Luc Longley definitely doesn't pop up when talking about the greatest big men that have played in the NBA. However, even though his raw numbers don't exactly jump off the page, Longley has something that many before and after him never managed to get. He can call himself an NBA champion. As a matter of fact, he won the title three times, all of them coming during his time with the Chicago Bulls .
Being a member of the second three-peat run of one of the most iconic dynasties in basketball history, Longley is one of the few players who got to witness the basketball deity named Michael Jordan up close and personal. And according to the Australian basketball legend, those Bulls practice sessions were where the real battlefield was, sometimes even more intense than actual games.
And, you guessed it, Jordan and his relentless competitiveness had something to do with it.
Those lucky enough to share a locker room with MJ know that all the stories about his competitive nature never sleeping are not exaggerations. Whether it was a playoff game, an offseason golf outing, or simply a practice scrimmage, Michael did not want to lose under any circumstances.
Longley went back in time and gave an example of how practices with Jordan usually looked. No matter what drill was being run, His Airness approached it exactly like he would an actual NBA game. Getting physical, clawing for every possession, and competing like everything was on the line were regular occurrences.
But as if having a fully locked-in Jordan breathing down your neck wasn't enough, those practice sessions often lasted longer than originally planned. And there was one simple reason why.
If Jordan's team lost, nobody was going home. It was something that Luc had never seen before, and he still recalls it vividly.
"I thought I was doing pretty well until I got to Chicago… I was behind Michael a long way, as most people are… He would bring game level intensity to every scrimmage situation, anything with the score on it Michael was going to win it," Longley said, per Aussie Hoopla .
"We ended up having long practices because. Because if, heaven forbid, If Michael's squad got beaten in practice, then he would have to have another game until he would win. He was really into it," the retired big man added. "I hadn't really seen that before."
Jordan's attitude behind closed doors, where there were no cameras and no media coverage, is what ultimately helped propel him to the top of the basketball world.
That obsession with winning is not simply a myth or glorification of older generations. It was the reality many of Jordan's teammates and opponents experienced firsthand. For him, there was no switch to turn off. Whether it was a do or die playoff scenario or or a random practice in the middle of the season, the approach remained the same.
And that is probably why so many players who shared the court with him still talk about it decades later.
The talent was undeniable, but what separated Jordan from almost everyone else was the fact that he treated every competition like it mattered. All of those rings and accolades only tell half of the story; the other half was written when nobody was watching.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jun 24, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
