I just finished watching the latest episode of the USA show Royal Pains off my DVR (great show; highly recommend it although they need to put an end to the whole sibling rivalry thing). Afterwards I scanned some of the latest and greatest tidbits on the Charlotte Bobcats (or is it just Cats now?).
In the middle of reading one article about His Airness punching former teammate Steve Kerr at practice back in their playing days I came to a realization.
Michael Jordan is a royal pain.
To be more specific, he is the taller, African-American version of Evan (played by Paulo Costanzo). In the show the two brothers, Evan and Hank, are arguing over the direction of their concierge medical practice. Hank just wants to practice medicine while Evan wants to turn it into a money-making machine.
Separately the two are floundering. Evan knows nothing about medicine while Hank knows even less about business.
In this analogy, Jordan is actually Hank, but circumstances have him playing the role of Evan. Just like Hank appears to be a stud in the practice of medicine, Jordan was one of the best basketball players of all time. Few can even be talked about in the same sentence as him let alone carry his water bottle.
Since stepping into the role of Evan as the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats (or HankMed to complete the analogy), Jordan has not been stellar. That much is evident with the absolutely dismal season that the team had last year. Just calling it dismal is my way of trying to be nice when referring to the worst season by a team in the history of the NBA.
Jordan was a pretty bad executive with the Washington Wizards. Sadly, the trend has continued in Charlotte with the hiring of the team’s new coach, Mike Dunlap.
Like many of you I have tried to think of a justification for making a college assistant coach the head coach of an NBA team. He did a great job with the Metro State Roadrunners (a DII school) when he was in charge there from 1997-2006. He does have some experience as an NBA assistant (Denver, 2006-08), but since then he has been an assistant at the college level (prior to acting as the interim head coach for St. John’s this past season).
There is nothing extraordinary about his background. I’ve seen a few stories that say he’s a hard-nosed disciplinarian. With the young group that he has that can work, but he’s never been in charge of the caliber of player that he will have with the Bobcats.
Yes, the guys often looked like crap last season, but I blame that on Paul Silas not being able to or caring to try to develop the young, raw talent that the team has. He was too busy sucking at his job and trying to push his son to be the team’s successor. But I digress…
So why would a team hire a head coach that is barely qualified for the job and over some very good candidates? Money; I’d be willing to bet that Shaw, Sloan, and Snyder all required a level of salary that Jordan was not willing to pay. Dunlap, on the other hand, had no room to negotiate.
What Jordan will hopefully soon learn is that it is much easier to do what he is good at, and let someone else handle the business matters. I understand that its his team, but he needs to hire someone else to call the shots (that is qualified, that is).
Jordan can shoot a basketball better than almost anyone. That doesn’t qualify him to make the business decisions of basketball.
I love bobcatsplanet.com, but I always hate these front page articles. The out-of-leftfield reference to a random throwaway network procedural, the regurgitation of misinformed comments I heard from local radio personalities the day Dunlap was hired, and the short-sited cynicism that greets fans of the team every time they come to a FAN SITE for the team they love. All you get in the wider media is jokes and dismissal about our Cats, I’d like for the contributors here to have a bit of optimism, orginality, and fresh takes on oh so fresh story of “Bobcats are bad.”
Also, love your breaking news about Jordan being a better player than owner. We are Bobcats fans, if we haven’t heard that already we are under a rock. It is really the only story one ever really hears about the Cats. Which raises the question: Who is this article really written for? Fans? So we can come see our team be trashed. Or wider media, who get the same analysis someone that has to cover every team in the NBA and other sports gives.
Hey, no one wants to be made fun of for being a fanboy, or drinking the coolaid, or being positive when we are obviously bad. But wouldnt it be better reporting, or at least eye-catching to do some research and come up with a new dialogue about where the team is, where they should go, and some positives.
If only because I can hear all this shallow negative tripe every time I turn on ESPN.
