PRO: there's always room for the cream of the crop - MJ's Return - Michael Jordan - Column

Basketball Digest, Dec, 2001 by Jim Cleamons

WHEN I FIRST HEARD ABOUT Michael Jordan coming back to play, I thought it was just another writer trying to get a story. You figured that with him being such a major cultural figure, sooner or later MJ would make his way back into the public eye--and the gossip columns. But the story wouldn't go away. And the more I thought about Michael coming back, the more I liked the idea.

I retired at age 30. When you retire that young, don't think for a minute you don't honestly consider making a comeback. But other interests started tugging at me: I had an opportunity to enter coaching, and I had always wanted to do that. I realized the longevity of being a teacher of the game would outlast playing another couple years just to say I did.

Michael wants to teach the young Washington Wizards players. So why not coach, you might ask. He'll have his chance, both on and off the court. In the NBA, there's a pretty strong hierarchy among players. The more mature players mentor and teach the younger ones. It's what leading by example becomes on the individual level.

Players need time on the court to grow. Very few guys are starters right off the bat. And as certain relationships are fostered among players, the younger guys learn the pros and cobs of how to play the game. That's where true leadership and direction factors in.

Michael cares about the game; while other players selfishly try to protect their turf and are too selfish to be true mentors, Jordan's always been different. I saw that with my own two eyes as an assistant coach during my years with him on the Chicago Bulls. His guidance took a lot of different forms. Usually there was some "tough love": getting in Scottie Pippen's face or pointing out a direction on the floor to B.J. Arm-strong. But Michael was a winner; no one worked harder than he did. The players knew that. They wanted to learn from him.

All the great franchises have older players who are willing to guide the younger ones. Washington has been lacking that for years now. How can a winner like Jordan not help the Wizards build a winning tradition?

How many of us are given the opportunity to do what we want with our lives? Michael is one of the rare people who can do whatever he wants to do. He has the coinage to risk damaging his legacy, to come back and risk falling short of being the player everyone remembers him as. He's just saying, "This is who I am." You can never have success until you're willing to risk failure. Forget what the fans or media or even his fellow players have to say about him coming back--MJ's willing to risk public opinion. I love that attitude and spirit.

Sure, we won't see as many of Michael's spectacular athletic moves during this comeback. But you know what interests me even more, from both a coach's and fan's standpoint? Michael will use his basketball mind to create opportunities for his team and himself. His reputation will always precede him. Michael's a great competitor, ever calculating--he'll instantly sense opportunities to get other guys involved. He'll try to set the table and attract all the focus, then work his teammates into the game.

Remember, even in his prime as a player, MJ would hesitate to shoot for the first six or seven minutes in some big games, forcing the opposition to play the team, not the man. Then he worked himself into the game. That wasn't always something we came up with from the bench for him to do; he made a lot of those decisions on his own.

Look back at his career and you'll see Michael's "shell game" every step of the way. When we won our first title in Los Angeles by taking Game 5 against the Lakers, John Paxson made a career for himself. Who enabled Pax to take over the game in the fourth? MJ. He trusted John, and didn't hesitate to ride him all the way through that quarter to a title. The same thing happened later, when the Bulls won the second championship of their second threepeat. MJ dished to Steve Kerr for a game-winner instead of taking the shot himself.

That snapshot gives you an inkling of what Jordan can be for the Wizards this season. Once he began to trust his teammates, they were willing to step up and be accountable. The man knows how to play smart basketball. He might not have the best basketball talent any longer--and mind you, I've seen too much Michael to ever doubt his physical ability--but he's certainly going to be All-NBA in court sense and smarts.

Will Michael have a great season, be an All-Star, and lead the Wizards to the playoffs? It's hard to say. You can't come close to making a judgement until the All-Star break at the earliest. But you always have to count the man in. When you talk about wild cards for this season, he's the ultimate wild card.

And a lot of this comeback talk has focused on MJ's offense. Don't forget, he'll D somebody up. It would surprise me if he doesn't end up somewhere on the all-defensive team. "And defense is another important teaching tool. Everyone comes into the league thinking it's all offense; Michael will show the Wizards how to win with defense.