Q&A With Michael Jordan <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">On Wednesday, March 7, Bobcats Insider aired a special edition with Bobcats Managing Member of Basketball Operations Michael Jordan on WMYT MyTV 12. Jordan talked openly with Bobcats Television play-by-play announcer Matt Devlin about his decision to invest in the Bobcats, his role in Charlotte and his vision for the future. A special encore presentation of the interview will run at 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 8 on WJZY. Make sure to come back to BobcatsBasketball.com at 9:30 p.m. following the interview to watch the interview with Jordan right here. The following is the transcript of the interview with Michael Jordan: Matt Devlin: Welcome to Bobcats Insider, I?m Matt Devlin. Over the next half hour, I?ll go one-on-one with an owner of the Charlotte Bobcats who also happens to be a North Carolina native and a Tar Heel legend by bringing the University of North Carolina the 1982 national title. He dominated the NBA for over a decade, guiding his Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships while capturing six NBA Finals MVP?s. He was a five-time NBA MVP, a 14-time All Star and the greatest player who ever played the game. Michael Jordan is an iconic figure whose drive and determination has led him to the pinnacle of his profession and the entire sports world. Now he takes on a new challenge in his home state to build a winner and eventually bring an NBA championship to the Carolinas. This time as an owner... First of all Michael, thank you very much for taking the time to join us. What led to your decision to get involved with the Charlotte Bobcats? Michael Jordan: It was a lot of components. (Bobcats Majority Owner) Bob (Johnson) was on me for a couple of years actually, trying to get me involved. In the mix of that, I was still trying to find my own team and evaluate all of the different opportunities that were coming up. I felt like it would be somewhat of a compliment if I was looking for a team, then at the same time, trying to become a minority owner. Actually, I didn?t want to become a minority owner of a team because of what I just came out of with Washington, so I was looking for more of a control situation where I could give myself some time to develop the whole program that I felt like could benefit the franchise. You saw obviously what happened in D.C. and Bob came to me at the last minute saying that he would at least give me the opportunity to become a minority owner and still take a control aspect of the basketball portion. Bob Johnson: It?s always been my dream to be partners with Michael in ownership of a basketball team. Michael?s dream on the contrary, was to be his own owner of a basketball team so our discussions have always been on ?Bob, you want to be an owner, I want to be like you.? Instead of, ?I want to be like Mike, I want to be like Bob.? I sort of constantly badgered him is the best way to describe it, about why we would make a great team. Jordan: It was all of those components that kind of fell in place. In his other ventures, I looked at some of the things he was involved in at the time. I felt like it was a great opportunity to try to help him out if I was getting in some of those other ventures, help him out in the basketball portion and see if I could add some value to it. Devlin: With your legacy as the greatest player in the game, how important is it to you to become an owner of an NBA franchise? Jordan: Well, I felt like I still love the game of basketball. I wanted to be connected to basketball for a long time. I felt like I could influence the game positively, and hopefully my whole competitive nature was to try it, win and build a winning franchise, and that hasn?t diminished at all. I still feel like that?s my way of staying connected to the game of basketball, so ownership became a possibility. Once I got a taste of in D.C., it became part of my bloodline. Devlin: You mentioned bloodlines. You?re from Wilmington, N.C. You won a title at North Carolina. It?s been 25 years. It?s hard to believe. Jordan: I know time has flown by. Now you?re telling me my age. North Carolina has always been my home. Even though I lived in Chicago for 25 years, this is where my family is. This is where most of my friends are. Before I was Michael Jordan, I was known as Mike Jordan and everybody knew that. It gave me the opportunity to come home and be a part of this. I felt like I could add something to this franchise. A lot of things Bob may not understand about the South, I can probably understand about the South and help out. So far it?s been working out great. </div> Source
Interesting read. Michael Jordan obviously hasn't learned anything from his stint in management as a Wizard. You can't come in and openly question the philosophy of ownership. You can't come in as an owner and basically say, "I do not want to deal with anything unrelated to the basketball product on the floor." You can't make the statement that this team needs a "Michael Jordan" type of player to be able to put teams away in the fourth quarter. Michael Jordan's playing days are over. I think that the Bobcats are putting themselves in a position to be a formiddable foe in the East in the next two years. If they are fortunate enough to get a high draft pick and pick up an upper level star in free agency, (Rashard Lewis or Vince Carter -- no other difference makers in this year FA pool) they will be able to contend for home court advantage in the near future. Michael Jordan should not be insinuating that the Bobcats do not know what they are doing, especially since he has been on the job for less than a year. Mike Jordan is evolving into the modern day version of Al Davis. "Just Win Baby." His win at all costs philosophy makes him about as ignorant of an owner (albeit minority) as there is in any sport.
It wasn't really anything we havn't already heard it was just out of Jordan's mouth instead of Johnson's or Bernie's. We DO need an MJ finisher so he's right on that. Obviously he probably shoudn't have worded it like that, it made him sound like a cocky deuche. But If we had a shooting guard that could draw fouls or be able to create his own shot we'd be a playoff team. I actually like what Jordan's doing. He's pushing Johnson to spend his money and with Gerald, Primoz and Matt Carroll being free agents and Okafor up for an extension he needs to convice him to spend money. If not we are just going to turn into the Clippers letting our players leave after their rookie contracts because Johnson right now has been cheap as hell.
This interview is also available in video on the Bobcats website. Watching it got me excited for the Bobcats future. Jordan believes in his core nucleus and has high expectations for Adam Morrison and Sean May in particular. He had that gleam in his eyes where he really wants to bring a title (or more) to Charlotte.
Michael Jordan is the greatest player in the game...but his management skills has proven to be on 2 distinct poles. Sure, people would be glad to work with MJ, but MJ needs to learn better management skills from the best out there. I'm glad MJ skill loves the game of Basketball, but come on Mike.
He's done nothing wrong here yet why are people so quick to throw him under the bus. Yes, he did horrible in Washington but he's learned from that and has stated this several times. I'm not going to start calling for his head until he gives me a reason too as a Bobcat fan
<div class="quote_poster">nutmeged3 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">He's done nothing wrong here yet why are people so quick to throw him under the bus. Yes, he did horrible in Washington but he's learned from that and has stated this several times. I'm not going to start calling for his head until he gives me a reason too as a Bobcat fan</div> Agreed, it's premature to criticize Jordan at this point. Bernie already knew this coaching job was for the interim, and said all along he wants to focus 100% of his time on his GM duties. Jordan learned some harsh lessons in Washington, but he's always learned from mistakes and his decision making should improve from it. In Jordan's favor is the low level of expectations still surrounding this franchise. In Washington Jordan was brought in to resurrect the Wizards, but the Bobcats are still in rebuild mode. This is the first offseason the Bobcats have ample cap space to spend on free agents, plus they will also have another high draft pick. If you look at the overall franchise record it's ugly, but you also have to take into account all the injuries the Bobcats have dealth with since their inception into the league. Okafor hasn't made it through a full season yet. Sean May has been plagued by injuries, Brevin Knight, Primoz Brezec etc.
