Like the lyric in the old Harry Chapin song, “Taxi,” Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson got what they asked for a long, long time ago.
Jordan always wanted to be the boss; he is now in charge of a basketball team and no one can tell him what to do.
Jackson just wanted to coach; he is leading a basketball team and no one can tell him how to do it.
On Thursday in Washington, D.C., the two most prominent figures in the 1990’s Bulls’ championship dynasty are to meet for the first time in an NBA game, Jordan in the owners’ box for the Washington Wizards and Jackson pacing the sideline for the visiting Los Angeles Lakers.
“I’ll probably just give him a call to see what’s up,” said Jackson.
Not that he already doesn’t know. Jordan’s Wizards are the anti-Lakers, the other side of the NBA universe from where Jackson’s Lakers rule.
The Lakers have the league’s best record and are on a 19-game winning streak as they prepare for Thursday’s game in Washington.
The Wizards, with a payroll near that of the Lakers, are better than only the Bulls in the Eastern Conference. With the league’s sixth highest payroll, the Wizards are coming off a one-sided loss to Orlando in which the Wizards’ big three of Juwan Howard, Rod Strickland and Mitch Richmond played a combined 75 minutes and did not even attempt one free throw.
“We have guys, I don’t know if they’re sleepwalking,” said Wizards’ coach and Chicago native Darrell Walker.
As for Jackson, he has guys simply walking all over the rest of the NBA.
“It’s a little special to be here,” Jackson says of the Lakers going for their 20th straight victory, which would equal the second longest winning streak in NBA history. “I remember the Milwaukee (Bucks, 1970-71) team. The Knicks had an 18-game winning streak in 1969, the Bulls had their 18-game streak in 1996 and the Lakers just blew everyone away (in 1971-72) with 33. But this is special for us and we’re proud of it.”
The Lakers, who open a four-game Eastern Conference trip Thursday, have become the dominant team in the NBA this season. They already have had a 16-game winning streak and at 53-11 are on a pace to win 68 games in Jackson’s first season as coach.
Their 24-7 road record is easily the NBA’s best. They lead the league in shooting defense at 41.1 percent, are second to the Spurs in fewest points allowed per game and have been so dominating they are 16-1 in the second game of back-to-back sets while the league averages a 41 percent winning percentage in those games.
“I think this team will be motivated by the fact they could be part of something that’s historic in their own profession,” says Jackson.
Success hasn’t quite followed Jordan from Chicago as it has for Jackson in Los Angeles.
Of course, Jordan, in becoming a part-owner and head of basketball operations for the Wizards, was taking on a longshot. Jackson, in comparison, took over a team that won 61 games in its last full season before the lockout. The Wizards haven’t won a playoff game since 1988 and have made the playoffs just one time since then.
Since Jordan was named basketball chief, the team has gone 8-18 and Jordan, as they’re saying in Washington, has vanished into thin air.
“He can’t play, he can’t make a shot. What is he going to do because he’s in the stands,” Walker says in his defense.
Jordan was unable to make any trades despite offering everyone on the Wizards’ roster. He hasn’t attended a Wizards’ game since the Feb. 24 trading deadline, though Jordan has indicated through a spokesman he will be at the Thursday game with the Lakers and Saturday’s home game against the Bulls.
Jordan also hasn’t been scouting the colleges as most general managers do at this time of year and has declined to make himself available to local media.
“What’s going to be the big difference?” Strickland asks. “We have to be able to go out and play.”
There’s no question the Wizards haven’t done that well. Their latest move was getting Don Reid off waivers from the Pistons this week and making him the minutes-played leader in his first game.
Moves such as that raise questions about how far the Wizards are from being successful and whether Jordan will stay around for a turnaround. His equity stake is estimated at $40 million, for which he is said to have contributed about $10 million.
Wizards minority owner Ted Leonsis, who brought in Jordan, told the Associated Press, “I don’t think Michael Jordan is doing anything until he wins a championship.”
It’s presumed Leonsis meant in Washington.
So far, what Jordan has found is few teams are interested in his overpaid players and some team executives are reluctant to deal with him because of fears the media will interpret any deal as Jordan again “winning.”
The Bulls now hold the Wizards’ No. 1 pick for the upcoming draft and Washington will get it only if it is in the top three in the lottery. Currently, the Wizards have the league’s fifth worst record, so they would need some luck to move up to keep the pick..
It’s all Jordan has to hold onto for now, which perhaps is why he’s not around much.
Jackson, by contrast, is basking in the glow of what appears to be a certain coach of the year award and possibly his first championship without Jordan, which would further enhance Jackson’s reputation.
Thus both have moved on and they get to compare career paths for the first time Thursday.
