Luc Longley and the 'missing chapter' of the Last Dance | Full documentary | Australian Story

Luke Longley is a guy you couldn't miss. He is two and a half meters tall. If he stood in front of you you wouldn't see the sun. He is a huge character. My size came from mom and dad. Dad six ten. Mom six four. I was always going. to be big, everyone will stare because it's so much bigger, the kids will open their mouths, you know, and the parents will pretend they haven't seen it, but they will, and you know, they'll get back in the car and drive away, you wouldn't believe it what I thought Today I saw a real giant, he is huge, as if his head rose above the shelves of the supermarket.

He has ergonomic challenges, so I'm always redesigning cars, boats, and houses to fit my size. Beds have to buy custom made bedding when I was a teenager I was just so embarrassed by the clothes I could wear oh there we go there weren't many options oh she gets in my shoulders but not quite in the arms yeah it makes me furious now when I look at the Teenagers and their jeans are up to mid-calf because that's cool, well mine were like that in the 80s and 90s but it wasn't cool long before I knew how he had processed his fame, his great success and the riches he made.

He admired how well he handled being what he called a giant, a freak. I remember one time we went to a pub and the bouncer started shouting at Luke, get up off the damn chair or I'll kick you and Lou out of here, you know? Very kindly, sorry mate, I'm not in a chair anyway, the bouncer comes up and says: Jesus Christ! I wouldn't change it. I like being tall. I certainly have a long way in basketball. I know I wouldn't. He would have been close to the NBA if he hadn't been six feet tall. I'm realistic that Luke received a gift from the manufacturer above, but he made the leap and all of his success was due to his own actions.

Luke did it. all the hard work luke

longley

was the pioneer of basketball in australia in the sense that he was the first to go to the nba and remains the only

australian

to win multiple titles in the nba he was the starting center for three years in the biggest The all-time team, the Chicago Bulls, won their sixth NBA championship and it is their second three-peat. There was nothing like the Chicago Bulls from '96 to '98. I don't know, I don't know how you would compare it to the Beatles in the mid-'60s, the Rolling Stones, when Mick Jagger was at his peak, that may never come back for centuries, I may never see anything like it.

We won't do it. I felt like Luke was like a fish out of water coming into the culture the culture of the nba luke was a very kind and nice person by nature to be more of a bully to bring someone down none of that was luke's behavior i was a kind, empathetic kid who had to figure out how to discard some of the gentleness and adopt adopt some mj if you want i don't think luke had the mentality of what it took to win and you know you want to see that frustration you want to see a little bit of anger you want to see dominate you know and there are times when I had to push him, you had to show him some tough love, you know that's what I call tough love, he got a lot of heat from Michael, but Michael also respected him so he fit perfectly into the group and I became a pillar for that entire era.

I feel that basketball has given me a lot and has also cost me a lot in many ways. I had to change who I was a lot to really be able to do it. After work and coming out of that, I think I learned that not all of that suited me very well and it took me a long time to recognize it, a long time to undo it and I'm still unlearning. It sounds like the first question in a session with a psychologist, doesn't it tell me about your childhood? I grew up in Fremantle at that stage it was an interesting port town that has a combination of a fishing village and then it started to be occupied by a sort of alternative people, it's a different free life. the one we grew up in, right?

Yes, it's been 30 years since Freo was cleaned up. Yeah, so I'm the oldest of three kids. We tend to run a bit as a pack. Do you want me to act like a wheelchair? chair or some special device thanks brother okay we lived in what was essentially a warehouse building and we were the first family in that part of town we grew up surrounded by artists academics and architects and then we go to the south anchor at the time of lunch in our school bags, it was a different time, you can count on the grip, no children to play with, it was just us, the children, so, like children, we wandered, we wandered everywhere in a minute, we are at the end from a pier spearfishing the next minute. we were climbing on the roof of a warehouse it was very different it was unusual I definitely grew up as a kind person I wasn't a tough kid I didn't need to be I was more of a creative kid I grew up in a relatively creative environment dad and mom were alternative but I mean dad was an architect we no they weren't completely hippies but they were definitely doing something different than any other kid I knew I guess it was a bit destined I mean I grew up on basketball courts, mom and dad were good basketball players, they both played and they played at really high levels. seniors, particularly dad, he had a truly extraordinary career in his time, when I was pregnant I attended Richard's basketball games and often wondered if the hitting of the ball and the running of the feet on the court got into him in the womb he somehow saw what I was doing, so it was almost a slight achievement.

Luke was identified quite early as having considerable talent for basketball and was chosen for the under-14 team when he was around 12. But he was dropped because he had been playing in practice. I was that kid who was never that reliable. Because he wasn't very good at palliative things. I wanted to be a submarine. architect, I was busy thinking about the first time I saw Luke play basketball at the Australian Under 18 Championships in Queensland. He was about 16 at the time and was very tall and clumsy, but you could see enormous potential. I recruited him to come to Canberra next year on a scholarship.

