“The Last Dance” highlights Michael Jordan's overwhelming fame, and the Chicago Bulls of the 1980s and 1990s had no choice but to keep their identity protected due to this phenomenon.
Steve Kerr, who joined the team for the 1993-94 season and won three titles with Jordan, had some fun with his alias, opting for a quirky name to disguise his own.
Rusty LaRue, who played in “The Last Dance” season with the Bulls in 1997-98, posted a tweet with the red image on the left, a code that NBC Sports Chicago's Rob Schaefer quickly cracked by taking a look at the roster lineup in Basketball-Reference:
As it turns out, Kerr's alias was “Austin Powers,” Jordan went by “Oscar Miles,” and joker Ron Harper was “Peter Parker” — everyone's favorite neighborhood superhero.
Much like NBA players of today change phone numbers every few months to throw people off their trail, the Bulls had to change these aliases every now and again in order to not get tracked by outsiders.
While none of them were as highly recognizable as Jordan, even role players had to protect their identity, with a bevy of people flocking their hotels in hopes to see His Airness.
It seems Kerr had a good sense of humor opting for Austin Powers, while Jordan went with an alias in honor of the Illinois Hall of Fame golfer and greenskeeper.
Scottie Pippen went with the classic, a nod to the popular brand of blended scotch whiskey — others like LaRue, Joe Kleine, and Toni Kukoc managed to get by without an alias.
It's fair to wonder if these players call themselves by their aliases every now and again, just for a chuckle. It would be funny to see this talked about more in “The Last Dance.”
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