OFF TOPIC: This piece of news brightened my night: Michael Jordan may still play for the Bulls this coming season, if they ever end the current lockout.
Let the Dems and Republicans cannibalize themselves till there's nothing left on Capitol Hill but bones and lobbyists' business cards. I'll be able to deal with the upcoming political burlesque to be played out in the coming months as long as M.J. comes back.
chicagotribune.com
Opening for optimism:
Jordan's
'options open'
By Skip Bayless
Tribune Sports Columnist
October 8, 1998
The caller ID said ''anonymous.'' The caller
was anything but.
The return call was from Michael Jordan,
who on Wednesday gave his first extended
interview since playing in the Ameritech
Senior pro-am golf tournament on July 16.
That evening, with speculation growing that
Tim Floyd would be the new Bulls coach,
Jordan stunned an overflow press
conference by saying he was retired.
The lone hope he allowed was that he
wouldn't make it official until the NBA
lockout ended.
During Wednesday's conversation, Jordan
sounded anything but retired. In his most
optimistic message yet, he indicated he still
wants to play, that he hasn't ruled out playing
for Floyd and that he isn't opposed to playing
for an organization still run by a general
manager he openly detests, Jerry Krause.
''I played with Jerry there the last five or six
seasons, and we've been successful,'' Jordan
said, ''I don't like it. But that's not going to be
my final deciding factor.''
Neither is health nor desire, the 35-year-old
Jordan said.
''I'm completely healthy, and the love I have
for basketball, for the challenge of it, is still
there for me. What's most important right
now is for me to see where the league is
going (with a new collective bargaining
agreement) then look deep inside myself and
make a clear-cut decision. So for now I'm
keeping my options open.''
For the first time, Jordan left the door to his
Bulls return as wide open as he was after
losing Utah's Bryon Russell and hitting the
game-winning jump shot in the sixth and final
game of the NBA Finals. In fact, Jordan said
it's still a long-shot possibility that Phil
Jackson would return to coach him.
''I haven't totally ruled that out,'' Jordan said,
adding that he talks regularly with Jackson.
''Phil just needed a break because of all the
tension (with Krause). But he's still a great
communicator and I'm comfortable that he
will coach again at some point.''
Pressed, Jordan acknowledged that the odds
of Jackson coaching the Bulls this season are
extremely long--''probably a million to one.''
But the good news for Tim Floyd is that
Jordan didn't have anything bad to say about
a coach he used to scoff at. Throughout last
season, Jordan and Jackson derisively
referred to Floyd as ''Pink.'' Now, to
paraphrase a Pink Floyd song, that's just
another brick in the wall for Jordan.
''I don't have any (negative feelings) toward
Tim,'' Jordan said, sounding sympathetic to
Floyd's plight. ''I don't fault him. I fault Jerry
Krause (for driving Jackson away). Tim's in
a no-win situation.''
A Bulls source says, ''Michael was asked
(by some who know Jordan and Floyd) to go
find anything bad he could about Tim Floyd
and he couldn't find anything. Tim's not a bad
guy.''
In Jordan's eyes, perhaps, Floyd's most
significant breakthrough came when (1)
Floyd, fresh from Iowa State, had the
courage to call Jackson and ask for guidance
and (2) when Jackson agreed to talk by
phone for an hour, then meet for nearly two
hours with Floyd and triangle-offense guru
Tex Winter at Jackson's house in
Bannockburn.
For Floyd, was calling Jackson intimidating?
''No, it wasn't at all,'' Floyd said Wednesday.
''It seemed to me like the logical thing to do,
if you mean what you say. We said at the
(initial) press conference that we want to the
best of our abilities to duplicate the system in
place. How can you do that if you don't talk
to the person who has been orchestrating
that system?''
Floyd said Jackson, wearing a Woodstock
T-shirt and cutoffs, ''couldn't have been
better'' and that he plans to call Jackson
again. The lockout has prevented a meeting
between Floyd and Jordan, but Floyd said
Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf recently told him
he still plans to ''fire his best shot'' at
re-signing Jordan.
Jordan said he and Jackson have not
discussed the Floyd-Jackson conversations,
which Jordan at first termed
''confrontations.'' A Freudian turnover?
No, Jordan said. ''I don't really think Phil
holds a grudge (against Floyd). His grudge is
toward Jerry Krause.''
Most important to Jordan has to be the mere
fact that Jackson shared a beverage and his
thoughts with Floyd. That, perhaps, was as
close as Jackson could or should come to
blessing his successor.
The most poignant and powerful statement
Jordan made soon after Floyd was hired
came when he was taking questions from a
group of children. Asked why he was
thinking about quitting, Jordan said, ''How
would you feel if mom or dad was replaced
by someone else?''
Now Jordan won't feel quite so resentful of
Floyd. In fact, it was suggested to Jordan
that showing Floyd the NBA ropes and
winning another championship with him could
be his last and greatest challenge. Imagine
Jordan's monumental legacy if he won with a
guy straight from Iowa State.
''I understand that,'' Jordan said. ''For me, if
there's no challenge, I don't want to play. But
the Catch-22 for me is that I don't want
people saying I came back when I shouldn't
have or I stayed too long.''
No one who matters will say that.
It was also suggested to Jordan that,
considering the turmoil and the supporting
cast, last season was his overall best.
''It was,'' he said quickly. ''It was also the
toughest.''
Michael Jordan knows he is still capable of
being the world's best player. So now he
waits to see how the renegotiated salary-cap
rules might change his team. Will the Bulls
still be allowed to offer Jordan and Scottie
Pippen sky's-the-limit deals?
If so, the best bet is that both will be Bulls.
''I'm just tired of everybody speaking for
me,'' Jordan said.
Wednesday, he spoke for himself. |
