Jordan the Wizard - Underrated?

[bostonfan34]

Wizards fans,

I wanted to see what you guys thought about this - I've long held the belief that Jordan was underrated as a Wizard. I watched a lot of Washington games for those two years and followed the comeback pretty closely, and I came away from it thinking that he was getting killed in the media and by fans re. his comeback for no reason.

Any longtime Wizards fans want to share?

I just wrote a blog post about the subject I've been meaning to write for a long time...here it is, for anyone interested: http://adamreport.tumblr.com/post/43256 ... underrated

[nate33]

His first year in Washington wasn't so hot. He was an inefficient chucker who ranked second in the league in usage rate (behind only Iverson) despite an awful offensive rating of 99. He was basically a worse version of what Rudy Gay is doing this year. He was much better in his second year after having a real training camp and offseason to get himself into NBA shape. He shot a little less frequently and much more efficiently, and his defense was better.

Washington fans have a bit of a sour taste in their mouths about the Jordan era because Jordan sacrificed the long term focus on the team in order to meet the short-term priority of satisfying his ego. He didn't want to play SF so he traded the young Rip Hamilton for an older, overrated Jerry Stackhouse. He also hired Doug Collins who had no interest in developing players and preferred to ride geezers like Jordan, Laettner and Oakley down the road to mediocrity.

[penbeast0]

I think it was well deserved criticism. He came back to a team that was just starting a rebuild process around a #1 draft pick (Kwame), traded his best young player (Rip) for a veteran NC alum (Stackhouse), got impatient with the prize rookie destroying his conficence (assuming he could have been a good NBA player if he had confidence which is not clear at all), had historic usage levels on mediocre efficiency, didn't have the legs and quickness defensively, and generally was on an ego trip that was bad for the long term competitiveness of the franchise although undoubtably good for ticket sales.

No, I don't think he was underrated.

[Induveca]

I had been in DC watching utter garbage on the floor for 6 years, and an idiotic trade of Chris Webber.

I think I went to 30-40 games over those two years and enjoyed watching the games more than anytime as a fan of Washington.....far more than the defenseless Eddie Jordan years.

I definitely feel he was under appreciated. The team competed every single game until the last second with him playing....still have never seen that vibe from another Wiz team.

(Also, my favorite play over the years was probably Jordan's insane block of Ron Mercer. Deafening roar from the crowd.)

[Ruzious]

I concur with Induveca. The franchise was on life support when he came here. I'll always be grateful that he came here and tried to revive the franchise. And he made things exciting when he was here - as a player. It ended poorly with him trying to run the team, and I think - because of that and because of the injury that ended his career here - people forget that he played very well. MJ the player was a success here. MJ the GM was not a success.

[nate33]

I concur with Induveca. The franchise was on life support when he came here. I'll always be grateful that he came here and tried to revive the franchise. And he made things exciting when he was here - as a player. It ended poorly with him trying to run the team, and I think - because of that and because of the injury that ended his career here - people forget that he played very well. MJ the player was a success here. MJ the GM was not a success.

For the record, I agree with Induveca and Ruzious that Jordan breathed some new life into this moribund franchise. I'm just saying that Jordan the player was not underrated. He was an inefficient, high usage player. Generally, those types of players get more credit than they deserve, not less.

[DCZards]

I'll always have a great memory of being at a Zards game where MJ scored 45 to beat the Hornets. Priceless.

[FAH1223]

I was pissed when he traded Rip away. Jordan the GM just continued the same crap this franchise has been doing since the 80s which is sacrifice young players who could be part of a core for veterans that won't be here long term for one reason or another. Plus, his draft picks weren't good either.

As a player, he definitely got this franchise up and running. But like nate said, he wasn't the same player... shot a lower percentage but his play was better in his final season.

[zardsfan]

I enjoyed watching Jordan, the player, during his short stretch here; but his EGO hurt the team in the long run.
If he would have simply moved to the SF position and not traded RIP it would have been MUCH more fun to watch AND much better for the future of the franchise.

[bostonfan34]

Why would he be the same player, though? He was 38-40. I think people had expectations too high for him and missed out on an impressive run he had. I know he was inefficient, but the team was much more competitive during his two years and he was still a top 10-20 player. I don't get why that sort of tenure in Washington is considered so bad by the masses.

[FAH1223]

Why would he be the same player, though? He was 38-40. I think people had expectations too high for him and missed out on an impressive run he had. I know he was inefficient, but the team was much more competitive during his two years and he was still a top 10-20 player. I don't get why that sort of tenure in Washington is considered so bad by the masses.

It's because he won the MVP and finals MVP at age 35. He retired once before in his 30s too.

Plus he's Michael Jordan lol

[keynote]

jordon was foolish and ballhoggedy.