The Sports Basketball Institute program is dedicated to young people like these to give them the opportunity to play in Australia and advance their basketball career. I think one of the key points when Luke was young was the separation from his parents he was visibly affected he was confused he was angry and I think overnight he became independent he grew up he had to do it and he felt like he was going to take the next steps for himself and that's when you know he went to high school. He thought he was really going there because he wanted some distance and not to be so close to the chaos that was happening at home when you're in a family that's breaking up, you don't know what the rules are.

They aren't anymore, whereas in a game everything is laid out for you so you know exactly what's going on. I never planned for basketball to be a big deal in my life. I didn't expect it to be. I stumbled upon it, however it was provided. me with a family when mine collapsed and I think that became my kind of loving approach, almost like that's what I poured into anyone who's six feet tall and pretty well coordinated, you'd have to say I had a great opportunity to be a very good basketball player that was my opinion of him, the question mark was whether he would have the attitude, determination and will to excel in the game he wasn't serious he wasn't in the gym like everyone else Other guys, people at the time would have said oh he's not going to make it, he doesn't want it badly, I would say Luke is an accidental superstar, he was never driven to be a basketball person, we both went to university in America and I like it.

To think I had something to do with how we got there because New Mexico was recruiting me on stage. Luke was back in Perth and the scouts came to see Andy Vlahoff. The coach came to visit me here. A guy named Gary Coulson. I told him about my friend Luke and told Luke to meet me at the basketball center. I don't know why he asked me to go with him, maybe to expose myself to them, maybe I needed a contrast to look good because I was still jumping around having a little fun and um, I walked in with Gary Colson and Luke had just come off the beaches and was he bought his bare foot, seven feet, uh, 16-year-old Gary Coulson was blown away and almost forgot about me and when I need this guy, gary coulson finally offered him a scholarship and the rest is hi

story

, then luke went to new mexico for a college degree that was kind of stupid curiosity and a brilliant adventure and a free ticket to america and I saw the movie Animal House and Toga Parties look like fun and I thought great, I'm going to go and try all that The main thing when it comes to sports in Albuquerque is the college basketball team, the University of New Mexico Wolves, the biggest wolf of all was having. toughest moment, big seven foot freshman Luke Longley admits he's a little out of condition, oh I guess I'm lazy, no I think it has a lot to do with fitness, we didn't have a very good team attitude in that game.

It doesn't work very well, there's some footage somewhere of a journalist asking me why I had a bad practice when I got there and I said "Oh I'm lazy I guess ha ha that was my big joke so they crucified me a bit". that when Luke was recruited by New Mexico he was very green, he didn't know the game very well, but he has very good hands for a guy his size, he can shoot the ball, he can pass the ball and he can defend when the call comes. moment. I realized that he really loved playing basketball.

I was on the Olympic team in '88. That's when I thought, "Wait, this is real. I could be pretty good at this if the names Luke Longley and Andrew Vlahove didn't mean anything to you right now." Soon they will be, they have just been selected in the Australian boomer team to go to the Seoul Olympics. The '88 Olympics were a turning point for Luke where he was at. I think back to his sophomore year of college in New Mexico and I picked him on that team. I was only 19 at the time very controversial many people had not seen it I did not know it 88 it was good because they played with the innocence of youth yes it was a joy we finished fourth which was the highest result in Australian hi

story

, but yeah, it was clear to everyone that Luke was probably on a different trajectory than anyone else when Luke returned to New Mexico after the Olympics, we all sat down and mapped out a path forward for him to go to the NBA.

I just felt this great urge. of confidence and energy and I put all that into my basketball. I cared about my teammates more than I cared about winning, so winning became a way to reward them, so I think that's part of what drove me to be good in the tense moment of Lobos, the new. Lobos of Mexico The Varsity Team is the Biggest Show in Town Luke was the biggest star there and he was an eight foot tall Australian with flowing red hair and a different perspective on basketball in the world. I think they could feel that, so he was a big star. and a very big fish in a very small pond I'm in the papers all the time and every time I did something they went crazy my confidence skyrocketed and I can talk to girls, suddenly I remember seeing Kelly, who ended up being my wife and I thought that she was the prettiest girl I had ever seen and he got up the courage to talk to her.

Kelly owned a hair salon business and grew up in Albuquerque. They met immediately. I received my phone. my friend's number and I called my housewife for three weeks and he came to dinner and that night we went to the hole where the wolves played and we went to my living room where I cut his mullet, the famous mullet, I was like that it's not there okay, but her accent, her height, I just fell in love with her, she was very tough, so she was tougher than me, like she had a real street smart touring rod that I found attractive because I didn't have that and she was independent and confident and why wouldn't you fall for that after Luke made the decision his junior year in college to go to the NBA?