Wow. Well your passion for the team is pretty clear Andrew and very commendable. I can’t say that I disagree with you too much, but you are guilty of making some pretty big generalizations here. I don’t want to speak for the other writers/bloggers/whatever you want to call us, but if you had researched any of my articles you’d have seen that I have always done my best to see the best in the Charlotte Bobcats even when they were playing there worst. I held out for quite awhile before I started to bash Paul Silas (come on, the guy did an awful job). I never bashed the players in this article or any other (that I can recall at least). Unlike most, I believed in Bismack from the start and think Kemba has what it takes to be a heck of a player in the NBA.
I make the out-of-left field reference because writers are allowed a little creative license. Watch the show, or just research it online a little and you’ll see why I made it.
I appreciate your comments. I’ve had many quality conversations here at Bobcatsplanet.com in the past (I can’t recall ever seeing your name before). Perhaps before you make your negative comments you should do some research your self to make sure they are properly placed.
I may have written that kind of fast without doing research. And while I apologize if they were out of line or overly critical to you as a writer specifically, I maintain that the overwhelming negativity about the Bobcats in the media pisses me off, and when I come to Bobcatsplanet.com I get frustrated to see on the main page similar things.
I never post in the forums and really just read these front page articles.
Thanks for being curteous in your reply after the angry tone of my last post.
Thanks for creating content on a team that isn’t talked about often.
No worries man. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, just like I have the right to respond to it. Part of the reason for these sites is to elicit responses, good or bad. I’m just glad to know someone has read what I wrote!
Very well said good sir.
“Yes, the guys often looked like crap last season, but I blame that on Paul Silas not being able to or caring to try to develop the young, raw talent that the team has. He was too busy sucking at his job and trying to push his son to be the team’s successor. But I digress…” Really? The team looked like crap last year because of Paul Silas? Really? Charlotte’s “Young, Raw Talent” even if fully developed would amount to a group of NBA role players. Silas has proven that he can win with talent, but the problem is Jordan has never proven he can deliver talent. He has another chance next week.
While I agree its not all on Paul, I also think its a bit too easy to lay it all on Jordan as well. I would say Mr. Bob himself and the team in place before Jordan put themselves in a position to fail/be mediocre. Cho/Higgins/Jordans are scrambling to pick up the pieces and eventually rebuild from that.
I think Jordan had an opportunity to make a strong move to pull the team out of the cellar by hiring the right coach and he failed to do so. Hopefully Dunlap pans out, but we will not know that for a few more months.
Good coaches can win without talent or at least be competitive. Silas may have been something in the past, but he was nothing with the ‘Cats last season.
Not to jump on Andrew’s wagon, but it does kinda suck to never hear positives about the team. It seems we went from “we can only improve” to “were doomed w/ Jordan”. I believe Jordan wants to win, I believe the Bobcats media/marketing team is borderline autistic what with the new look never being reported on until it dropped and general lack of information (at least not MISLEADING information) coming from the team. I am a Charlotte fan from Miami, and with the damn Heat doing what they just did, its tough enough as it is. Imagine, “We won a title………oh thats cool, we changed our jersey for the 3rd time in 6 years.”
Here’s the thing. While my Andrew’s original post was reactionary, overly emotional, and rude, his point stands.
There are very few places, outside the boards on this site, to hear anything positive about our ‘Cats. Some of this goes with the territory of being the worst team in basketball history, of course, but there are always positives. Plus, on fan sites, you have to take some of this manically positive shit with a grain of salt considering the source.
But we have to remember the sky is not falling.
Henderson is developing to be a solid starter.
We got Mullens with a steal.
Thomas WILL get better.
We are freeing up salary cap space.
We have 2 top ten drafts from last year, and will have the number 2 this year, and probably a top 5 next year.
Cho is taking over the team.
We have a new, fresh, looking-to-prove himself coach that is known for coaching younger players, not the highest level talent, and teaching the game viscerally and development.
While we are in the cellar now, we won’t be forever.
note: He is not “my” Andrew, haha. Though I’m sure he is lovely.
I couldn’t agree with you more on your assessment of the team Johnny. The team has talented, young players; they just need help to develop their abilities and mesh like a team. Hopefully Dunlap is the man to bring the guys together. I was excited to think Shaw might be the guy; he at least has more of a track record at the NBA level. Here’s hoping Jordan looks like a genius for this hire.
