Kobe Bryant would have been a Wizard in 2004 if Abe didn't fire MJ in 2003

[FAH1223]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wi ... story.html

But during the height of his feud with then-teammate Shaquille O’Neal in the early 2000s, Bryant wanted to be under Jordan in a different capacity . Bryant revealed recently he felt pushed to ponder a future away from the purple and gold banners after O’Neal – a three-time Finals most valuable player from 2000-02 – went too far.

“The challenge had been thrown down upon me, of not being able to win without Shaq. A public challenge never really bothered me too much, but he made a couple of comments as well. I think he called me Penny Hardaway Part 2 or something like that. So that’s what [ticked] me off,” Bryant said. “Then it was like, ‘Listen, you know the step back that I took to help us win championships. Let’s not get [expletive] confused. I can dominate on my own. I decided to stay here and win championships and sacrifice MVPs and scoring titles and all that stuff.’ So once that was said, it was like a line in the sand now.”

Nearly two years after he retired for a second time in Chicago, Jordan teamed with Wizards then-minority owner Ted Leonsis and assumed the role of president of basketball operations for 1 1/2 seasons. According to two people with knowledge of the situation, after Jordan decided to sell his minority ownership stake to resume his playing career with the Wizards, Bryant informed him several times he wanted to play for the Wizards — under the assumption that Jordan would return to the front office once his playing days were over.

“I’ve always been very big on having mentors, on having muses and I’ve been really, really big on that,” Bryant said. “Being around guys who have done it before and done it at a high level and always tried to pick their brains and always tried to absorb knowledge. Obviously, being in that situation [with the Wizards], it would’ve helped having to be around him every day and so on.”

Jordan’s tenure as an executive in Washington had its successes (trading Juwan Howard to clear cap room and signing Larry Hughes) and notable failures (drafting Kwame Brown and trading Richard Hamilton for Jerry Stackhouse) but luring Bryant from Los Angeles would have been a reputation-altering coup.

“What I look at, in terms of the front office, is their commitment to excellence, their commitment to not winning division banners but winning NBA championships,” Bryant said of Jordan. “That’s where I always start and then I can work backwards. He obviously was a championship-or-bust man.”

The Wizards never had the assets to discuss a trade for Bryant, so the only chance the organization would have had to make a run at him was when he became an unrestricted free agent in 2004. Jordan, however, wasn’t allowed to recruit Bryant because Pollin decided in May 2003, not to let him continue running the team. While Jordan’s ability to land Bryant was no guarantee, a person close to him said Jordan was “confident” he would have made it happen.

[Dat2U]

Jordan as GM with Unseld as his behind-the-scenes guy made for a disastrous front office. Even if they landed Kobe, they probably would have botched everything else around him & Kobe would have probably been demanding a trade shortly thereafter.

[miller31time]

Really makes you wonder what could have been. A prime Kobe Bryant would have certainly attracted some good players to consider joining the Wizards.

If you believe in the Butterfly Effect, a case could be made that, had Kobe signed here, Arenas' entire career trajectory would have changed. And since I fail to see how it could change for the worse, imagine if we had Kobe and Gilbert, both in their primes and HEALTHY.

Not sure there's be enough shots to go around but damn would that be a fun team to watch.

[FAH1223]

Jordan as GM with Unseld as his behind-the-scenes guy made for a disastrous front office. Even if they landed Kobe, they probably would have botched everything else around him & Kobe would have probably been demanding a trade shortly thereafter.

True

[keynote]

This is a non-story, full of ifs, butts, candies, and nuts.

[Halcyon]

We would have traded Kobe for a bag of peanuts after 2 years.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

We would have traded Kobe for a bag of peanuts after 2 years.

Nah. We'd have gotten back the corpse of Allan Houston.... vet leadership.

[hands11]

Oh... And who says Christmas only comes once a year...

This is pure Gold

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I am literally watching Kobe vs Jordan on Fox Sports West. MJ's last game.


Eerie to see this thread now. ..

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Jordan as GM with Unseld as his behind-the-scenes guy made for a disastrous front office. Even if they landed Kobe, they probably would have botched everything else around him & Kobe would have probably been demanding a trade shortly thereafter.

Must be an eclipse. I usually agree with you but today is disagree day.

