Making Logic Of Michael Jordan’s Roster Moves in Charlotte
Basketball, Bull City — By Joe Simmons on April 30, 2012 at 3:00 am
One has to ask what in the hell Michael Jordan is doing to the Bobcats? You know your team is bad when your go-to player is former Duke star, Gerald Henderson. The Bobcats took the former Duke Blue Devil a few years ago in the lottery, and everyone was wondering if he would become the star athlete that everyone made him out to be as a prep star.
The Bobcats mortgaged their team away last year as they traded Gerald Wallace to Portland and sent Stephen Jackson packing for a bag of Skittles and a box of Cracker Jacks.
It seemed like a dummy move at the time, and the more I thought about it, the less sense it made. I kept asking myself, can you really build a team around Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson? When put into that context, the answer is probably no, since they are both aging players. However, having veterans around can help you mold your younger players into form.
Jordan was probably thinking that these guys were at the end of their great years, and it might be better to stockpile some picks and get something for them while he could. However, he left his team in shambles as they are being led by a group of players that very few people could recognize outside of their uniform.
Only time will tell if that trade was a good move or not. However, if this season is any indication, it might not have been as good a move as people thought at the time. The good news is that the Bobcats should have figured out that Gerald Henderson is not the cornerstone of the future. He is a solid player, but a superstar, he is not.
Last year’s first round pick, Kemba Walker, is a solid addition, but the Bobcats already had a score-first point guard in D.J. Augustine, so picking Walker was more of a P.R. move than a necessity. That means that the Bobcats are one more year behind the curve in building a roster that fans will pay to watch.
If Jordan does the right thing with the first round picks he has acquired, he can make his mark on this team, and then you can judge him on whether or not those trades were a good move. The Bobcats will have more balls in the lottery than any other team, so if the lottery balls fall his way, he should secure Anthony Davis as the anchor of a defensive team. Getting Davis is a good start to the rebuilding process. He should also have options in the future, whether through the draft, or with trades for better players, and that is something that the Bobcats haven’t had in the past.
If I were Jordan, I would do a few things to make life better. I would definitely hire a new general manager. Michael Jordan the GM is conflicting with Michael Jordan the owner. It’s not good practice for a franchise that is struggling financially to have an owner making financial and personnel decisions. He’s going to be too cautious and when things go bad he has no one to fire but himself.
The reality of the situation is that the cap room that Jordan freed up isn’t going to make that big of a difference if the Bobcats don’t start winning basketball games. I will be the first to admit that there are times when you have to strip it down before you build it up. Let’s give Mike credit; he stripped the hell out of his team. They are so bad that at least three college teams would beat them if they played them this season.
You can’t really blame Jordan for trying to get his team sharper. He could have kept his team in tact and probably been close to making the playoffs this season. However, if just making the playoffs was all that mattered, then a lot of franchises should be content. The point of playing in the NBA is to win a ring, and let’s face it: the Bobcats weren’t on pace to win anything with the roster as it was. It seems to me that over two-thirds of the league has no shot at winning a title anyway.
Go down the past champions list, and you see the usual suspects. Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, Spurs… We need to stop kidding ourselves and acting like these moves actually mean something. The future of the NBA is OKC, Chicago, Miami, and NY. Everyone else is just playing for a paycheck, and some darn good cardio.
Stay Breezy ~ I’m Out!
Tags: Charlotte Bobcats, Michael Jordan, NBA
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12 Comments
Very good post. The evidence is overwhelming. Great player usually does not translate into great coach or GM. Jerry West is the exception (Larry Bird has done all right). The rest of the landscape is littered with Elgin’s, Elway’s, Isiah’s, Singletary’s, Jordan’s and many others who have not done well. Developing your talents to become a great player and being able to see potential greatness in others appear to be two completely unrelated skill sets.
Jag you called it. Not that many guys do that well when making the transition. It’s tough because a lot of times they are looking for guys that have qualities that they had. Other times they are looking for guys that look like players they played with.
They should be looking for guys who can fit what their coaches are trying to do and they would be just fine.
A really good read, as it echoes what just about everyone is thinking; MJ needs to get out of his own way, and hire people that understand the operational side of basketball. This is a guy who drafted Kwame Brown ahead of Pau Gasol, then traded away Rip Hamilton just as he was finally coming into his own for Jerry Stackhouse. He also drafted Adam Morrison ahead Rudy Gay. So his track record is anything to go by, MJ is good at a lot of things, but evaluating talent isn’t one of them.
MJ certainly understands winning, but he should also understand that it involves him passing the ball every now and then.
MJ will be fine as long as he realizes this isn’t a quick fix. Hell, maybe he already knows this. They just don’t have any players really worth a damn, and they’re honestly 3-4 years away…minimum. If they clean house and build around Kemba, Biyombo and hopefully the No. 1 pick in 2012, then they got a shot at being respectable.
-Ed.
Once again another good post my friend. Mike has to get some players. Right now they are less than stellar in the talent area.
He’s gonna need to make some power moves and see if he can lure a few free agents to Charlotte. Hard in such a small market
Mike needs to get out of his own way. Charlotte has a lot of holes to fill and he keeps making the hole bigger. As great as he was as a player, his managerial skills are killing his non playing legacy.
At the end of the day he is still Michael Jordan. If he becomes somewhat successful he will be praised.
I think he’s being cheap. I forsee Jordan giving this team up in 5 years.
I think you may be on to something.
I thought he hired cho the former blazers gm to be the gm this year? I heard he is.going to give one hard push if it doesn’t work within the next 4 or 5 years he’s selling the team. It took a lot of guts to purely gut the team like he did.. maybe he can hit on the next few draft picks.. kemba, and the bismack(SP) trade dj and get somebody that fits draft Davis then you can become respectable because the east isn’t that good so its possible.
He did hire Cho but he has just been a yes man from my understanding. He needs to be assertive and lead the process. I did hear that Cho was behind cleanings as well so this will be interesting when all the dust settles.