[DMVleGeND]

Why would he be the same player, though? He was 38-40. I think people had expectations too high for him and missed out on an impressive run he had. I know he was inefficient, but the team was much more competitive during his two years and he was still a top 10-20 player. I don't get why that sort of tenure in Washington is considered so bad by the masses.

It's because he won the MVP and finals MVP at age 35. He retired once before in his 30s too.

Plus he's Michael Jordan lol

He took 3 yrs off from playing basketball? Did you really expect him to be the same MVP caliber player he was before he retired?

[keynote]

Ancient usenet reference aside (any folks on here used to frequent rec.sports.basketball.pro in the '90s?), I was never a fan of Jordan. It started off as a slow burn:
- He played for UNC; I was a G'Town/MD fan
- I didn't like the fact that he wasn't available in the Lakers vs. Celtics video game series (the precursor to NBA Live, for you young'uns)
- I thought that he didn't deserve to win the '88 dunk contest over 'Nique

As such, by '91, I was rooting for the Lakers in Jordan's first Finals appearance.

I left the DMV for college in '91, and friends from all over laughed at me for (a) rooting for the Bullets, and (b) daring not to worship Jordan like everyone else did.

By the time LaBradford-Gate came around, I was a defiantly unrepentant Jordan hater. I pulled for every Jordan rival - Barkley, Ewing/Starks, Miller, etc.

Man, I was angry when Jordan became a part owner of the Wizards. I remember the website having Jordan's ghostly visage looming over the DC skyline like some sort of deity. I *hated* it.

I rooted for him to play well when he returned to the court, but *only* because he was playing for my team. I was angry at how he derailed our rebuilding efforts to turn my team into his personal Farewell Vanity Tour.

I danced a jig when Abe gave him walking papers.

[FAH1223]

He took 3 yrs off from playing basketball? Did you really expect him to be the same MVP caliber player he was before he retired?

Yes. He's Michael Jordan.

[jmrosenth]

It ended very poorly, and that's mostly what people will remember and focus on. But those two years were really the only time this franchise has been really relevant since the late 70s. It was kind of amazing how quickly the franchise recovered post-MJ thanks to Arenas. Wish I could quote several of the stories I wrote during this time but it seems they are lost in cyberspace somewhere.

[Upper Decker]

I'll never forgive Jordan for coming back to basketball as a Wizard. 2002 was a good draft and 2003 was an all time great draft. If he didn't play the Wiz would have surely landed one of Yao, Amare, Jay Williams (things may have gone differently in DC), Lebron, Melo, Bosh, or Wade, but instead, we landed the dynamic duo of Arvis Hayes and Ared Effries.

Well I guess its a good thing he came back to play, otherwise MJ would still be in the organization and the Wizards would be the Charlotte Bobcats, oh wait, we don't need MJ to do that when we have EG!

[DMVleGeND]

I'll never forgive Jordan for coming back to basketball as a Wizard. 2002 was a good draft and 2003 was an all time great draft. If he didn't play the Wiz would have surely landed one of Yao, Amare, Jay Williams (things may have gone differently in DC), Lebron, Melo, Bosh, or Wade, but instead, we landed the dynamic duo of Arvis Hayes and Ared Effries.

Well I guess its a good thing he came back to play, otherwise MJ would still be in the organization and the Wizards would be the Charlotte Bobcats, oh wait, we don't need MJ to do that when we have EG!

Well we still could've gotten Wade. When I was watching a rerun of the 2003 Draft a while back, the draft team reported that their was a deal on the table for the Heat to receive Kwame Brown, and the Wizards to receive #5 pick, but newly hired Eddie Jordan wanted to keep Kwame. I guess it's moot though because according to Dat, we would've taken Michael Sweetney w/ that #5 pick. I'm surprised this doesn't get talked about more.

[Higga]

We sucked, but at least we were relevant and exciting. I can now tell my kids/grandkids I saw the greatest player of all-time live in person, even if he was a shell of his former self.

His first year though, we would have made the playoffs if Etan **** Thomas's knee didn't collide with MJ. Yeah you know your franchise is cursed when even the GOAT gets hit by it. Still hate Etan to this day for that...

But there were some great moments. HE DID IT AGAIN. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlNfnD_i77s

[Higga]

We sucked, but at least we were relevant and exciting. I can now tell my kids/grandkids I saw the greatest player of all-time live in person, even if he was a shell of his former self.

His first year though, we would have made the playoffs if Etan **** Thomas's knee didn't collide with MJ. Yeah you know your franchise is cursed when even the GOAT gets hit by it. Still hate Etan to this day for that...

But there were some great moments. HE DID IT AGAIN. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlNfnD_i77s