Charlotte Bobcats owner Robert Johnson was once a billionaire but Forbes estimated that his worth fell to only $550 million last year. He's been trying to unload the Bobcats since last summer and minority owner/team president Michael Jordan has always been interested. When Johnson put the team on the block, Jordan apparently negotiated for the right of first refusal. Now Jordan has got to come up with some cash quickly if he wants to do it, according to ESPN.
Former Houston Rockets president and CEO George Postolos has apparently put his second offer on the table (his first one supposedly fell apart last year) and Jordan has till the end of February to match it.
It remains to be seen if the investors who are working with Jordan either have the dollars or inclination to match the offer by Postolos.
Bet Mike wishes he still had that $167 Million bucks from his divorce now.
If Mike doesn’t buy the Charlotte Bobcats, somebody else eventually will. The new owner presumably will bring in executives he knows and trusts, and Michael will be jettisoned. If you engage in hero-worship, you’ll miss Michael. You still brag to friends about the home games at which you saw him, both.
This is the fifth year Michael has run Charlotte’s basketball operation, and the team is by far the best it has been. After a rough start, the Bobcats have won as many games as they’ve lost. They’re unselfish, they’re entertaining and they ought to make the playoffs.
If you’re going to rip Michael for wasting the third pick in the 2006 draft on Adam Morrison then you have to credit him for the roster assembled under his watch.
You have to credit him for hiring Larry Brown to coach and you have to credit him for participating in or at least agreeing to the trades that brought to Charlotte Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw (and Tyson Chandler).
I don’t know who made the trades. But I can’t fathom Brown or general manager Rod Higgins acquiring a player without their boss’ consent. Michael, then, has not been terrible. Yet he remains a better celebrity than a managing partner of basketball operations.
Wonder how effective he’d be if he worked full-time?
When Jerry West ran the basketball end of the Los Angeles Lakers, he was legendary for going to dank Division II gyms and scouting players from courtside in a folding metal chair.
Even if Michael deigned to show up, I can’t see him sitting in anything less than a three-position recliner with a cherry finish and a deep tufted back. Michael’s lifestyle probably doesn’t lend itself to commitment. If you can play any golf course anywhere anytime you want, are invited to every major event, party and opening, and are treated as if you’re the best basketball player in the world still, you probably wouldn’t spend your time in a Division II gym. And you might not spend much of it in Charlotte.
But you can’t live that life and effectively run an NBA franchise. You can’t do basketball between rounds of golf, hands of blackjack and out-of-town appearances on “The Jay Leno Show.”
Despite all the lovely distractions, Michael’s team still can make the playoffs. But what comes after that? How many hours do the gentlemen who run the teams that plan to win everything put in?
As a player Michael did his best work when the game was winding down and the clock was running low. If the offer from longtime Bobcats suitor George Postolos, the former president of the Houston Rockets, is legitimate, that time is approaching.
Bob Johnson undoubtedly would prefer to sell to Michael, who owns a piece of the team.
How hard is Michael willing to work to acquire it?
Here’s the issue: Since Michael stopped playing ball, he hasn’t had to make anybody happy. People make him happy. They serve him.
Yet to succeed in any business, whether it’s running a restaurant or running an NBA team, you have to be willing to serve.
Lets see what happens.