I think it really all happened. He became stronger and took the game of basketball more seriously. There is one league that rises above all others. another league and that is the NBA and at that time the NBA was becoming a global phenomenon. They started telling me that there were NBA scouts in the stands who were watching me, I mean, I had been playing very well and beating guys who end up in the NBA so I already knew that I believed in myself an NBA scout says That the seven-foot-tall player with flowing red hair has the potential to be Australia's best chance at becoming a millionaire in the United States' lucrative national basketball association is almost like an algorithm, you know you input the right variables. , seven feet, smart, strong, good guy, high IQ, you will get drafted and the 1991 NBA draft has moved to the big arena here at Madison Square Garden, Americans always have a big party around the draft. because it is the introduction of new blood intoyour sport and the way the NBA historically creates its level playing field is to offer the best possible athlete coming out of the college system to the worst possible teams, all the players go to New York and there is a Big Thing in Madison Square Garden and the media and attention with the seventh pick in the 1991 NBA draft.

The Minnesota Timberwolves select Luke Longley from the University of New Mexico. The big seven pick basically in a sense says that he was the seventh best player in American college basketball. year, so it's an impressive recognition, no one from Australia has had great success or made it big in the NBA, which opened the eyes of Australians because we tended to think of the NBA as something they played on another planet, wasn't it? ? out of our reach when I got to Minnesota, they were bad we won 17 games out of I think 82 the first year I was there that was the most miserable year of my life I hated it I moved there and it was the frozen tundra it was so cold I had never seen that kind of cold and I left my family, my friends, my co-workers, I'll get along with some of them, but there was no love in the locker room, it was competitive, which is good, competitive is fine, but I didn't feel anything.

They don't enjoy it, people don't share the ball, people don't defend each other as well and all that kind of stuff was what really attracted me more than yes or no, even if we lost or not, interestingly again, what happens? camera time brothers man just crack down just weren't sure about his laid back Australian attitude and I think it took a bit of his trust no what do you think of Lukeway? Well, let's see that he shows his emotions and I could see it. He was running around the court and it was hard, I knew he really hated it.

My college game didn't translate to the NBA. I hated it, but they had given me a million dollar signing bonus. I was the first Australian to win. If I had to be successful, I went back to it and redesigned myself a little bit and said no, that wasn't good enough. Let's do another test with this. What tools should I take and punish myself? So, -I participated in the weight room and even watched videos of how the good guys did it, picked up some more tools, you know, developed a little hook shot that I didn't have, started playing with more confidence and the general manager of the equipment.

Trader Jack they called him because he's always trading players so he was rubbing his hands saying great we can finally get something for this Aussie kid who hasn't been very good because he's finding some juice and we can trade for him. We saw him during his rookie season I liked his game I liked his size I liked the fact that he was a very good passer who was a teammate yeah it was his bulk more than anything else his size he's a big guy in the NBA that you can get Traded at any time before the middle of the season.

They exchange you. You receive a call from your agent. You have to be in the next city the next day. You call your wife. You pack up the house and fly wherever. It happens fast. I received the phone call. We have good news and bad news, but the bad news is that you will be changed. The good news is that you will be traded to Chicago for the Bulls. I think I was four or five months pregnant with Claire and Luke was on a flight and he got on my plane the next morning he flew to Chicago super excited and he started practicing and I immediately felt at home, they shared the ball and they were really excited when you did well, they needed it for what it could. bring and was able to provide what they needed, he would physically absorb the hits from the other team and I think that's what the Bulls needed, stronger rebounding.

People ask me how you ended up winning three championships. Well, they moved me to Chicago, that's how it was. the first part and um and a lot of luck after that, at 219 centimeters or seven foot two, Luke Longley felt very intimidated by some members of the press gallery. My wife is very happy to be around me since I've been in Chicago, mainly because winning basketball games was a lot more fun than losing when I got to chicago they had just won three world championships in a row and michael jordan who will call mj from now on Go ahead, his father died and he had an existential moment and decided to play baseball, so when I got there, there was a team without Michael Jordan, obviously, he will never be as good without the best player in the world, but we are still quite competitive, even with Phil Jackson training and with Scottie Pippen in charge.

Luke and I are really close, he's a bit of a joker to a certain extent like me, so he and I were able to get along. The only unusual thing that caught my attention about him was his accent, which became something that I had to get a little used to, you know, what he gets to. chicago and he plays for one of the greatest coaches of all time and phil jackson and now it's starting to make sense phil loved luke and luke adored phil i mean there was an instant connection i think luke looked up to him because he's a father figure that always I felt It's like, huh, it's hard for a big man to be a part of basketball because somewhere in the back of your mind you feel good just because I'm big.

