Scott Burrell points out all the things he admired about Michael Jordan

Scott Burrell shared a locker room with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman for only one year. However, that lone season he spent with the Chicago Bulls is something Burrell will cherish for the rest of his life.

Burrell's NBA run

Burrell was a fundamentally sound player throughout his eight-year NBA run—he played with the Hornets, Warriors, Bulls, and Nets. He is the first player in sports history to be selected in the first round of the NBA and MLB Drafts, and winning the NBA Championship with the Bulls in 1998 was one of his career highlights.

The Bulls traded Dickey Simpkins to the Warriors for Burrell before the 1997-98 season, which means he didn’t play on their other five NBA championship teams.

Jordan pushed and challenged Burrell more than anyone else—he picked on him in practice to prepare him for a run at an NBA championship. The Bulls legend dismissed Scott's defensive ability, called out Burrell as his defensive assignment, ridiculed his free-throw shooting, and one time after a game, he teased the 6-7 forward for shooting 1-of-7 from the field.

“When you see the footage of it, you’re going to think that I’m a horrible guy. But you have to realize that the reason why I was treating him like that is because I needed him to be tough in the playoffs, and we’re facing Indianas and Miamis and New Yorks in the Eastern Conference,” Jordan told ‘The Last Dance’ director Jason Hehir when they first met.

What Burrell admires about MJ

During his appearance on the ‘Scoop B Radio’ podcast, Burrell talked about what he admires about MJ after playing with him on the Bulls.

“A couple of things,” Burrell said. “One thing is how hard he works. I mean he’s in the weight room every morning. Competes in practice. Never takes a day off. Those are things I learned from day one. He’s never satisfied being where he is. He always wanted to get better every day on the court and he wanted you to get better every day to make his job easier to make us as a team better to be prepared for any situation.”

Over the years, Burrell realized that Jordan’s work ethic and on-court lessons did him good long after he retired from the NBA—it helped him develop a mentality that he later incorporated into his post-basketball life.

It wasn't pretty, but looking back on it, Burrell is grateful he had a chance to be around someone as great as MJ.