Sat, Apr 19, 2003 page18

• What next for Jordan and Wizards?

  • AP
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  Even though he won't play again, Michael Jordan managed to end the season with a cliffhanger.

  Will he follow his original plan and return to the Washington Wizards' front office? Will he end up in Charlotte, North Carolina, to run Robert Johnson's expansion franchise?

  Is there still a place for him in Chicago, now that John Paxson has been hired as general manager? Or will Jordan find something else to do?

  ``Let's hope we get that squared away ASAP,'' Wizards coach Doug Collins said. ``We need to get everything in place in terms of the hierarchy, and how it's going to be, so we can start moving in the right direction.''

  In the coming days, Jordan will meet with Wizards owner Abe Pollin to negotiate details of his return as president of basketball operations, the title he had to give up when he returned as a player 19 months ago.

  One thing is for certain: If Jordan stays in Washington, he has a lot of work to do.

  The Wizards finished 37-45 for the second straight year despite two solid seasons from Jordan in his second comeback. There are plenty of disgruntled players in the locker room and the talent is distributed unevenly. The team essentially will be starting from scratch once more, although the salary cap squeeze from money spent on past flops finally has eased.

  Jordan knows much of the responsibility is his -- he called all the front office shots while playing. But he never expected it to be easy to transform a poorly run franchise that had developed a culture of losing throughout the 1990s.

  Still, it has to be pointed out that Jordan's record in his three-and-a-half seasons as the top decision-maker (110-179) is actually worse than in the 3 1/2 seasons before he arrived (116-137).

  ``I think if I had to grade myself from `A' to a failure, I would say that I'm still right at average,'' Jordan said. ``I don't think I've done anything, other than take some of the financial constraints off, and put together some young talent that don't really know how to apply their talents as of right now. But they are learning.

  ``I wouldn't even think about giving myself an `A' or a `B,' because we haven't achieved the playoffs. I've still got some work to do once I go back upstairs, in terms of trying to find the right mesh to build a solid, solid base.''

  He could very well spend the summer saying goodbye to some of his biggest acquisitions. Jerry Stackhouse, Kwame Brown, Bryon Russell and Larry Hughes have not lived up to the lofty Jordan-Collins standards for teamwork.

  Late in the season, Stackhouse even began discussing how he felt the team was restricted by Jordan's presence on the court.

  Collins finally fired back. ``All these guys who thought [Jordan] took away from their games, next year they're going to find out what he brought,'' Collins said.

  Stackhouse can opt out of his contract, which would free up about US$12 million in cap money. If he does not, he could be put on the trading block.

  Brown has been the subject of trade talk in the past, but the Wizards did not want to give up too soon on the No. 1 overall draft pick of two seasons ago. Bad trades have been a hallmark of the Wizards in recent years, but Brown has been such a disappointment that Jordan might be willing to risk it.

  Russell and Hughes began the season as starters -- and finished deep on the bench.

  What is left is a hardworking group of players including Tyronn Lue, Juan Dixon, Jared Jeffries, Bobby Simmons, Etan Thomas and Christian Laettner. There is a lot of heart in that group, but not too many wins without some help.
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