The “I want to be like Mike” were some of the most iconic commercials of their day. At the time, the idea of signing a single person to represent a brand for such a long period of time (and for so much money) was unheard of.

Gatorade knew what it had in Michael Jordan. Bernie Pitzel, the creative head for the advertising firm they used felt like he knew what people wanted:

“I knew that a million people wanted to be like Mike,” Pitzel said.

When you have a career like Michael Jordan, now the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, had it is understandable that up and coming players now and for generations to come are going to use him as a measuring stick. After all, who would not want to have a career with the following on their resume:

• NCAA Champion (1982)
• 6× NBA Champion (1991–1993, 1996–1998)
• 5× NBA Most Valuable Player (1988, 1991–1992, 1996, 1998)
• 14× NBA All-Star (1985–1993, 1996–1998, 2002–2003)
• 6× NBA Finals MVP (1991–1993, 1996–1998)
• 10× NBA scoring champion (1987–1993, 1996–1998)
• 2x Olympic Champion (1984 and 1992)
• Owner of the Charlotte Bobcats

Is there anyone that would not want to own their own NBA franchise and win champions everywhere you go? I think not!

Apparently there is a guy in Washington that wants a resume like that and he is not afraid to tell the world that he thinks he is good enough to get it. In case you haven’t heard, this is what Jordan Crawford said in reference to his Airness:

“…I feel like I can be better than Michael Jordan. When I’m done playing, I don’t want people to say, Michael Jordan is the best player. I want that to be me. That’s how I am. That’s how I was built.”

If—when—the lockout does end and the season begins the Charlotte Bobcats could end up being one of the more exciting teams to watch. Considering that the team has been under .500 more than it has been over during its short NBA life, that may seem hard to believe, but it is.

Last season the team did something that is very hard for any team to do. It had tucked its tail between its proverbial legs and dealt away the team’s top talent.

Sound crazy? On the surface, maybe it is. In reality, the moves that were made could not have been better for the future of the team.

After watching the craziness that unfolded throughout the summer with the NFL players and owners, it would not have been unreasonable to hope that the NBA might have learned something from the almost fiasco that the gridiron guys almost had.

Sadly, that has not been the case.

It was bad enough when the announcement was made that the first couple weeks were being cancelled, but now we are talking about no hoops by Christmas time either?

Lunacy I tell you; absolute lunacy.

Now we have reports about some stars saying that the players are ready to ditch the whole season in order to ensure that a fair and just agreement is reached. We’re also hearing that a lot of the not so superstars—the worker bees (non-starters and role players) — are ready to fold so they can get back to work?

Kwame Brown

When Michael Jordan brought Kwame Brown into the fold last season there were a lot of people that thought His Airness was making a big mistake. Jordan screwed up back in 2001 when he made Brown the first No 1 pick straight out of high school. Was he trying to make up for the mistake by giving the kid—now an adult—a job?

Lately there have been a few stories in the news that talked about Kwame when he first entered the league. He was young; he was brash. He thought he was something special by being the first high school player taken at No 1.

The reality of the situation is that he was special. The problem is that he was still just a kid. A mistake that most people mistake is thinking that someone is an adult when they turn 18. They’re allowed to vote, they can buy cigarettes, they can die for their country; the fact of the matter is that age means little if there is not a maturity to match.

When a player gets up and yells at someone on the other side of the table like Dwayne Wade recently did to Commissioner David Stern during labor talks, it does not bode well for the 2011-12 season. It definitely does not help when a guy like Wade says that the league may lose a year.

The issues here are just like what the NFL went through —money and control. As much as both sides want the control, I think their love of money will rule in the end.

That means that the lockout will end eventually and teams will go through a truncated training camp and preseason in order to get to the money making games (the regular season).

With that in mind, should players be doing more to get ready for the season (whenever it does happen)? There has been some talk about teams organizing workouts (I don’t think I’ve heard about the Bobcats organizing any though). However, there have been a number of guys going overseas to play.