Most NBA fans remember Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan as a fierce competitor on the court. Often times, though, his aggressive nature carried over into practice sessions. In fact, the six-time champion once punched Steve Kerr right in the face during a workout, and Kerr wasn't the only teammate to get punched.

Though he led with a stern hand, many of Jordan's former teammates feel that it was actually good for the team. Jud Buechler, who was a part of the Bulls' second three-peat, touched on Jordan's method of leadership in a recent interview with Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype:

JB: Well, I just call that leadership. I think we all understood that he was going to test all of us every single day in practice. I mean, you really couldn’t take a practice off, you couldn’t really relax, and that was great. That’s what a leader does, he pushes the team. He was always testing every guy to know if he could trust them down the stretch. I think Michael, by then, realized that while he could do a lot of stuff out there, he needed the other guys to help out. So, he was constantly pushing us in practice, testing us – especially Scotty Burrell that one season. And it made us all better players. I don’t think anybody had any problems with it at all, because we all wanted to be the best players we can be and we all wanted to make sure that he knew we were there when he needed us.

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This style of leadership may not be so accepted in today's NBA. Still, the former Bulls reserve and current Knicks assistant coach thinks this kind of mentality is important from the best player on the team:

HoopsHype: Would that be accepted or effective?

JB: I think it would be, I really do. Man, the social media thing is a whole ‘nother animal, but I think inside the walls of a practice facility, it’s super important to have that type of leadership from your best player. He was one of the hardest working guys; he was one of the first guys there and the last to leave. And if the best player on your team is doing that – the best player in the world is doing that – it makes everybody else work that much harder, so I think he could definitely be super effective right now.

Though he was hard on his teammates at times, it seems Jordan was simply trying to raise their level of play. It's hard to argue too much with the results given Jordan's Bulls won six championships in eight seasons, though it's probably also true that only a very select few would be able to lead like that.

It all comes back to winning, and Michael Jordan did a lot of it with the Bulls.