Sale Confirmed: The Michael Jordan Thread

[Eoghan]

For the record, I hated MJ the player. I like MJ the owner though.

[-Ian-]

Charles Barkley critical of Jordan

Michael Jordan's good friend and fellow Hall of Famer Charles Barkley has a theory as to why the Chicago Bulls legend has largely failed as an NBA executive, and it has to do with the people around him, including those in the Charlotte Bobcats' front office.

"I think the biggest problem has been I don't know if he has hired enough people around him who he will listen to," Barkley said Thursday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000. "One thing about being famous is the people around you, you pay all their bills so they very rarely disagree with you because they want you to pick up the check. They want to fly around on your private jet so they never disagree with you. I don't think Michael has hired enough people around him who will disagree."

Barkley, who is a TNT analyst, did not mince words when evaluating his friend's performance in the front office.

"I love Michael, but he just has not done a good job," Barkley said. "Even though he is one of my great friends, I can't get on here and tell you he's done a great job. He has not done a great job, plain and simple."

Jordan's Bobcats have the NBA's worst record at 4-29 and have lost 19 of their last 20 games. Jordan fired coach Larry Brown early last season with the Bobcats coming off their first and only playoff berth and purged payroll when he traded one-time All-Star Gerald Wallace for two first-round picks and let point guard Raymond Felton leave in free agency.

Jordan became part owner of the Bobcats in 2006, taking the final say on all basketball decisions away from then-coach and general manager Bernie Bickerstaff. He hired former Bulls teammate Rod Higgins as general manager in 2007 and then promoted him to president of basketball operations when Rick Cho was hired as GM in June.

But basketball decisions still ultimately fall on the desk of Jordan, who has struggled as a talent evaluator in the draft. As president of the Washington Wizards, Jordan took Kwame Brown with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2001 draft. He amounted to little more than a role player in the NBA.

When Jordan told him the Bobcats were eyeing Gonzaga star Adam Morrison with the third overall pick of the 2006 draft, Barkley said he questioned his friend on the decision.

"I said 'Michael, I think you should take Brandon Roy, and he said 'We like Adam Morrison,' " Barkley said. "I said 'Adam Morrison can't play. I said let me ask you a question, did you say Adam Morrison first and [the Bobcats front office staff] agreed with you or did they say Adam Morrison first? He said 'What do you mean?' I said 'Michael, nobody wants to disagree with you. You are such a powerful personality nobody, especially your flunkies as I call them, the flunkies are never going to disagree with you.' Adam Morrison is a nice kid. He can't play in the NBA."

Morrison started just 28 NBA games and is now playing overseas.

[fatlever]

http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/ ... ts-Jordan/

dog and pony time

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bobcats owner Michael Jordan has agreed to his first endorsement deal with a Charlotte-based business, partnering with team sponsors Presbyterian Healthcare and Novant Health.

Jordan has several national endorsement deals, but this is his first in Charlotte since becoming an NBA owner.

It is part of an agreement that renews and enhances the existing eight-year partnership between the two organizations. It also allows the companies to utilize Jordan's famous name in advertising, including television and print.

Jordan says he proud to have the companies as part of the Bobcats family, adding, "I've seen the level of care and commitment that the doctors and staff of Presbyterian Healthcare have shown our players and our entire organization."

[therebirth]

While the NY papers are making up lies about mj, he is in vegas for his charity event raising over $500,000 for such charities as Cats Care. Some pictures from the evenst with his fiancee, yvette prieto.

[Jaruff]

MJ is GOAT dresser.

[Diop]

MJ is a GOAT dresser.

So I've heard, this was some of his best work.

[fatlever]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball- ... 04082.html

"The work he put in to be a great player and the work you put in to be a great executive, those are different things," said Sam Vincent, whom Jordan hired as his head coach in 2007 less than a year after he became minority owner. "That additional time you spend on jump shots, running, dunking, I don't know if he puts in that same amount of time as an executive or if he even cares to."

[KembaWalker]

lol whats next, Okafor gonna come out and say biz sucks? Sam Vincent

[doc.end]

MJ is GOAT dresser.

