"Bobcats' Shuffle Hints at NBA Return for Jordan"

[sucram]

Rival teams were shocked by the news Wednesday that the well-regarded Ed Tapscott had been forced out as president of the Charlotte Bobcats. Does this surprising move mean that bigger changes are on the way?

Adding to the intrigue is the sighting about three weeks ago of Charlotte owner Robert Johnson and Michael Jordan dining together in the Washington, D.C., restaurant Café Milano.

I'm told that the Bobcats lost money this season in spite of having the league's smallest player payroll ($33 million) and newest arena. As a result, people around the league who study such things say they would not be surprised if Johnson sold the franchise, especially after the collapse of his original plan to build the regional sports network C-SET around the Bobcats. C-SET died in its first year.

Jordan has been looking to buy an NBA team since he was fired as president of the Wizards three years ago. Not only could he take over the struggling Bobcats at a relatively cheap price, but Jordan's good name and his roots in North Carolina -- he helped lead the Tar Heels to the 1982 NCAA title -- could give the franchise a realistic shot at succeeding at the cash register. When Jordan was running the Wizards, he moved their training camp to his hometown of Wilmington, N.C., so there is no doubt that he would feel comfortable about returning home to Carolina.

Do I know for a fact that Jordan is negotiating to buy the Bobcats? No. And I'll be the first to point out that it was not unusual for Johnson and Jordan to be seen together in that particular restaurant.

The key question is whether the team is for sale.

There has to be something afoot to explain the mysterious departure of Tapscott, who had been running the Bobcats since their inception. With a month left on his contract, he was suddenly asked to accept a demotion -- even though his work had been applauded both inside and outside the organization. It's hard to believe that a frugal owner like Johnson would actually be planning to increase the size of his front office, as a team source suggested to the Charlotte Observer while explaining that Tapscott had been overworked.

Is Johnson now head-hunting for several managers to take over Tapscott's vacant headquarters, or is the owner making room for a certain someone to take the franchise off his hands entirely? If it's true that Johnson is looking to sell, it's obvious that the first potential buyer on his list would be Jordan.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/w ... index.html

[Its_asdf]

It's only been 2 years and this team is already being mentioned in ownership change rumours...

[RSox]

if they do change I hope Jordan gets it

[Jing]

goddamn they should just stick with what they have.

[Silas]

im for it, it'd make things interesting, who knows he might suit up for a game.

[Its_asdf]

Yeah, who knows. He might draft a couple of more Kevin Garnett clones with their number one pick and destroy whatever confidence they have by calling them a flaming faggot.

[Andrew]

Probably nothing more than speculation right now but if it was to happen, I don't think it would be such a bad thing. Everyone is quick to point out Jordan's shortcomings in the Wizards' front office but not much is said about the positive things that he did. I guess the negatives do stand out a bit more but it's not like he took a 60 win team and drove them into the lottery.

[Cloudy]

Not bad news, it'll be cool to see how he'll work as a Team Owner. He wasn't THAT bad as Wizard's GM... Not as bad as Isiah..

[The Other Kevin]

Yeah, who knows. He might draft a couple of more Kevin Garnett clones with their number one pick and destroy whatever confidence they have by calling them a flaming faggot.

Don't forget coming back and taking over whatever chemistry they had.

[Unrestrict3D]

I say Jordan moves the team to Vegas.

[Its_asdf]

Probably nothing more than speculation right now but if it was to happen, I don't think it would be such a bad thing. Everyone is quick to point out Jordan's shortcomings in the Wizards' front office but not much is said about the positive things that he did. I guess the negatives do stand out a bit more but it's not like he took a 60 win team and drove them into the lottery.

I don't remember Jordan doing anything too spectacular to turn the Wizards around during his days as president, but that is mainly because I wasn't a hardcore fan of basketball and I didn't really pay attention to management and things like that.

[shadowgrin]

OFF-TOPIC: Saw this below that Jordan article.

Iraqi players killed for wearing shorts

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/t ... index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- An Iraqi tennis coach and two of his players were killed because they were wearing shorts, apparently in violation of a warning by Islamic extremists.