I thought MJ did wonders as management/part owner. He moved Juwan Howard on what was an outrageously bad contract. That and Bryan Russell opting out paved the way for Gilbert Arenas

His front office moves went south when he came back as a player. I KNEW he was going to trade young Rip Hamilton. The lackeys and old cronies he brought in (Oakley mainly) were past their prime.

The one move I argued against before he was a player was drafting Kwame Brown. I wanted trade down for two players: Battier plus Zach Randolph or Troy Murphy.

My memory of Michael Jordan is that he made the Wizards a high profile team. He also made Abe Pollin in a bunch of money.

[TheSecretWeapon]

Jordan as GM with Unseld as his behind-the-scenes guy made for a disastrous front office. Even if they landed Kobe, they probably would have botched everything else around him & Kobe would have probably been demanding a trade shortly thereafter.

Must be an eclipse. I usually agree with you but today is disagree day.

I thought MJ did wonders as management/part owner. He moved Juwan Howard on what was an outrageously bad contract. That and Bryan Russell opting out paved the way for Gilbert Arenas

It's not correct that trading Howard cleared the way for the Wizards to sign Arenas. Howard's contract would have expired anyway. The trade had more symbolic importance than on-court because it marked the end of make-believe management. It was a signal that they FINALLY realized the team sucked and needed to be rebuilt. But the Wizards didn't get cap room any earlier because of it.

Not only that, but Jordan and his management team nearly squandered that cap room before they even had it by giving Russell the option year. Luckily for the Wizards, the atmosphere with the team made Russell so unhappy he was willing to give up half a million dollars to leave.

[dobrojim]

So glad this never happened.

[YouTube]www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=84838260&x-yt-ts=1422327029&v=1o7twuDN8cU[/YouTube]

John Wall (paraphrase) " my mother told me it didn't matter what I did as a basketball player as people
would always judge me as a person first"

That's why.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Jordan as GM with Unseld as his behind-the-scenes guy made for a disastrous front office. Even if they landed Kobe, they probably would have botched everything else around him & Kobe would have probably been demanding a trade shortly thereafter.

Must be an eclipse. I usually agree with you but today is disagree day.

I thought MJ did wonders as management/part owner. He moved Juwan Howard on what was an outrageously bad contract. That and Bryan Russell opting out paved the way for Gilbert Arenas

It's not correct that trading Howard cleared the way for the Wizards to sign Arenas. Howard's contract would have expired anyway. The trade had more symbolic importance than on-court because it marked the end of make-believe management. It was a signal that they FINALLY realized the team sucked and needed to be rebuilt. But the Wizards didn't get cap room any earlier because of it.

Not only that, but Jordan and his management team nearly squandered that cap room before they even had it by giving Russell the option year. Luckily for the Wizards, the atmosphere with the team made Russell so unhappy he was willing to give up half a million dollars to leave.

TSW and Dat, I concede I'm wrong.

What MJ did do is make this dead arse franchise relevant. Wes/Abe really blew it with the Webber deal. The Wizards were craptastic about the time Leonard Hamilton was made coach. MJ the GM was not good but MJ the Wizard was good for Abe Pollin's coffers.

[hands11]

Kobe wanted to play with Jordan
Updated: January 26, 2015, 4:37 PM ET
By Baxter Holmes | ESPN.com

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/stor ... on-wizards

Thanks Abe

[hands11]

Jordan as GM with Unseld as his behind-the-scenes guy made for a disastrous front office. Even if they landed Kobe, they probably would have botched everything else around him & Kobe would have probably been demanding a trade shortly thereafter.

Must be an eclipse. I usually agree with you but today is disagree day.

I thought MJ did wonders as management/part owner. He moved Juwan Howard on what was an outrageously bad contract. That and Bryan Russell opting out paved the way for Gilbert Arenas

It's not correct that trading Howard cleared the way for the Wizards to sign Arenas. Howard's contract would have expired anyway. The trade had more symbolic importance than on-court because it marked the end of make-believe management. It was a signal that they FINALLY realized the team sucked and needed to be rebuilt. But the Wizards didn't get cap room any earlier because of it.

Not only that, but Jordan and his management team nearly squandered that cap room before they even had it by giving Russell the option year. Luckily for the Wizards, the atmosphere with the team made Russell so unhappy he was willing to give up half a million dollars to leave.