He sure is (sadly somewhat dead lately) - http://wtfismikewearing.tumblr.com/

[Diop]

Bonnell fires a shot at Vincent

http://blogs.charlotte.com/inside_the_n ... ility.html

That’s the kind of juicy candor reporters love, but when I read Vincent’s quotes, I had a different reaction: That Vincent has an agenda regarding Jordan that readers deserve to understand.

Vincent was fired as Bobcats coach in April 2008, after a single 32-50 season. Clearly, he’s still bitter about that because a few weeks ago he sent me an unsolicited email full of sarcasm. He claimed my negativity got him fired and that if he still coached the Bobcats, they would be winning 50 games this season.

I’ve covered nine coaches in 24 years on the NBA beat in Charlotte, and Vincent was by far the most self-destructive. He was a rookie at this, but the problems went beyond inexperience.

[KembaWalker]

damn Rick went hard. unexpected

[therebirth]

http://houston.cbslocal.com/2012/04/16/ ... xI.twitter

MJ is taking a beating. Now van gundy has joined in. He said "mj the the player would have detested mj the owner." Which is true but I think mj not thinking like a player anymore is a good thing. Also for those of you who think that van gundy will coach this team can forget it

[-Ian-]

LB: MJ needs more people to challenge him.

You worked for a guy known as a great competitor, Michael Jordan. What it was like to work for him?

He gave me a chance. I was out of work, and he had asked me once before and it didn't work out. I'll always respect him. I admired the hell out of him as a player, and working for him was a dream of mine -- not only the Carolina ties, but what he's done for our sport.
I was probably more disappointed in his decision to let me go than anything that's ever happened to me in my life. We needed him in the sport. When people talk about Allen, and people talk about Michael in basketball, it's just incredible the respect everybody has for them.

Was he tough to work for?

Yeah, but I love guys that expect great things for you and raise the bar. I try to do that as a coach. I hope that I'm not asking guys to do things they're not capable of doing, but I'd much rather play for a coach that thought I could do great things.
For Michael, I wanted to be with somebody who wanted the best. The biggest problem -- and he might get mad at me -- he needs more people to challenge him and I don't think he has enough of that. He needs more people around him who he has respect for who are not afraid to tell him what's right. That's the one thing I'm disappointed in.
He tries to help a lot of people, put a lot of his friends in positions where he can kind of help them, but at the end of the day if they have his best interests they'll be challenging him because he does want to be the best. We made the playoffs, but he wasn't satisfied with that.

[therebirth]

The nerve of this man. He is the reason we are in the position we are in. He whined about getting his typed of players and at the end couldn't do anything with them. The biggest mistake mj ever made was bringing in LB type of players.

[penquin11]

Thats not entirely true at all and you know it. Larry Brown was asked to make the Bobcats a playoff team- and he did it. It was managements fault for allowing him to bring in all the bad contracts and such, I mean what did they think was going to happen? Did they think that Brown would be a long term solution? It was a poor management decision from the get go, they looked for a quick fix instead of looking to turn around the Franchise.

To this day perhaps the ONLY good management move we have made was bringing in Cho.

[fatlever]

its not LBs fault that higgins and MJ agreed to all his ridiculous trade demands.

i find it odd that LB says getting let go my MJ was the most disappointing thing to happen to him. what did he think was going to happen when he spent that entire summer looking for other jobs or sitting on the fence about coming back. doesnt sound like a man who would be gutted by being let go.

i cant wait to see how he does in college again. a lot has changed since 1988.

[Snidely FC]

SI guy jumping on Jordan for how bad we are:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/w ... gle_sports

[fatlever]

when was the last time jordan was seen at a home game? i cant remember seeing him for a while. i guess he conveniently disappeared around a few weeks into the season after he saw first hand the utter disgrace he created. i wonder if he will show up for the last home game on national tv.

[BlackOutBuzz]

Believe I heard he was at the Chicago Blackhawks game tonight.

[SWedd523]

I don't give a **** if he comes to the games or not. There are plenty of owners out there who are far more absent than he is. He doesn't need to show up to every game, every practice, every bowel movement.