Gunmen stopped the car in which the athletes were riding and asked them to step out before shooting them Wednesday, Manham Kubba, secretary general of the Iraqi Tennis Union, said Saturday. The coach, Hussein Ahmed Rashid, was Sunni, and the two players were Shiite, Kubba said.

The athletes were in shorts when they were killed and police believe the attack was related to a warning by extremists against such attire, police Lt. Maitham Abdul Razzaq said. He said the warning was made in leaflets distributed in the Sadiyah neighborhood in southwest Baghdad a week before the attack.

The deaths of the three had previously been reported, but the statements provided more details and clarified that all the victims were tennis players.

This was the second attack against athletes in just more than a week

Makes the NBA Dress Code look pale in comparison.

[Andrew]

Yeah, who knows. He might draft a couple of more Kevin Garnett clones with their number one pick and destroy whatever confidence they have by calling them a flaming faggot.

Don't forget coming back and taking over whatever chemistry they had.

Yep, that 2000/2001 Wizards team that went 19-63 sure had some great talent and chemistry before Michael Jordan came back and led them to two 37 win seasons, even being on track to make the Playoffs before the collision with Etan Thomas in 2002. Damn that evil Michael Jordan, he ruined everything!

Not everything Michael Jordan did can be condoned, but when a 40 year old player widely considered one of the greatest to ever play the game and has nothing left to prove is the only one giving it his all to try and get the team to the Playoffs as he did in 2003 and his young teammates appear disinterested, I don't see how it's a knock on Jordan.

His methods of motivation were probably not the best idea but they were old school. Back in the day, his verbal attack on Kwame would not have been made into an excuse as it continues to be to this day. It's nothing that other great players haven't done at some point. Consider an example from the Jordan Rules. After running down Stacey King for playing 30+ minutes and grabbing just one rebound despite being 6'11", King came out and played much more aggressively. Was he angry at Jordan for his criticisms? Absolutely. But did he crawl into a ball and whimper like Kwame Brown? No, he didn't.

We're living in the age of the pampered, spoiled athlete. It can't be that Kwame doesn't have the mentality to be a superstar in the NBA the way other high schoolers such as Kobe or LeBron seemed to have from day one. No, it has to be that Michael Jordan ruined Kwame, because there's no way Kwame's shortcomings could possibly be Kwame's fault. And elsewhere you have players like Darius Miles and Zach Randolph upset and seething that Nate McMillan in his role as head coach has the audacity to be hard on them, push them to work hard and discipline them when they do something wrong. Pampered and spoiled.

Perhaps Michael Jordan should have realised that his approach had become outdated, for better or worse. But when you've had the success that he's had, you probably shouldn't change for a group of unmotivated athletes from the spoiled generation, least of all a high schooler more willing to blame everyone else for his failures than himself. Even in his post-MJ years in Washington, it was never Kwame's fault. I think that speaks volumes.

I don't remember Jordan doing anything too spectacular to turn the Wizards around during his days as president, but that is mainly because I wasn't a hardcore fan of basketball and I didn't really pay attention to management and things like that.

Some of it assumes that he had input almost to the extent of puppet control during his two years as a player in Washington, but even before that he made some moves that were to the club's benefit. Notably, buying out the contracts of Rod Strickland and Mitch Richmond and moving Juwan Howard and his huge contract, moves that allowed them sign Gilbert Arenas as a free agent in 2003. I'd suggest that worked out for them pretty well.

During his tenure in Washington they also acquired Larry Hughes (who of course ultimately left but had some good seasons there including a Playoff run in 2005) and Brendan Haywood (who remains their starting centre). And even though it's a bit of a stretch, they also acquired Jerry Stackhouse who was later used to acquire Antawn Jamison.

They certainly are negatives but you'd be hard pressed to find a GM that hasn't made at least a couple of bad moves. Certainly such individuals are a minority. But as I said before the positives in Jordan's tenure in the Wizards' front office are often ignored and it's not as though he took as 60 win, perennial champion and drove them into the ground. You can definitely criticise some of his moves but I think it's unfair to label him as a complete failure in the front office, even if it is a by-product of the scrutiny he was subjected to as a player following him when he took the role of President of Basketball Operations in Washington.

[JohnA20]

Jordan should play another season , otherwise I don't really care about him becomign an owner or something.