I'm a basketball player rather than competent or skilled, but watch a lot. More than he's willing to admit, he was very adept at what he had to do to be part of the team, he was a pass-first guy, which was important, here's the give and take just for Harper, it's beautiful, Phil He spoke my language and spoke. calmly and slowly, without yelling at me like all the other coaches, if he had managed to make me believe that I was great, so he put Greece on the tracks, if you want, you can't tell Luke to do something, you can't tell Luke to Do this.

Because he's going to resist commands, you have to tell him look, tell yourself you can do this and you know that became one of the methods that I used to talk to Luke about maybe scoring was more aggressive, We started getting rumors that MJ was thinking about coming back, he started hanging around practice a little bit at first he was just watching from the upstairs gallery, you could see him hanging out there. I had never talked to him and all of a sudden he was at practice fighting with Scotty and barking orders and he wasn't even part of the team, he just came and took over practice when Jordan decides to come back, you know, with his celebrity, his name. , his fame and all, became the biggest story in America, it could have been one of the biggest stories in America.

Today's world Michael Jordan, at 32 years old, is trying to achieve what no one else has achieved in the history of team sports. He was eager to understand who my teammates were. My mentality was to go, you know, try to come back and win, so you have to be prepared. You've got to be ready to play when Michael comes back, it's amplified tenfold, just the intensity and awareness of what's coming, so I think it took some time for Luke to adjust and adjust to Michael in the air, thrown underneath, Longley is lost. Luke and other players felt like they were walking while exhaling.

He just had all these sharp edges like some kind of ninja star. You would assume everyone had the same mentality as me, I strive for perfection every time you take a step. on the basketball court, but unfortunately not everyone has the same mentality, but I had a mission. You know, I wanted them to understand what it takes to win. You know, winning comes at a price and I'm pretty sure there were times when it didn't. happy with me but you know that as a leader you know that sometimes you are not going to be very well liked uh you are not going to be, you know that, but you have to guide them michael was a demanding teammate who wanted you to be No matter how aggressive he was second was not the good enough, it just wasn't for him and the next thing that happened we lost a couple of games and they started looking for people to blame, so they blame me for a loss.

For lost, it looks good enough, you know? Can he do all those kinds of things that I was also interested in? Am I good enough for this team? How am I going to make this work? So he looks for more. tools hammer me in a different way michael wrote him a lot pushed him and controlled him and criticized him and without much encouragement just like toughen up and you have a job to do do your job and this is what i need you to do if we are going to win maybe don't like this story um in 98 we are playing with the utah jazz the first quarter ends luke has 12 points four blocks and four rebounds and I'm going with luke I told him this is how you can play man, do that, we dominated, we won by 16 at the end of the game, Luke had 12 points, four rebounds and four blocks, we're winning by 16, we're losing by 15.

And I just looked at Luke and said, you know what, Luke? It's the

last

time I'll pay you a compliment in the middle of the game. There were times when Mike would get angry at Luke and Luke feels it deeply and that disappointment, you know, of letting down a teammate, affected him. He knew he was. capable we all felt like he was capable but you have to be capable every night for us to maintain success so I pushed him obviously I did and verbally you know I would challenge him in certain situations where I felt like you know look , only you.

Aren't you doing what we expect you to do? It was a way of thinking that I felt Luke had to learn and I think he did learn and he'll say, "Oh, Luke wasn't this and Luke wasn't that, so I did He listen, I did that to him and I'll tell you, well, you know what may or may not be true. He may not have been a killer like MJ was, but you don't need 12 killers, you need a group of humans who appreciate, understand, push and work together, you know, Michael's point is. that we won, so it worked, we did it my way and it worked, you know, if we did it your way it might not have worked, the Bulls needed Michael Jordan to be successful, certainly, that one was still on my mind. freo guy who was remodeling and mj was a three time world champion, the best player on the planet had his own shoes and there I was and it was him and somewhere between us was the rest of the team and we had to figure out how to be together and it wasn't his priority but it was mine.

I am deeply grateful to mj for showing me how to be a better basketball player by compensating for my weaknesses with his brilliance. You don't have to love a guy to be there. his team caring about him to play basketball together he didn't love mj i thought mj was difficult and unnecessarily hard on his teammates and probably on himself and i think you know i just didn't enjoy being around him that much and that was great, It was great, the mj was good with me, there was no end of the day, we found a way to respect each other on the court and coexist and that was great when we were winning championships, obviously, everyone was involved in the marketing thing, even people were making babushka dolls and then one day we found one that was with me as the biggest one since the big dog usually had mj on the outside so we took this one now it's getting old like it's peeling off the varnish, I think it's just I think it's a spitting image and then if we line up in order of importance then mj of course it's pretty important scotty that makes scotty the next most important we have a very good relationship both inside and outside of the basketball court and that's how we evolved and became friends for now almost 30 years, so Dennis was having an egg yolk hair day, obviously he had a lot of wild hair days.

