There is a fantastic story up at ESPNBoston.com looking at the end of the first “Big Three” in Boston — Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish.
McHale and Bird finished their careers as Celtics, but people often forget that Parrish spent two years in Charlotte then went on to the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls — the middle season of Michael Jordan’s post-baseball, second threepeat with the Bulls.
By this point Jordan was an established leader whose style was intimidation and pressure. Jordan was the ultimate alpha male who let you get away with nothing.
Parish had been through too much for that, as he tells the story.In one of his first practices with the Bulls, Parish botched one of the plays and was amused to find Jordan jawing at him just inches from his face.
“I told him, ‘I’m not as enamored with you as these other guys. I’ve got some rings too,’ ” Parish recalled. “At that point he told me, ‘I’m going to kick your ass.’ I took one step closer and said, ‘No, you really aren’t.’ After that he didn’t bother me.”
I imagine Jordan tells that story differently.
Parish played sparingly for that Bulls team — he got in only 43 regular season games and two playoff games — then retired, but with his fourth ring. We will always think of him as a Celtic, but he has at least one good Bulls story, it turns out.