I don't remember all the details but I did find this. Right, there was no direct connection to Gil and Cap, but there were cap issues and roster slot issues a plenty. And IIRC, draft pick issues. They were basically BRK today.

1999-00 Washington Wizards NBA $15,000,000
2000-01 Washington Wizards NBA $16,875,000
2001-02 Dallas Mavericks NBA $18,750,000
2002-03 Denver Nuggets NBA $20,625,000
2003-04 Orlando Magic NBA $4,917,000
2004-05 Houston Rockets NBA $5,408,700
2005-06 Houston Rockets NBA $5,900,400
2006-07 Houston Rockets NBA $6,392,100

Although it had been five years since his only All-Star appearance, Howard was the fourth-highest-paid player in the NBA during the 2000–01 season, behind Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O'Neal and Mourning.[194] Howard, along with Strickland and Richmond, were marquee names on the team under contract to earn at least $10 million

Jordan, who had become the Wizards' head of basketball operations the prior season, traded Howard, Obinna Ekezie, and Calvin Booth to the Dallas Mavericks for Laettner, Loy Vaught, Etan Thomas, Hubert Davis, Courtney Alexander and $3 million on February 22, 2001, at the NBA trade deadline.[197][198] Jordan's move was praised for freeing up salary cap space in advance of the NBA's first season with a luxury tax

I remember hearing the news when it happened. Everyone was amazed. No one thought there was a change in hell any of those contracts could be moved. The frachise was a total deal end that sucked and on top of it, they were about to play lux tax for sucking.

2002-03 Denver Nuggets NBA $20,625,000

Here is what they had on the books

1999/2000
1 Juwan Howard $15,000,000
2 Mitch Richmond $10,000,000
3 Rod Strickland $10,000,000
4 Isaac Austin $4,819,451
5 Tracy Murray $2,720,000

2000/2001
1 Juwan Howard $16,875,000
2 Mitch Richmond $10,000,000
3 Rod Strickland $10,000,000
4 Jahidi White $3,922,000
5 Tyrone Nesby $2,990,000

2001/2002
1 Mitch Richmond $10,000,000
2 Loy Vaught $5,222,025
3 Christian Laettner $4,500,000
4 Jahidi White $4,413,375
5 Rod Strickland $3,750,000
17 Michael Jordan $1,000,000

2002/2003
1 Jerry Stackhouse $6,375,000
2 Loy Vaught $5,364,964
3 Christian Laettner $5,062,500
4 Jahidi White $4,903,750
5 Larry Hughes $4,546,000
15 Michael Jordan $1,030,000

Mitch looked like this.
1999-00 Washington Wizards NBA $10,000,000
2000-01 Washington Wizards NBA $10,000,000
2001-02 Washington Wizards NBA $10,000,000

Howard
1999-00 Washington Wizards NBA $15,000,000
2000-01 Washington Wizards NBA $16,875,000
2001-02 Dallas Mavericks NBA $18,750,000
2002-03 Denver Nuggets NBA $20,625,000

Rod
1999-00 Washington Wizards NBA $10,000,000
2000-01 Washington Wizards NBA $10,000,000
2001-02 Washington Wizards NBA $3,750,000

Isaac Austin
1999-00 Washington Wizards NBA $4,819,451
2000-01 Vancouver Grizzlies NBA $5,500,000
2001-02 Memphis Grizzlies NBA $5,695,715

MJ not only lined Abe pocket.
He brought life to a franchise that was as rock bottom as they had ever been. They SUCKED
Dude played some assume ball. Even at his age and did it for only 1M a year when he could have gotten whatever wanted.
But he played for 1M because he was a part owner and was going to be a part owner again. Something Ted set up.
And the cleared the cap so Abe didn't pay Lux tax. Make him tons and saved him tons.
And freed up the roster slots
And it looks like he was about to bring

KOBE

And for all that, Abe screwed him. Renigged on his deal to have him return to the front office after MJ has to sell his stack to return to the court. Hired EFJ. Then EG. That's what Abe did. It was a scummy move. No other way to describe it. As a fan of this franchise since I was a kid, I was never as embarrassed or down on the team as I was at this point. 2nd is a tied for how I felt about them just before MJ got there along with Gilbert Arenas gun event. Those are the 3 lowest points.

MJ still won't talk about it.