What about...............

[Guest]

MICHAEL JORDAN!!

Jordan's Strained Ties to Wizards May Be Cut

By MIKE WISE

meeting planned for later this week between Michael Jordan and the Washington Wizards' owners, Abe Pollin and Ted Leonsis, was intended as a discussion about Jordan's possible return to the team's front office, but it may instead end their partnership.

Mounting player resentment toward Jordan and ownership's concerns about Jordan's work ethic as an executive — along with Jordan's misgivings about the franchise's future — have changed the relationship between Jordan and the franchise, according to two team officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Another Eastern Conference official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said yesterday that Jordan's advisers had been seeking to set up meetings about Jordan's potential ownership of other N.B.A. teams. The move has further infuriated the Wizards' ownership.

If the partnership does end, it will result in an organizational overhaul and the possible removal of Coach Doug Collins.

"All issues pertaining to the future direction of the franchise will be discussed later this week," Pollin, 79, said through a spokesman.

A spokeswoman said the recently retired Jordan would not comment, and a Wizards representative said Collins was on vacation and was not expected to return messages.

In an e-mail reply, Leonsis, the AOL vice chairman who is the majority owner of the N.H.L.'s Washington Capitals and a minority owner of the Wizards, also declined to comment until after the meeting.

The first wave of change came Friday when Wes Unseld, the team's general manager for the past seven years, announced that he was taking a leave of absence after the N.B.A. draft on June 26, although Unseld's departure had more to do with health concerns.

The Wizards, who finished with a record of 37-45 for the second consecutive season, did not make the playoffs for the sixth straight time. The off-season acquisitions of Jerry Stackhouse and Larry Hughes failed to produce the desired results. The Wizards' season ended in disarray, with Collins complaining about players' disrespect for his authority and with the thinly veiled criticism of Jordan by some of his teammates.

"Without Michael, we could be just as good of a team," Stackhouse recently told The Washington Post. "I look forward to that challenge and I know other guys in this locker room, even though they may not say it, are looking forward to that challenge, too."

Players who originally bought into Jordan's mystique soon became disenchanted with his constant criticism. That ill will, the officials said, may lead to Jordan's departure.

In the season's final days, when many of Jordan's teammates were asked if they wanted to contribute to a retirement gift, the Wizards arrived quickly at a collective decision: no.

When asked to pinpoint the demise of the team in exit interviews with Unseld, they bit their tongues. Seated nearby were Rod Higgins, the assistant general manager, and Fred Whitfield, the director of player personnel, both close friends of Jordan, who hired both men.

"I didn't feel like I could be honest," said one player, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "If Mike goes upstairs again, he's got control of my career."

The unrest and unpleasantness grew as the season wore on. Somewhere between the fanfare Jordan created in a woebegone franchise and two more losing seasons, players began to resent the icon who was supposed to lead the way to the postseason.

The two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said Jordan thought he could use his executive position on the court to bring about change in his teammates. But players resisted.

According to one official, Hughes was explicitly told by Jordan to get him the ball if he wanted to play. When Hughes began passing it to Stackhouse as much as to Jordan, he was soon benched.

Point guard Tyronn Lue, the official said, obliged and began finding Jordan every time he played. "He was scared to death of what would happen to him in his career if he didn't," the player said of Lue. "He was always looking at the bench at Michael."

If the players did not take issue with Jordan in their final interviews, they did show unanimity in another way: every player laced into Collins.

Jordan's Strained Ties to Wizards May Be Cut

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Several players felt Collins was caught serving two masters: the organization and Jordan. Collins was told by management on several occasions to coach the team as if he were in charge and not Jordan. But the players, according to the officials, felt Jordan's influence superseded that of Collins, and it led to much friction. Hughes, Stackhouse, Christian Laettner and Bryon Russell were some of the most vocal players, but in the end most of them took issue with Jordan.

Some Wizards were especially bothered by Jordan's knack for upstaging them on national television, something he routinely did in Chicago during his championship runs with the Bulls.