I loved Dennis. I used to roll with Dennis a little after the game and I ended up in some places I wouldn't have otherwise ended up and I put them in the life experience bag my favorite is the little baby teeth precious little teeth hi steve put a steve here with me would like to be there there go luke and I hit it off immediately, we had barbecues at each other's houses and our kids played together and it was just an absolutely beautiful time in life, that's our order of importance, now you can go there, come on, so what was it really like?

In real life back then, the real social hierarchy was obviously something like everyone's mixed in here and these are the three rock stars and they were, I mean, these guys are big hall of fame players and the rest of them We feel good here. roles to win championships and that's the truth, Luke was a really important piece of the puzzle that was the Chicago Bulls, I mean, Michael Jordan was obviously the most important part, but Luke was the starting center and you remember there's only five people in court. The job was to protect the opposing monster again.

The only man in Shaquille. Shaquille O'Neal was one of the most dominant big men in our game, so it was important that we tried to have some guys on the floor that could really deliver the checks. In intensity I loved wrestling and as a result I had a lot of broken ribs and broken teeth, but I loved it and Phil, MJ and Pip and all those guys understood that that made us good, there is an intimidation factor in basketball and Luke It was a force that defended itself, could take a hit and move on.keep playing firm and reliable he wanted to pass he wanted to help everyone else be better his strong point was he could shoot you know he was very smart good passer he knew how to position himself well he had the skill set that made our team better you know his ability to see the court and make passes, steve hi guys, he was important to the team and to each individual within the team, so he had a lot of really strong relationships and that made him a natural connector for the group, there's dad, Merry Christmas, Claire, the teammates, their wives and the kids, that was our family, hosting people, bringing people, having a Barbie, just opening their house, that was all part of the environment that Luke provided for the team to seeing these girls together, best friends you know, running around in their pigtails and dresses and enjoying each other and the wine and in the midst of playing for this iconic franchise in an era where we won championships, it was In Our Lives time.

There was a really strong community built around Michael wasn't

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y included in it due to his isolation, but everyone else was invited. I wish you knew I could relax and enjoy it as much as everyone else, but that's it. That didn't guarantee us success, you know, that didn't say we were going to win, you know, you know, so I had to do what I had to do. It was an incredible time to be part of the bulls during that running of the bulls in each city. There would be hundreds of people outside the hotel when we arrived it felt like a traveling rock show we had so many different people in our locker room.

From one night to the next whether it was, you know, eddie vetter or hillary clinton or bill clinton this car it's basketball it was beetle mania everywhere luke went crowds formed there were people screaming everywhere the team went they were absolutely mobbed we would I entered hotels often through the kitchens and up the kitchen elevators because There were too many people outside and you used aliases. I mean, I was Norman Gunston for two years and you couldn't even make a friend once they found out about that. luke played for the bulls it was impossible you couldn't trust anyone to be true it's very difficult to win an nba title because it really is a marathon you know you go through the regular season just to position yourself for the playoffs and then it was two months of incredible stress, so during the three years that the championship

last

ed, things became more and more difficult each season.

Luke Longley is the first Australian to win an American NBA championship. His team beat Seattle today in the first championship. We were on fire and we were fresh and no one knew what to do with us luke

longley

occupies a unique place in the history of

australian

sport i hope people in australia know that they get some of this footage and they can see how much fun is going to happen because it's, you know , which is the first time. Hope

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y it's not the last one, it's a great second, people realized this a little bit, our bodies were a little bit harder, it was a little harder, but we still expected to win that, since the Boston Celtics, no team from the NBA has reigned as supreme as the Chicago Bulls. and there, for the second year in a row, was the Australian Luke Longley.

The third one was very hard, we got hit a lot and we are starting to get a little irritated with each other because we have been living together in this intense center for however long and the management made it clear to us that this was our last season to get it, so Phil coined us that we would call this the last

dance

that we have had this incredible career. This is all you will get. This doesn't work. later Michael will not return this is the last

dance

the mba asked me if I would accept that a television producer a cameraman travel with the team for that season because they anticipated what could happen this is Kelly my wife that was when we opened the locker room of our houses and that for their camera crew they were just getting to know the girls, do you know any of these guys, have you seen them before, Andy, which ended up being the footage from the last dance of junior year? we were exhausted and we were barely hanging on we didn't hunt anymore they were hunting us we were at our maximum as a unit so we literally crossed the line crawling against utah in that third championship jordan opened the the chicago bulls won their sixth nba championship, the third one i felt like i said the last of my body so I played my best basketball of my life really after that championship, you know, I wasn't trying to take selfies with the celebrities in the locker room I wasn't on the court high-fiving fans I just found a quiet corner and I just wanted to have that one for myself these are my three championship rings and some people play their whole life they don't get one I stumbled on three thank you mj thank you mj once we understood what the players on that team were like we finally clicked we got to where we needed to go, I mean, it was teamwork, it wasn't just one band, it was teamwork, they made me better too, yeah.

