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As NBA fans watched ESPN’s 10-part documentary series aboutMichael Jordanand the 1990s Chicago Bulls last year, former Bulls starting center Luc Longley eagerly awaited for a segment covering his contributions to the team — but the moment never came.
In a recent interview with theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation, Jordan — whose company helped produce hisThe Last Danceseries — admitted the documentary should have included more of Longley, an Australian basketball star who helped the Bulls secure three straight NBA titles from 1996 to 1998.
“I can understand why Australia would say, ‘Well, why wouldn’t we include Luc?’ And we probably should have,” Jordan, 58, told the outlet.
“And if I look back and could change anything,” he continued, “that’s probably what I would have changed.”
“Sitting there on the couch and watching episode after episode where I wasn’t in it — yeah, I was bummed about that,” Longley told ABC. “Why was I not in the doco? I don’t really know, to be honest.”
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“I didn’t expect to be a heavy feature in it because they hadn’t interviewed me, but I did expect to be in it more than I was,” he added. “I would like to have been in the doco so that Australian kids saw that there was an Australian in that team doing that thing.”
Jason Herir, who directedThe Last Dance, told the outlet Longley wasn’t interviewed because it would have been too expensive to send a crew to Australia.
Longley’s wife, chef Anne Gare, told ABC that after the series aired, her husband received numerous phone calls from people wanting to know why he wasn’t featured. The attention eventually led Longley to change his phone number (he denied all requests for comment but admitted he wouldn’t have known what to say even if he had accepted).
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Later, Longley — who played for the Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks before retiring from the NBA in 2001 — said he recognized that he may not have been “exciting” enough for the docuseries.
“The self-deprecating Australian in me thinks it’s because I’m not that exciting. I was playing a huge role, but it wasn’t one that was that sexy,” he said.
“There were so many beautiful, bright, shiny stars out there to focus on, that, you know, it makes sense to me that that story wasn’t about me,” he continued. “Makes perfect sense.”
source: people.com
