Welcome back Jordan?
How incredible would it be Wednesday night to have Michael Jordan come out of retirement and suit up at age 44 for the Charlotte Bobcats against the Jazz? Never going to happen, you say. Well, Jordan did practice with the Bobcats on Tuesday afternoon.
We can always dream but Jordan shot down the idea. "Today wasn't anything, except me getting exercise, so don't take it out of context," he said. There's a lengthy transcript of what Jordan said to reporters at www.bobcats.com as well as a couple of pictures.
Of course, Jordan did tape over the Adidas logo on the Bobcats practice gear. It's not a surprise given his role in Charlotte's front office, but it was interesting to read one of the NBA's greatest players preaching so much about the need to play as a team.
You have Jordan talking about getting Matt Carroll more shots coming off screens and getting Nazr Mohammed post-up opportunities and making Emeka Okafor a threat.
Jordan clearly wasn't happy to see how individually the Bobcats played in the second half of their ESPN-televised loss to Orlando last week. Charlotte has lost 10 of its past 12 games and is 85-183 in its four-year existence, a .317 winning percentage.
"It was a workshop this week because I felt like they needed it," Jordan said. "They were getting at a point, where they just could not get over the hump. A lot of that is because of their own play, partly because of the way they go out and focus on some of the little things."
More Jordan: "How I look at the value of each player, is to evaluate the components of the team. It's not about paying a guy $15 million because he averages 30 points, but you win 15 games. That to me doesn't benefit the team. To me it's about building with 12-13 solid players and you go out and win ball games and everybody consistently plays their role."
Jordan apparently was asked if he and the Bobcats coaching staff are hard on point guard Raymond Felton and had a pretty frank answer.
"Raymond's fourth year is coming up," Jordan said. "By now we should start to see more consistency in his play, less turnovers, more leadership so that you don't have periods where you come down and lose the ball with no shot on three straight plays
"On that fourth play you have to focus. What we used to do is have a designed play where we know we can get a good shot. He still struggles with that. He still takes it upon himself to say, ‘I can do it myself.' ...There may be situations where he can do it, but you still need all 11 players."
If he was going to come back, Jordan probably wouldn't pick a game against Utah where the Bobcats are selling two-for-one tickets in the upper deck. Charlotte coach Sam Vincent did talk to the Charlotte Observer about what Jordan could offer.
"No question in my mind he'd still be very effective in the NBA," Vincent said. "He might not be Air Jordan, but he would definitely, definitely help this team.
"His presence is electrifying, even if he was going to play just eight to 10 minutes, just to set people up. I don't think there's any chance you could talk him into it. But it is Christmas."
How I would love to see Ronnie Brewer arrive at the arena Wednesday and find out he's guarding Michael Jordan.
--Ross Siler
We can always dream but Jordan shot down the idea. "Today wasn't anything, except me getting exercise, so don't take it out of context," he said. There's a lengthy transcript of what Jordan said to reporters at www.bobcats.com as well as a couple of pictures.
Of course, Jordan did tape over the Adidas logo on the Bobcats practice gear. It's not a surprise given his role in Charlotte's front office, but it was interesting to read one of the NBA's greatest players preaching so much about the need to play as a team.
You have Jordan talking about getting Matt Carroll more shots coming off screens and getting Nazr Mohammed post-up opportunities and making Emeka Okafor a threat.
Jordan clearly wasn't happy to see how individually the Bobcats played in the second half of their ESPN-televised loss to Orlando last week. Charlotte has lost 10 of its past 12 games and is 85-183 in its four-year existence, a .317 winning percentage.
"It was a workshop this week because I felt like they needed it," Jordan said. "They were getting at a point, where they just could not get over the hump. A lot of that is because of their own play, partly because of the way they go out and focus on some of the little things."
More Jordan: "How I look at the value of each player, is to evaluate the components of the team. It's not about paying a guy $15 million because he averages 30 points, but you win 15 games. That to me doesn't benefit the team. To me it's about building with 12-13 solid players and you go out and win ball games and everybody consistently plays their role."
Jordan apparently was asked if he and the Bobcats coaching staff are hard on point guard Raymond Felton and had a pretty frank answer.
"Raymond's fourth year is coming up," Jordan said. "By now we should start to see more consistency in his play, less turnovers, more leadership so that you don't have periods where you come down and lose the ball with no shot on three straight plays
"On that fourth play you have to focus. What we used to do is have a designed play where we know we can get a good shot. He still struggles with that. He still takes it upon himself to say, ‘I can do it myself.' ...There may be situations where he can do it, but you still need all 11 players."
If he was going to come back, Jordan probably wouldn't pick a game against Utah where the Bobcats are selling two-for-one tickets in the upper deck. Charlotte coach Sam Vincent did talk to the Charlotte Observer about what Jordan could offer.
"No question in my mind he'd still be very effective in the NBA," Vincent said. "He might not be Air Jordan, but he would definitely, definitely help this team.
"His presence is electrifying, even if he was going to play just eight to 10 minutes, just to set people up. I don't think there's any chance you could talk him into it. But it is Christmas."
How I would love to see Ronnie Brewer arrive at the arena Wednesday and find out he's guarding Michael Jordan.
--Ross Siler
9:48 PM
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1 Comments:
Hey, Jordan is smart. After the Bobcats wipe the floor with our asses, he'll get props for the win. Shit, you think he'd give said motivational speach before facing a half-way decent team?
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