Of course when I look at the rings it's great, I have a lot of good memories and it changed my life and the rings themselves are eye-catching and ugly. Yes, but the whole experience was beautiful and ugly too, so they are perfect. Even though we knew the breakup was coming when it happened, it was really a little strange, you know, to suddenly be going to different teams, we all signed with different teams because of this bullish situation, he ended up getting, you know, a fabulous contract. With the Phoenix Suns I signed a big contract with Phoenix that I struggled to fulfill because my anchor was going poorly, but also because there wasn't the same magic around the group that many of us struggled with when finding a new role.

Our teams, I know that was the case with Luke and Phoenix and we were all looking forward to the Chicago days where we had been having this incredible experience, so it was a difficult time for us. I think Luke suffered because of the expectations they want of you. to be who they need you to not be who you are and that's why they needed luke to be you know a great center who averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds and that's not who he was claire stood next to Lille for just a second I think we were in a state of shock and amazement because it was all over in Chicago and I think Luke struggled a lot.

I think we were only there for a year. What a pretty house. The girls learned to swim and then we went to New York, New York, the same kind. The truth is that it was a quick change, the new guys just didn't have the same vibe, I never felt the same about it and I was embarrassed that I was playing poorly, he just never went back to the player he was once he left Chicago. It was very difficult and injuries began to take their toll. His ankle was bone on bone and it was hard to watch him, you know, go through so much therapy and pain.

The ankle specialists said I can't believe you're running with this, you should stop. Playing right away, I still had two or three years left on my contract and that was just devastating for me, not only because my career was over, but it ended at a time where I didn't really enjoy basketball and couldn't perform. very good and suddenly it was all over, we left New York and never came back, we were going to go back to Australia and that was it, as I understand it, in the NBA the contracts are guaranteed, so if a player gets injured and can't continue with his The contract is honored.

Longley still has three years left on his $60 million contract with the Knicks and will be paid if NBA doctors rule he is unfit to play. Luke was given the option to accept the insurance payment, but the condition was that he could not play basketball. to never again be able to, you know, function as an NBA player at that level, at least feel empty in you, the end of my career really felt like a fizz after those good years in Chicago and that fizz definitely hurt when I got to home, I was deeply sad and I was depressed about it I'm depressed about the way it ended I just felt ashamed I just didn't do it I didn't feel good at all about finishing my career he's no longer an elite athlete he's no longer one in the center of the whirlwind no longer makes a huge amount of money he's hurt he's home and he's back too probably for the first time since he was 15 the only giant in the room you had to be a warrior you had to be tough you had to be strong and that It's very different once you retire because now you're not a warrior I'll end up learning to be competitive and being prepared to beat that guy up to get what I want, there's no doubt it changed, it changed me.

I would change anyone. I think the hardest thing for Luke was building that armor that he needed to survive in that world and then that can come up. What is done with that? There's a competitive drive that we have to somehow figure out how to channel. A different way when we leave the game in basketball, the way to improve is to look critically at where you fail, what you do wrong, what you can do better and so, over the course of 20 years, I got pretty good at it and so on. You go to bed at night thinking I'm going to do this better, I'm going to do that better and if you're not careful you go to bed at night thinking I'm no good or I'm not up to it.

I'm not good enough. I think it eroded me a lot as a person along the way, so when I finished playing it was very difficult to let go of that athlete's mind, to stop criticizing myself and to stop looking for my own weaknesses. What happened was to a certain extent, the athlete's mind began to look for other things to work on. My ex-wife, Kelly, probably would have said that it was directed a little bit at her or even at the kids sometimes or at friends or at me in general, she just couldn't. I live under someone telling me what to do all the time, how are you feeling today?

They were destroying me like him. He would rather be my own person than be torn apart. It was pretty clear that their marriage was in trouble and that was very painful to see and um and when everything fell apart it was a very dark time for Luke they had a good divorce they stayed civil they shared care of their children and they did it they did it well But it was never, never easy. Did you hear that about Luke? We've always been friendly, we've always gotten along. I know he was the best father and the best human being.

I saw him go through the most difficult times and he is a great man, the only light that shines. In my life at that stage there were children and I put a lot of energy into children. I'll take the elbow off my shin. I played, I spent a lot of money on boats, I tried to find happiness in things you know, I bought some nice cars, I tried. have some fun, but I never found anything to really connect with and make mine my own again. Going from having great success mid-career to retiring at 31 years old. In some ways it sounds glorious, but also all your friends are working.

