Michael Jordan – the Bulls legend – is as far removed from Jordan – the front-office guy – as possible. One is the definition of legendary, the other is the definition of failure and mismanagement.
Advertisement
Through 13 seasons with the Chicago Bulls, Jordan demonstrated nothing less than consistent excellence. We saw him garner 10 scoring titles, 11 All-NBA selections, 3 steals titles and countless other accolades.
Most importantly, we saw him go to 6 NBA Finals, winning all of them without going to 7 games. Winning Finals MVP trophies while scoring 41 points per game (as he did in 1993). Making the decisive shot (as he did against the Jazz in 98).
However, after his second retirement, Jordan purchased a minority stake with the Washington Wizards. He was, in turn, appointed as the team’s President of Basketball Operations. The results were underwhelming, to say the least.
The Wizards finished 19-63 in his first season, tanking to a no. 1 overall draft pick. Jordan scuppered this, however, in selecting Kwame Brown – a player who’d be universally considered a bust. Thankfully for Washington, he decided to return to the court instead of staying as a GM.
ESPN’s Marc Stein warned Bulls fans from clamoring for Michael Jordan as their GM
Jordan’s final run as a player came to an end in 2003, marking 2 straight seasons without playoffs for the GOAT. Jordan expected to get back to his ownership and GM roles with the Wizards, but was denied.
As the clock wound down on his final season, Stein wrote scathingly about Jordan’s prospects as a GM. Some excerpts from his piece include:
“If you are among the Windy City masses thinking it would be heaven if Jordan actually got the job, too, let us delve into our Seinfeldian dictionary and disabuse you of that notion right now. Jordan is not the perfect candidate to succeed Krause as the new front-office face of Organizations Win Championships, Inc. Jordan should not be a candidate at all.”
“Jordan is not like Jerry West or Bill Russell. Those guys were on a long list of greats from their respective franchises and didn’t overshadow the whole operation when they GM’ed or coached for the Lakers and Celtics.”
MJ’s tenure as the Charlotte Hornets’ owner has been subpar
Thwarted in his attempts to return to Chicago or Washington as an owner, Jordan took a short hiatus from the NBA. He dabbled in motorcycle racing before announcing his acquisition of a minority stake in the Charlotte Bobcats in 2006.
MJ became a majority owner in March 2010 with a stake reportedly over 90% initially. He’s sold some minority stakes since that time while also successfully getting the franchise its Hornets name back.
Apart from that, though, they have had little to cheer about. Charlotte has only made the playoffs twice in 13 seasons. They’re among the teams in contention for Victor Wembanyama, lodged at 13th place in the East.
