Luc Longley remains one of the most iconic figures in Australian basketball, with his trailblazing NBA career opening the floodgates for hoopers Down Under.
A member of the iconic Chicago Bulls' second 3-peat team of the '90s, little was heard from Longley following his NBA career and when The Last Dance documentary captured the world's attention in 2020, the 7-2 Aussie was notably absent from the 10-part series, something Michael Jordan later apologized for.
The following year, ABC produced an Australian Story feature on Longley — One Giant Leap — chronicling his journey to the NBA and his role on the Bulls, even getting an appearance from Jordan to make up for his absence in The Last Dance.
While the Australian Story focused on Longley's journey, a new documentary produced by the NBA — Luc Longley: Foundations — a four-part series, gives viewers an in-depth perspective of the second 3-peat through Longley's eyes.
What began with a trade to Chicago from Minnesota in 1994, Longley arrived to find a Bulls team in transition led by Scottie Pippen in the wake of Jordan's baseball adventure, but that wasn't the case for long, with His Airness' larger-than-life presence making a return to the NBA during the 1994-95 season.
🇦🇺 A trailblazer of Australian basketball, Luc Longley reached the summit of the NBA with the @chicagobulls.
— NBA Australia (@NBA_AU) August 1, 2023
The NBA celebrates Luc’s lasting impact on the sport with a new 4-episode documentary, which premieres on Wednesday, August 2 on https://t.co/B0749IWAnz & the NBA App. pic.twitter.com/iIx9YRK5lV
"I remember cigars in the back of the bus, I remember long trenchcoats and fast cars, I remember his laugh, he's got a wicked laugh," Longley says of his earliest memories of Jordan.
"Having said that, what I remember most about Mike is on the basketball court, and seeing someone with that level of predatory instinct in a sporting environment."
In the blink of an eye, Longley had gone from only seeing 49 wins in two-and-a-half seasons in Minnesota to being the starting center for the best show in the league, led by the best player in Jordan.
72-win Bulls make history
Fast forward to 1995-96 and the Bulls were in full flight, tearing through the league en route to a then-record 72-win season, one which cemented them as the best team in NBA history.
MORE: 'It's a moment of pride' - Luc Longley honoured by launch of Bulls jersey range in Australia
"At the time we were doing it, while we were aware of history, it wasn't that that was an omnipresent thing," Longley said.
"Funnily enough, what I remember about the end of the season is that we lost a few games we shouldn't have. I remember us all being sh***y about that and that tells you something when you've won 72 games and you're sh***y about your losses.
"That 72 [win] year, we went out to the center jump against teams and for the first time saw teams that thought they couldn't compete,
"I mean we did intimidate other teams at the time."
The Bulls would go on to defeat the Seattle SuperSonics in the NBA Finals in six games, which included a huge Game 3 performance from Longley (19 points, two blocks) as the team's second-leading scorer behind Jordan.
"No doubt for me the first championship was special," Longley said
"It validated my whole basketball effort by winning a championship no one can change that, no one can take it away."
Inside The Last Dance
While Jordan's at times frosty relationship with some of his teammates was a point of contention, from infamous practice blowups to in-game chastising, Longley says Jordan's competitiveness and drive unlocked another level in everyone's games.
"Michael's expectations did drive me, it drove all of us," Longley said.
"I wouldn't have been half as good as I was without that, that's what it took for us to win championships, that was the helium in our balloon, that's what got us over the line."
As the Bulls continued to dominate the '90s cruising to a third-straight title in 1997-98, the writing was on the wall, with Jordan likely to retire at season's end and an exhausted team ready to go in a new direction.
With Jordan retiring, Scottie Pippen signed with the Houston Rockets, Dennis Rodman joined the Los Angeles Lakers, Steve Kerr moved to the San Antonio Spurs, and Longley departed to the Phoenix Suns.
This left only a handful of players remaining on the roster — one that was unrecognizable the following season.
"The fact that it was a punctuation point, it was The Last Dance, it was our last effort, for that last effort to be something as sweet as Michael's jumpshot, at the end of a 3-peat, at the end of a dynasty, at the end of some people's careers, you can't script that, people will think you're making it up," Longley added.
"It was just basketball poetry. That's a feeling that will stay with me forever, and all the guys.
"The celebration for the third championship was different because we were all going different ways, we'd been told that by the ownership and the management. I think Michael expected to retire, so there was a bittersweet thing about it which is cool too. It was different and it was poignant."
In The Last Dance, the blame for the breakup of the Bulls' legendary team was to an extent placed at the feet of General Manager Jerry Krause, who was the architect of much of the Bulls' success in the '90s, putting together championship team after championship team.
But Longley doesn't see it that way.
"Here is what I will say – I think Jerry did an amazing job of putting that group together and keeping that group together, and he has been vilified to a certain extent, and I don’t support that,” Longley said.
“He always did, what I thought, was the right thing by me and by most people. I understand everyone’s circumstances are different.
“I think what would have ruined the Bulls is to limp through the next season with a carcass of who we were and not play beautiful basketball.
“For me, to end on such a crescendo [was ideal]. No, I don’t think Jerry Krause ruined the Bulls, I think the timing was perfect.”
An Australian pioneer
Twenty-five years on from the Bulls' 3-peat, Longley's impact on Australian basketball is still felt today,
In 1991, when Longley was drafted, he was the only Aussie in the NBA - come 2023, there's 10 Australians currently on NBA rosters, including a host of budding young stars, with the likes of Josh Giddey, Dyson Daniels, Josh Green, and Jock Landale.
"It's really nice to hear that people say that and I suppose it's true, I'm proud of it," Longley said of being considered a trailblazer in Australia.
"The caveat to that is I think that the players now are so much better than the players when I played, I think broadly the talent we're producing, I was a pioneer, but these guys are genuine superstars coming through and that's something different for Australia."
Watch 'Luc Longley: Foundations' exclusively now on NBA.com & the NBA App.