"When you're winning, everybody justifies it, like, `Oh, Michael, he's teaching the young guys,' " the player said. "When you're not, it's embarrassing. For us, it got old quick."

Kwame Brown and Brendan Haywood became two of the focal points for criticism from both Collins and Jordan.

One of the officials said even the acquisition of Stackhouse came about partly because of a player unwilling to defer to Jordan. Late last fall, Richard Hamilton and Jordan got into an ugly shouting match. The two officials said it began when Hamilton told Jordan he was tired of being a "Jordannaire," the term used for Jordan's role players in Chicago.

"Rip was a young, brash guy who threatened the idea of Michael being the guy here," the official said. "He was promptly gotten rid of for Stackhouse."

A person close to Jordan denied Hamilton was traded because of a personality conflict. He insisted contractual issues led to the Stackhouse deal.

In the season's final weeks, players openly complained about the double standards for Jordan. Promptly dressed and ready to speak with reporters after games, they were forced to wait in the locker room for 15 or 20 minutes while Jordan showered and dressed in a private room.

Jordan's return to the court two seasons ago was heralded as the last, great chapter of his playing career.

Two years before then, the Jordan-Pollin union began smoothly. Before hiring Jordan to run the basketball operation and giving him a piece of the team's ownership, Pollin and his wife, Irene, invited Jordan to dinner.

Jordan immediately turned the Wizards into a player-friendly organization. A player lounge with all the amenities was built at the MCI Center and the family lounge was upgraded. The team's old charter plane was sold so the Wizards could fly in the luxurious surroundings offered by the N.B.A.-sponsored charter service. Expensive contracts were eaten to clear salary-cap room for better players.

The scouting department, once composed of Unseld, his son and Chuck Douglas, added former Jordan teammates and friends to keep pace in a growing international market.

But there were no immediate dividends in the standings. The team was 36-89 with Jordan as an executive in two seasons — a .288 winning percentage. Despite sellouts and streams of revenue created from ticket sales and merchandising, Jordan's two years as a player were marred by two seasons without a playoff berth. Other than Jahidi White, every player on the current Wizards roster was acquired with Jordan's consent.

Jordan had to sell his stake in the Wizards when he resumed playing, but it was believed that he would buy back his ownership if he remained with the team.

While Jordan could point to how his contributions directly increased the franchise's value, Pollin and Leonsis could argue that his association has produced more short-term economic growth than any kind of winning legacy.

The two men have always been suspect of Jordan's work ethic as an executive, two team officials said. While Jordan had final say in personnel matters, Unseld was in charge of most of the legwork regarding the draft, free agency and scouting.

Jordan's absence as the primary basketball decision maker bothered the owners, according to the team officials and high-placed executives.

Leonsis, who has enjoyed Jordan's company socially and has publicly endorsed his moves, is perturbed that Jordan has been unable to create a playoff team in a weakened Eastern Conference.

During Jordan's last tenure as director of basketball operations — from January 2000 to October 2001 — Pollin was concerned that Jordan's business and social calendars were too filled to tend to his duties as a Wizards executive.

Pollin, one of the officials said, became upset after this past season about Jordan's potential involvement in the front office. He was relayed a message from Jordan through intermediaries: "Don't expect to see much of Michael this summer. He has too many other commitments."

If Pollin has reservations about continuing his relationship with Jordan, the same can be said for Jordan about Pollin. Over the past three seasons, two camps have clearly formed in Washington: those people brought in or employed by Jordan and those loyal to Pollin.

The chances of both men working a deal that will include Jordan remaining with the franchise appear slim."

What would be you're reaction?Could MJ bring some

fans to the building?

[Guest]

No thank you....I change my mind on the idea.

[TJ_Swann]

Leave his a$$ right where it's at. He mismanange talent as bad Babcock. Loved the article. It's been my opinion all along he can't step away from the limelight. He needs to fade away.