Why B.J. Armstrong appreciated Michael Jordan’s approach to Bulls practices

Former Bull and three-time NBA champion B.J. Armstrong admitted on the most recent episode of the Bulls Talk Podcast that Michael Jordan would try and destroy his teammates during practice.

In the episode, hosted by Jason Goff and Will Perdue, Armstrong said that new teammates were often shocked by how intense Bulls practices were.

“He would try and destroy us every single day," Armstrong said of Jordan's practice approach. "Not only destroy us, he was going to let you know about it.”

The former All-Star also shared how much it meant to him and Perdue, as reserves, to beat Jordan in practice.

“Next to winning the NBA championships and playing in the NBA, nothing gave me greater pride than beating Michael and that first team,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong was drafted by the Bulls in 1989 and played six seasons in Chicago — four as a teammate of Jordan. But his first memorable interaction with Jordan came at a summer basketball camp while Armstrong was enrolled at the University of Iowa.

“I knew something was a little different about him that I hadn’t seen before," Armstrong recalled. "I never saw a player in the summertime play on the defensive end just as hard as he was playing on the offensive end. I knew when I went back to school I had to be better.”