Pretty soon, this will all be a quaint memory. The hype, the fanfare, the anticipation. Michael Jordan's third (and last, we presume) coming in the NBA with the Washington Wizards will be relegated to the history books.
This much we know, because the man turns 40 years old next season. The only other 40 year olds to play on a regular basis in the NBA were lumbering big men like Kareem Abdul Jabbar, James "Budda" Edwards, Robert Parish, Moses Malone and the like.
And even they were Jurassic shells of their former selves.
Guards don't exist in this league much past 40, and especially not now when you must guard 20 year old live wires fresh out of high school. John Stockton just turned 40, and if his game wasn't predicated on just being fundamentally sound, he'd be done already.
Jordan gave the comeback thing a grand go of it this year. And his body gave him 60 games out of 82. And this, mind you, was with Jordan playing limited minutes of "un-winable" games that got quickly out of hand, or those that fell on back to back nights.
So the question was asked: "Was his comeback a success?"
The only rational, empirical answer is no. How could it be called such?
The Wizards missed the playoffs in an Eastern Conference that is at such low tide right now in terms of good teams, you can smell the rotting fish and seaweed just reading the standings in the paper. Not only that, but Vince Carter, Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, and large portions of the Milwaukee Bucks missed significant playing time.
How is missing the playoffs "a success?" Talk about setting the bar low, and yet still failing to jump over it. Are we this pathetic, people? Success?
The Pollyanna Jordan apologists will say the following:
- His comeback gave the franchise a glimmer of hope after an interminable run of hopeless seasons.
- His professionalism and work ethic made an impact on the "young nucleus" of the Wizards and "taught them how to win."
- He sold out buildings, moved Jordan jerseys, and put the Wizards back on NBC.
Well, let me offer a more realistic assessment.
- Jordan's comeback will amount to nothing more than a semi-pleasant two year distraction for a chronically dysfunctional franchise.
- Jordan's impact on the "young players" will evaporate like a summer rain shower. After all, Jordan worshipping was always a pursuit of fans and the media, not one of fellow NBA players.
- His financial windfall to owner Abe Pollin will only allow him to hold out longer before eventually selling to Ted Leonsis. And the additional 15 or so wins Jordan delivered will only have removed a couple dozen lucky ping pong balls from the Wizards lottery chances.
Look, I am not mad at Jordan for coming back. I don't regret his attempt. And yes, it was fun at times. But it failed. And next year has very little chance of producing any real success.
So in the immortal words of Sports Illustrated, "Bag It, Michael."
Another run with this team next year will only prolong our agony. Does anybody really think that he'll play MORE games next year coming off a chronically arthritic knee? Or that the Wizards will win MORE games without the addition of a major free agent (of which there are none this summer, and the team is capped out anyway)?
If you really believe either premise, let's talk about some Florida real estate.
The pie in the sky scenario is that Jordan somehow wills the team into the playoffs next year on one leg, and then in the summer of 2003 finally retires and returns to the Wizards front office to continue his work of building a winner. That summer the Wiz will finally have some cap room (although not a boatload) and both Steve Francis and Tim Duncan will be (in theory) free agents.
Well, talk about banking on a far fetched NBA trifecta of maybes!
{INSERT_RELATED}Once again, not that I begrudge Jordan for this, but it's abundantly clear that he's not gonna make Washington, D.C. his new home. Not with a marriage on the mend and a family, house and life back in Chicago.
Even if Jordan did return to his Head of Basketball Operations desk job, who's to say he'd be any good at it in the long run. So far, Jordan's record as executive is spotty at best. Yes, he cleared Juwon Howard off the books. Something nobody thought was possible. But looking closer at that trade, Cuban and the Mavs may yet end up the winner.
Cuban ended up moving Howard this season for Nick Van Exel and Raef LaFrenz. The Wiz thought they got a few nice prospects in lottery picks Etan Thomas and Courtney Alexander. We're still waiting for either one to show us something.
Would you trade Van Exel and LaFrenz for Thomas and Alexander? I didn't think so.
A further mark against "Desk Jordan" the VP is that part of the whole rationale to get rid of Howard was to assume a player like Christian Laettner, whose $5 million cap number expired in the summer. Inexplicably (or perhaps it was because new coach Doug Collins has a Duke affinity after his son Chris played there) the Wiz re-loaded Laettner for 4 years at $24 million.
We won't even get into the whole Kwame Brown thing. The jury is still very much out on that, although watching so many other rookies at least chip in this year is frustrating.
So when people talk about what will Jordan's "legacy" be with this franchise, try to imagine how long his three game winning jumpers, four 40+ point nights, and handful of NBC mandated appearances will continue to warm your heart. If the answer is "for years and years to come" then OK, I guess his comeback was a success.
If you are like most fans, and will have forgotten the fleeting moments of glory by next January, then the answer is no.
Jordan's legacy as a player in the NBA is still secure. He was the greatest ever. No argument. His comeback legacy with the Wizards is much more modest. He lined Abe's pockets for one season, drained the hopper of a couple dozen lottery balls, and wore nice suits while sitting behind Wes Unseld's GM desk.
When he's finally done, he won't leave a "legacy." We'll be lucky if he leaves a forwarding address on his way back to Chicago. Oh sure, we could try to do this all over again next year, but what's the point? The sooner we get back to the notion of acting like a real NBA franchise where missing the playoffs is NOT considered a "success."
Steve is a native Washingtonian and has worked in sports talk radio for the last 11 years. He worked at WTEM in 1993 anchoring Team Tickers before he took a full time job with national radio network One-on-One Sports.
A graduate of UC Santa Barbara, Steve has worked for WFNZ in Charlotte where his afternoon show was named "Best Radio Show." Steve continues to serve as a sports personality for WLZR in Milwaukee and does fill-in hosting for Fox Sports Radio.