Who? hang out with how do you spend your time? how do you enjoy? I definitely didn't find a purpose. I knew I didn't want to do something in basketball. I just fell out of love with him. I didn't want to be close. Like an old girlfriend, you know, I just didn't feel love. Luke had this long period where he was alone and then he fell in love and fell in love with a little person, which was comical since love is usually the first time I saw him at John Curtin High School and I can remember being like sliding down the banister of the stairs and I remember he said we looked at each other and I thought, wow, it's big, they actually snuggle and do a lot of magical things, they're huge and they'll be right for someone like you.

I met Anna when she was a teenager. I went to high school with her and she played in a band. I used to go to pubs on the weekends and watch her sing no I'm working I'm not small it's a squid angle but Anna and Luke getting together is a nice lovely story I mean they both had previous marriages and had beautiful children, they know each other. all their lives except they had very different lives for 20 years hey google turn up the volume over here it's funny because we were friends it was a bit of an awkward start suddenly I realized I liked him I never knew I even had feelings for him but it was like , oh, this is a wonderful man sitting right in front of me and I thought, wow, he could just get caught like that, it was just a friendship that blossomed into more, yeah, I don't know, she's good for me, it's a good balance. for me and she has helped me get back to who I really am.

I'm the one who feeds me and I'm just trying to make you less attractive to other women. The first time I met Anna was at our family home. Keep it up. Is working. well, at that time it was just me and dad claire living there and she came in and she has quite a bright personality who is easy to get along with, and jackson and elsie were very similar ages, elsie is my age, jackson is my age sister, so it really became a Brady Bunch situation. We ended up moving in with Luke when I was about 12.

We all got along so well and everything was so perfect, it was so perfect and then I wake up in the middle of the night and you can hear everyone. fire, the converted warehouse was already well alight when fire crews arrived around three in themorning, we woke up to a lot of loud banging, basically it sounded like someone was in the kitchen throwing pants. Luke Longley could only watch as the fire destroyed Montreal. building down the street was asleep and I heard a crash and an explosion and um and it was already on fire and um you took the kids out everything came out nothing was left it was horrible I felt like I was here I'm going to start over like if I started over after the basketball, I started after Kelly.

I would have to start over after the fire. I felt like I was always starting over. I was really at the bottom of my own emotional reservoir and the boomers came to town for training camp and the coach said Luke, could you come down and just watch practice and tell me what you think? I have a couple of guys I'd like you to look at and I never forget walking to the gym and being almost embarrassed and almost like who I am. I'm doing here, I don't belong, this is my old stomping ground, that's not me now and at the end of a week of going to that practice I felt revitalized and filled again like I had connected with something that was important to me.

I hadn't been online for a long time. I'm really happy to see Luke, you know, get a job as an assistant coach. A guy I really helped. I needed Aaron Baines. I really enjoyed training him and that relationship along with the relationship. with basketball it just took me out of where I was. Luke's first and foremost priority was to work with me and try to see if he could calm me down a little bit and you know from day one we clicked, he doesn't come to you. and attacking you, he is trying to help you and make you a better person both on and off the court.

I tried to discuss what Phil was to me and that's ambitious, but that's what I tried to do. You could see that weight lifted. He, I think he changed, I think he might have gone into that dark spiral that athletes often have of not having what they worked so hard for in his life now that he's working with the Sydney Kings and he still has that. To roll pretend you find a body here to arch yourself for a jump shot, then Dave will feed Australia to finish. I'm just a generalist on this team. I'm a consultant who's relaxing.

I didn't want to be in the game for a long time and I finally realized how much. I'm used to, you know, if you're having a hard time, the next thing that happens is the big guy walks in the door and says let's talk and he can do it because everyone respects who he is and who he was. Do you feel something? Pressure to be called Jordan and play basketball, yes, every day, I can't get out of bed, it's a little ironic, but basketball ended up filling a kind of void for me in my later life that I feel like basketball is I created in my previous life, did you hear? the bench more yesterday from the court, did you think the bench was more committed?

Yeah, basketball kind of brought me back to being whole again and in my mind I'd like to go back to where I started the story, which is like a gentle slightly alternative um generous person when the last dance came on Netflix last year everyone was talking about the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan over and over again, but where the hell was Luke Longley, uh Cleo, oh I left, I saw you, I missed it? watch this

documentary

with great anticipation and not see yourself in it, that's hard and I know it hurt, there you go, stop, oh, sitting on the couch and watching episode after episode that I wasn't in, I thought, yeah.

