Dec 29, 2000
NBA BASKETBALL on
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State of the
Franchise in Washington, D.C.:
Stop the Gridlock
By MICHELLE CHAPLIN
Trouble is brewing in the nation's capitol, and
it's got nothing to do with Republicans or Democrats or Bushes or chads.
If I tell you that this whole article is going
to deal with the state of the Washington Wizards, the chances are that
you'll hit "Back." Who cares about the Wiz? Even their own
fans root for the team they're playing against at home. With their
#5 ranked payroll ($59,110,968) and #28 ranked record (only the Bulls are
worse), the Wizards have become the laughing stock of the league.
Who wants to even watch them play, much less read about them?
On the other hand, if I tell you this article is
about Michael Jordan, it might peak your interest. MJ, the chosen
one, “black Jesus in sneakers,” the greatest, His Airness, international
icon, President of the Washington Wizards. Whoa. The savior
of NBA basketball in the 90's closely associated with the disgrace of the
league in the 00's. What an oxymoron.
Oxymoron or not, it's the truth. This player,
for whom glory and success was easy to find, for some reason chose this
sorry franchise to put his post playing-career mark upon. Consider
that this is a franchise which, at one time, had both Rasheed Wallace AND
Chris Webber and all they have to show for those stars now is senior citizens
Rod Strickland and Mitch Richmond. Still, why not expect great things?
Everything MJ touches seems to turn into gold--or whatever precious metal
they use for those championship rings. So what's taking so long?
Maybe that's what Jordan was wondering when he
came out with his well-publicized negative comments last week. Among
other things, he accused his team of having a loser mentality, being scared,
and said he was embarrassed to sit there and watch games.
Understandably, the player reactions were not positive,
especially that of $16 million dollar forward Juwan Howard, who happens
to be the number one target of nightly cascading boos at the MCI Center
due to that large contract and inconsistent play. "We are working
to become a winning team," said Howard, quoted in the Washington Post.
"We don't want to lose. Nobody likes this. We're not throwing in the towel...
I don't know if he's using that as a motivational tool or whatever the
case may be. It hurts to see that management looks at us and thinks we're
a team playing to lose. We've got too much pride and we're professionals.
We're trying every day to turn this thing around. It's sad management doesn't
see that."
The truth is that Howard's situation is a microcosm
of the franchise's situation as a whole. Howard may not be superstar
material, but he didn't offer himself the first $100 million dollar contract
in the history of the league. It isn't his fault he brings home the
third largest salary in the NBA. Like baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez
recently said in defense of his own huge contract, "What would you tell
your son to do?" Howard is known as the hardest working player on
the Wizards' team. So, it's not his fault that he's overpaid. Along the
same line, it wasn't the players who traded away Chris Webber and Rasheed
Wallace for an aging and overpaid backcourt, but management. Granted,
the foolish deals that sunk the Wizards into their mire weren't with Jordan
at the helm, but that doesn't make the players any more responsible or
worthy of the harshness with which he spoke.
Jordan made a career of trash talk and leadership.
That's what made him great. He knew how to light a fire under his
teammates, how to make them perform their best, and how to scare the daylights
out of his competition. Having talent and skill is only half of being
great, and Jordan embodied every possible motivational intangible as a
player.
But this is different.
Mike needs to remember the franchise he was drafted
into back in 1984, and all the years of losing he endured before even making
the playoffs much less bringing home a ring. Winning doesn't come
easy, and turning a franchise around doesn't happen overnight.
The Wizards have a decent future with young players
such as Richard Hamilton and Jahidi White. The Tyrone Nesby trade
was a good one. There will be some promising rookies in the next
few drafts. Even Mitch Richmond has some game left. The Wizards
wouldn't even be quite this bad if Richmond and White had stayed healthy.
To top things off, the franchise expects to be under the salary cap in
2002.
So why bash the players now? The fans do
a good enough job of that. It's surprising Howard hasn't checked
into a mental ward with all the negativity hurled at him for signing on
the dotted line.
Michael Jordan's days as a player are over. He's
playing a different game now, but his leadership is still just as important.
A big part of winning is believing you can win. Improvement comes
with encouragement. Despite Rick Pitino's faults, at least he understands
this. When the Boston fans got down on the Celtics last year, he
went off on his now famous tirade that former Celtic superstars are
"not walking through that door." He reminded the fans that times
weren't good now, but the players were playing hard, trying to win, and
someday that work will pay off. Just like it did for Jordan.
Washington fans, I'm sorry, but Wes Unseld is not
walking through that door (not to play, at least). Elvin Hayes isn't,
either. But you've got a guy named Juwan Howard, and even though
he's grossly overpaid, he might actually come closer to living up to his
end of the bargain (or lack thereof) with a little encouragement and a
few less boos.
Following Jordan’s remarks, White was quoted in
the Washington Post as saying, "I believe in my teammates and as long as
we stay together and keep a positive attitude we'll work it out. [Jordan]
has his own opinion and he has a right to that. My concern is overcoming
this with my teammates and I have faith we can do that." That’s the
spirit, Jahidi. Now if only Mr. Prez will join in.
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