John Salley had a front row seat when two of basketball’s GOATs worked their magic.
After being drafted out of Georgia Tech with the 11th overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft, Salley made a name for himself as a member of the ‘Bad Boy’ Detroit Pistons.
Salley won four NBA titles overall, two with the Pistons, one with the Bulls and one with the LakersGetty
The power forward/center won back-to-back world titles with the Pistons before joining former rival Michael Jordan in the 1995-1996 season and helping the Chicago Bulls win a third straight championship.
Salley eventually joined the formidable Los Angeles Lakers, spearheaded by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, and was a back-up to Shaq when the loaded Lakers outgunned the plucky Pacers during the 2000 NBA Finals to earn him his fourth Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
The 60-year-old retired pro is in rarefied air having played with both Jordan and Kobe, but says there are several key differences between the immortal figures.
Speaking on Gilbert Arenas’ ‘Gils Arena’ podcast, Salley described his time with the Bulls as being akin to travelling with Elvis or The Beatles. On the other hand, his experience with the ascending Lakers was a lot more modest.
“The difference was when you were in Chicago, I was with the Beatles, I was with Elvis, I was with Michael Jackson, and I was with the Pope,” Salley told Arenas.
“When I got on the Bulls we were staying at the Plaza in New York. We got ushered in and we went upstairs and it was this unbelievable layout. I thought I was at a gala. They handed us the keys and my room, I had a huge room! I thought I was balling. But Michael, Dennis, Scottie, and Phil had suites upstairs…
“Everybody was like, ‘he was going to dinner.’
“I said, ‘I’m not leaving my room. Are you kidding me? You know how long it take me to get to the Plaza?” (because of the frenzy outside the hotel).
“Now you guys, you know, take it for granted, but it was crazy that we had a plane that had a bar in the middle of it. We had the old MGM plane. We had security… Michael Jordan securities used to fly on his jet land and meet our jet.”
While Salley and the dynastic ’90s Bulls were treated like royalty with lavish accommodations and private jets, the Lakers were much more low-key when it came to travel arrangements during Salley’s time in the famous purple and gold.
Salley said being with the Bulls was like being with The Beatles but the Lakers were more low-keyYouTube@GilsArena
Jordan transcended basketball in the ’90sGetty
He recalled dining out with a young Kobe at TGI Fridays without much razzmatazz as Bryant was still in the early stages of his career.
“Now on being with Kobe it was different because I got to go to dinner with him,” Salley explained.
“We go to TGI Fridays. There’s nobody really going, ‘Oh, Kobe, Kobe, Kobe’, because he’s only 19, 20. But then he grew into that, what he, what he became. By the time I got to Michael, Michael was already, he was, you know, the, your Highness.”
According to Salley, another key difference between the Lakers and Bulls was the way they managed their team.
The Bulls spared no expense when it came to training facilities, conversely, the Lakers were much more frugal when it came to player amenities.
“The Lakers were way cheaper than the Bulls, which is almost impossible. Like the Bulls had three massage therapists, a swimming pool to train in, four trainers, strength coach.”
Salley attempted to explain the difference to then-Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who was also his coach on the 96-96 Bulls.
He used a racing analogy to explain that the Bulls were reminiscent of the way Formula One cars are meticulously maintained. In comparison, the Lakers’ operations were more akin to the lax approach of a NASCAR team.
Salley won alongside Shaq and Kobe but the Lakers were more frugal than the BullsAFP
“They fired the massage therapist I bought into the Lakers… I kept saying to Phil, ‘I’m gonna say it again, Formula One cars or stock NASCAR’, he kept saying what do you mean?,” Salley recalled.
The differences speak to the various cultures that exist within NBA organizations.
Neither way is right, and the Bulls and Lakers would no doubt say their own approach worked best for them.
The Bulls won two three-peats in the 1990s – the first came between 1991-1993 and the second between 1996-1998.
When Jordan retired for the second time after the ’98 season, Chicago’s stranglehold on The Association waned and the team from Tinseltown stepped up and filled the vacuum.
Kobe and Shaq formed the most potent one-two punch in the history of the league and won their own three-peat from 2000-2002.
Egos and arguments ultimately ended that iteration of the Lakers, and O’Neal was traded to the Miami Heat in ’04 following a shock Finals defeat to Detroit.
Bryant went on to lead the Lakers to championships in 2009 and 2010, and was named Finals MVP on both occasions.
