Michael Jordan liked the friendly approach from his first Chicago Bulls coach.
During his 13 seasons with the Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan was coached by four different individuals. While Phil Jackson was the one who brought him the most success, guiding him to six NBA championships and six Finals MVP awards, if you were to ask the 6'6" shooting guard in 1992, his favorite coach wasn't the Zen Master. Instead, it was a coach he played under just one season and didn't even reach the playoffs - Kevin Loughery.
MJ liked Loughery's friendly approach
When Mike entered the league in the 1984-85 season, he was already a nationwide sensation, having won an Olympic gold medal with Team USA in the '84 Olympics. In his rookie season, the New York native averaged 28.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game, earning the ROY award. For Jordan, if it wasn't for Loughery, who put him in the best position to succeed and make use of his playing style to have the best starts in the NBA.
In his interview with Playboy in 1992, the 14-time All-Star credited Kevin for helping him launch his career so successfully.
"He gave me the confidence to play on his level. My first year, he threw me the ball and said, 'Hey, kid, I know you can play. Go play,'" Jordan said. "I don't think that would have been the case going through another coach's system. Look what Loughery's doing right now with Miami. He's doing exactly what he did to me. He's giving those guys so much confidence; he's giving them an opportunity to create their own identity as players. With other coaches, you have to fit into their systems."
As the five-time MVP rightfully noted at the time, Loughery's arrival instantly impacted the Miami Heat team, improving their win tally by 14. Moreover, he transformed a team that was among the worst five in offensive rating in the previous season into a team with seven players averaging points in double digits.
Jordan on where Loughery was better than Collins
Though Jordan went on to achieve even greater success under Doug Collins, averaging a career-high 37.1 points per game in the latter's first season as the head coach and winning both the MVP and DPOY titles the following year, he still favored Loughery. His reasoning? Michael appreciated that Loughery never challenged him unnecessarily and served more as a friend than a critic.
"I just felt Doug would have tried to manipulate me. For that sense of control, power. I saw that with the way he dealt with Pippen and Grant," Jordan added. "I would have been able to deal with it because I respect all my coaches. But Loughery never tried to do that. I could relate with him as a friend."
It would've been interesting to hear Jordan's thoughts on this topic today after he won all the championships he did with Phil. Considering how Mike, over the years, became obsessed with winning titles, a friendly approach wasn't something he was interested in.