I was discouraged that I didn't expect to be a major character because I hadn't been interviewed and stuff, but I did expect to be in it more than I was, oh, there's the watcher, look at that twice in one day, will you? your family to appreciate it, what is mine? I watched it with my kids and um, but I thought about Luke's omission and how much he lost with that. I think the worst part for Luke was that the phone was ringing. all day all night everyone wanted to know why you're not in the you know how you feel right now like drama drama drama I didn't say anything in the media because I hadn't finished watching it I didn't know what to say and I ended up changing my phone number because it was just overwhelming, I was overwhelmed with interest, it was like revisiting everything again when suddenly I needed an alias, I needed to go through the kitchen again, there you go Claire, there's a There it is, I think there's four of us now, that's right, yes, four sightings.

Well, I'm not in the docker. I really don't know, to be honest, the self-deprecating Australian in me thinks it's because I'm not like that. Exciting, he had suits that matched his Ferrari, remember how I was playing a very important role, but I wasn't that sexy? To be honest, there are so many beautiful, bright, shining stars to focus on that you know it makes sense. To me, that story wasn't about me makes a lot of sense. There's a lot of things you know they could cover and Luke was in Australia. It was difficult to contact him in terms of getting an interview.

There were a lot of people that you know were part of what happened in the '90s that, you know, were probably left out, but I feel bad that Luke wasn't involved. Skinny, look at the skinnies. I can understand why Australia would say: Well, why wouldn't we include Luke and probably? I should have done it and that was, I guess if you look back and see if I can change anything, that's probably what I could have changed. It's a great trip to the past, that's the best. You know, I have my criticisms about this taco, but overall.

It's been something great. I'm talking again. Thinking about again. People are asking questions again. That's good. You know, I'm proud of him. Yeah, well, a long time ago someone had to try to write this story and they excluded people. unfortunately that played a big part, but the memory is ours, we have a story that connected us 25 years ago and still connects us now, so yeah, I'm glad, I'm glad that you took the opportunity to give a little shout out. Luke and what his role was, all of that was happening at the same time that I was making the decision to fuse my ankle, which was a direct result of what was happening in the document, so there was kind of a loop for me. here.

I'm sitting there with my ankle about to be fused looking at why my ankle needs to be fused. I'm actually really surprised it took this long for her ankle surgery. He endured it for 20 years and there was a lot of pain involved. to that ankle, hey, I'm recovering from my ankle fusion, I can't go home until I'm two weeks old, which is tomorrow, thanks brother, the fusion is very permanent and it's a major problem, that's what I've done, it feels? As a result, do you feel like you are using it? That's the strong part. Is it such a clear emblem of the cost of doing business?

Oh man, it has changed our lives. He is much happier and freer and can walk without having to walk. Whatever pain he carried for so long I feel another cold jam coming Luke is going to be enough isn't it? I live in an old farm south of Perth on the beach there are fish to surf we grow our own vegetables it's peaceful it's it's lovely and I love it down there some of these are getting a little tired well he's had this place for a long time time, so I think he was 21 when he bought it with a pile of money he got from some trading cards.

It's very different for him in Denmark, on his farm, he's very isolated there in that community, I've never been asked for anything and when I walk down the street I get a wave, but there's never been any fanfare, they're all farmers. I probably don't know either I don't care I love it Luke is a calm guide this land and this place suits him better than I can imagine being a basketball star for the rest of his life I think Luke was for a long time reluctant to return to the legend of what he did and what he was a part of the Chicago Bulls, they won their sixth NBA championship and it's their second trio.

He had a great career and a career that most would think. I know how to fantasize about having it, so you know I consider Luke very lucky. Luke was the starting center on the team that won three consecutive NBA championships. You can't take that away from them. I really don't understand why I've avoided it for a while. a long time and I didn't really get involved with it, I think just getting out of it hurt me, not getting out of it hurt me, I wanted to get away from it and now I'm looking into getting back around basketball, so I'm interested.

To talk about it, it's interesting that mj and I exchange now are very friendly and warm and I think now that we're not playing together there's room for that, you're already a busy man, Michael, why did you agree to take some time off? your life? schedule to do this interview for Luke, he is important to me, yes, you know I do care about him and his story needs to be told. Sure, I want to say there is some good and bad, but that's all part of life. You know you'll have friends you have good and bad, you know, but we went through the trenches, we shared a lot, you know, we competed together and you know, I would take it any day of the week if you knew if I had to go through a competition again.

If you ask me to do it all over again, there's no way I'm leaving Luke Longley off my team. There is no way it is possible because he matters. You know he had an impact on me. Well, wow, he made me better as a player. You know, as a person. Wow, that's a notion in Japanese art and life that nothing should be perfect and I like that idea because it wasn't perfect. I wasn't planning on being the first Australian or cooking on the MBA. I wasn't planning on being the first Australian or cooking on the MBA. being the first Australian to win a championship, it unfolded in front of me and at the time that's exactly what I did and I thought it was great.

I've never really pursued it much and I don't want to do it anymore either, but um. I can't help but be proud of it, you know.