In many ways, today's version of the NBA is unrecognizable compared to how the game was played when Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls were winning championships year after year. The 3-point shooting around the league is at the top of the list. While teams in 2023 are looking to attempt as many 3-pointers as possible, Bulls coach Phil Jackson was fining some of Michael Jordan's teammates for missing shots from behind the arc.
Former Bulls player Scott Williams told ClutchPoints that he was among those players barred from taking 3-pointers by Jackson. A member of the Bulls during Jordan's first three championship runs, Williams and other big men on the Chicago roster had to take 3-pointers at the risk of losing $100.
“I can appreciate the talent of the players. They do things on the floor that I wasn’t allowed to do,” Williams said of today's NBA stars in a conversation at Las Vegas Summer League.
“We big guys weren’t allowed to dribble the ball two to three times at the most. Phil Jackson would fine Stacey King, myself and Will Perdue if we shot 3-pointers in a game.”
Williams, King and Perdue could escape being fined for 3-point attempts, but only if the shot went in.
“If we made it, there was no fine. If we missed, we got a fine. It stopped us from shooting. It was silly fines, $100,” Williams said with a smile. “Now you got guys out there over 7 feet tall knocking down 3s. Shooting 40% from beyond the arc. But the game is not the same, they don’t play inside out. Sometimes they come down, no passes to their teammate and they just jack it up. I miss the poetry of five guys working together on a possession.”
In four seasons with the Bulls, Williams missed 15 of his 17 attempts from downtown.
As a team, Chicago shot 36.5% from 3-point range during its 1993 title run. It was the second-best mark in the NBA. The Bulls' 8.2 attempts per game ranked 16th in the league. The Phoenix Suns, whom Jordan and the Bulls defeated in the 1993 NBA Finals, led the league with 13.4 attempts per game.
In the 2022-2023 season, the Bulls averaged the league's fewest 3-point attempts with 28.9 per game. Fourteen teams made at least 36.5% of their shots from behind the arc.
Watch ClutchPoints' full Scott Williams interview:
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