You make some good points here Jared. As much as the media likes to give teams like the Heat a pat on the back it loves to kick teams like the Cats to make sure they stay down. It’s the easy way out. If Dunlap works out the Cats will surprise folks next year.
What a dumb article. “@bobcatsbuzztap: Bobcats Planet >> Michael Jordan is a Royal Pain http://t.co/EnwjRYLB”
Chins up guys, we’ve got the #2 pick, a stack of young talent and MJ aka the GOAT. Bring on banner #1, 2016!!!
The team was bad this season on purpose, not due to ineptitude on Jordan’s part. Since Jordan has taken full ownership, he has done just about everything right. That includes hiring Cho and allowing him to dictate future franchise moves.
I would also like to know how, exactly, was he a bad executive in Washington and here in Charlotte. Saying “he was a pretty bad executive”. Please give examples other than generalizations.
And for that matter, how are we able to condemn or praise the Dunlap hire without giving him a chance to prove his worth? How do we know Dunlap isn’t the “right” coach? How do we know Shaw/Snyder WERE the right coach? We don’t.
On the whole, Jordan is criticized unfairly in the media for no other reason than his name and celebrity. That is certainly understandable, but it invites ignorance and blatant falsities on the part of the big boys, general fans, and (apparently) some of BCP’s own writers.
As another contributor, I respect what you have to say and appreciate the time it took to write this. But I think you got a little too clever for your own good.
Wow. I never thought this story would have generated this much discussion. Awesome!
Anyway, I don’t have time to completely respond to your comments Steve, but I’ll give it a quick shot.
As far as Jordan being a bad exec I’ll site the Kwame Brown pick back in Washington. You say the team was as bad as it was last year by design; I’d call that a pretty poor decision and a reflection on management as well. Anyone that loses or sucks on purpose doesn’t deserve to be called a pro or to own/coach/manage a team.
I agree that Jordan, like many celebs get unjustly criticized in the media because of their celebrity. In Jordan’s case though I’d say that is only partly true. The man has not been a good executive in the NBA. His decisions are scrutinized much more because of who he is, yes, but overall they still are not good.
I’ll reserve judegment on Cho for now; I dont really know anything about him. However, it concerns me when a guy pays six figures to create a database of info that is readily available for free on the web.
What has Jordan done to warrant the praise and kudos you are giving him?
I think using Kwame as evidence that he was a bad executive is revisionist history and quite unfair.
Kwame, Eddie Griffin, Eddy Curry, and Tyson Chandler were the guys most teams were deciding between that year for the #1 pick. Looking at how their careers panned out, I’d say MJ did pretty good. It’s not like Tyson lived up to his draft position during his rookie deal anyway. In fact, it has come out in recent years that Jordan actually wanted to trade that pick for Elton Brand, but ultimately wasn’t allowed to. Either way, it’s not like people were saying, “What was MJ thinking?!” at the time.
More often than not, draft picks don’t pan out. A lot of them bust, hard. It’s part of the business. MJ is attached to Kwame because he’s MJ. Had any other guy taken him, it wouldn’t be nearly as big a deal as it is now.
It really seems like you’re playing to the generic sentiment in regards to MJ’s tenure as an executive (especially so if you blindly use Kwame as a prop like most others).
I’m sure you also consider the 2006 Adam Morrison draft to also be evidence that he was a bad executive, like most other people? Funny, considering at the time MJ was lauded for the pick.
I don’t understand how tanking can be viewed in a negative light as long as it’s necessary. Nobody likes it, but in our case (and many others), it is the right thing to do.
Which two franchises are the “model” franchises/front offices these days? The Spurs and Thunder. Guess what they did to get to that point? Tanked.
Ironic, huh?
[...] the loyal reader of Bobcats Planet like I’m sure you are, you had to have seen my post where I called you a royal pain. Although I stand by my analysis at the time, but after some of the moves of the last few weeks I [...]