of you bums who are going to get traded tomorrow.”
You needed to have thick skin if you played with Bryant or Jordan. They were obsessed with winning, and it didn’t matter to them if their harsh words hurt your feelings.
Now, not everyone is a fan of this kind of leadership style. Minnesota Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards, for one, disagrees with it. Edwards believes you cannot talk to all of your teammates the same way in today’s NBA. He understands everyone is different and you have to treat them differently. Edwards is on point. Jordan and Bryant’s methods probably won’t work too well today.
