Volume I No. 75
 05-08-03
 The Bizarro World Of Abe Pollin's Washington Wizards
 author: Vance Cureton
 © Copyright 2003

 Michael Jordan has been fired by the Washington Wizards.
 Read those words again. Michael Jordan has been fired by
 the Washington Wizards.

 Unbelievable.

 The worst run, most disorganized, most out-of-touch franchise 
 in the NBA has kicked "His Airness" to the curb. After - it must
 be noted - Michael graciously earnedAbe Pollin's Wizards an 
 estimated 50 million dollars in extra revenue due to sell-out crowds, 
 not only in DC, but across the nation. While at the same time, 
 Michael was drawing a salary of a mere $1,000,000 dollars a year. 
 A pittance he willing accepted because of his desire to return 
 to a management position when his brief stint back on the court
 was through. 

 How did Michael Jordan allow himself to be enticed into Abe
 Pollin's weird out-of-touch little NBA island in Washington.
 "His Airness" should have planted his feet elsewhere. With 
 a better organization. How unfortunate it was that arguably the 
 greatest star in NBA history, wasted his body and his energy 
 on the hapless Wizards.

 The NBA team in Washington is an absolute joke. And has 
 been for quite some time. Rasheed Wallace. Chris Webber.
 Ben Wallace. And Richard Hamilton are but a few of the names 
 of able-bodied NBA players who left D.C. and went on to find 
 glory elsewhere. 

 And perhaps it is piling on to even mention that this is the same 
 NBA franchise that passed on Karl Malone and drafted some 
 non-entity by the name of Kenny Green. If not for that horrible 
 mistake in judgement, Karl Malone might actually have worn 
 a Bullets/Wizards jersey all of these years, instead of a Utah Jazz 
 jersey.

 There are reasons that an NBA franchise languishes under 
 .500 and is a perennial loser. And that reason is bad management. 
 The Wizard's ineptitude cannot be blamed on Michael Jordan. 
 He was only in Washington for three years. Hardly enough time 
 to rid the Wizard's franchise of its culture of underacheivement 
 and athletic complacency. 

 Perhaps the true villain in all of this { if there is a villain } is Abe 
 Pollin. A man who runs his multi-million dollar basketball organization 
 as if it were a mom-and-pop store. Such a family culture might have 
 worked in decade's past. But a mom-and-pop style of management 
 is non-competive in today's NBA where basketball has gone international. 
 And where other NBA franchises are spending many extra-dollars 
 to hire additional scouts and other basketball minds, in an effort 
 to remain competitive and to become even better. Whilst Pollin 
 - old executive that he is - remains dedicated to his antiquated 
 vision of the NBA.

 Michael's venture in Washington was probably doomed from the 
 start. He deserved better. Just as the success-starved NBA fans
 in Washington deserve better ownership. And the curious question
 remains as to why if Abe Pollin was not satisfied with the job 
 Michael had done from his office in the MCI Center, did he allow 
 the man to play on the basketball court for two exhausting years? 
 -- And when those two years were done with. And Michael was 
 through as a player. It's goodbye, Joe. See you later.

 The obvious reason is money. Apparently Michael was fine 
 as a basketball player. A bonus for Washington that was not
 even imagined when Michael first arrived in that NBA wasteland. 
 But, he likewise somehow did not "deserve" a second shot at 
 his front office position. A second chance to mend fences with 
 some of his alienated and intimidated former teammates.

 This smells very badly. And at first glance seems an injustice.
 The appearance is that Michael Jordan was himself "played" 
 by the Wizards organization. That he was used. { there are much
 stronger words that more precisely fit the situation } Even if such 
 an impure intent was not in Abe Pollin's heart. And that the Wizard's 
 owner actually wants to win as much as he wants to earn money. 
 Something many NBA fans in Washington, D.C. openly question.

 It is Pollin's fault that the perception that Michael was used
 is discussion at every watercooler in the country. Michael should 
 have been invited to leave two years ago. Before he was ever
 allowed to reposition himself from the front office, back down
 to the ball court.

 That would have been the classy thing to do. To end this oil and
 water mix. Not exploit the man. And then coldly get rid of him.

 Abe Pollin needs a reality check. Appearances do count for something.
 If Michael Jordan was so undeserving of a second turn at the wheel, 
 what manner of man would be? It's not like the Wizards are going to 
 win the NBA title with Michael gone in the next two or three years, 
 anyway.

 Consider Michael's tenure with Washington as an abject failure. 
 A hopeful start was wasted. And the situation ended badly with
 a bit of ugliness. This only adds to the aura of ineptness that has 
 surrounded the Wizards franchise for far too many years. 

 It is remarkable that even Michael Jordan's great public appeal and 
 good will around the NBA could not prevent this horrific franchise
 from finding a way to self-destruct, yet again.

 Michael should regard his firing as Christmas in May. Better things
 await him in some other city. As for the Wizards, the problems in any 
 organization ultimately begin and end with the person at the very top. 
 There is only one stubborn old man pulling the strings in "Zard-land."

 And that man's name is Abe Pollin.
 

 ReadingPost.Com
 © Copyright 2003

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