It was great seeing you, Michael

Sporting News, The, April 14, 2003 by Sean Deveney

Michael, you failed. You did not do what you set out to do, and you had two years to do it. Come to think of it, I am not quite sure what it was you set out to do. To teach the youngsters--Kwame Brown, Courtney Alexander, Rip Hamilton--how to be professionals, how to conduct themselves like winners and, as if by osmosis, to make them into winners? Didn't work. Was the plan to load up on veterans, get to the playoffs and hope that something supernatural--whether mystique, smiling basketball gods or David Stern's refs--pushed you and your boys into The Finals?

I'm looking at your record. I'm watching the Hawks strangle the life out of your team with a dazzling buzzer-beater on national television. I'm hearing you say, "There's a light at the end of the tunnel," but it sounds like you don't believe your own cliche. When Charles Barkley says, "Yeah, but sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train," I get the feeling you agree with him. Even if you and the Wizards somehow outpace the Bucks for the eighth spot in the conference playoffs, it will be only because Milwaukee blew it, not because the Wizards earned it, and your postseason stint will be quick and painful.

But, Michael, don't let them tell you this was a bad idea. Sure, you failed, but that won't spoil how much fun it has been to have you back on the court. This comeback of yours, though the results have been poor, was a good idea. Remember, even some of Einstein's theories did not work out very well, but history still remembers him for e=[mc.sup.2].

The mistake you made was a lack of patience. You did not have patience with the young guys last year, and thus, you jettisoned Hamilton and Alexander, who should be Wizards still (rather than Larry Hughes and Jerry Stackhouse).

You did not have patience with your sixth man role early this year, either, but you should have given it more time and allowed the team develop a personality outside of your own. Instead, you forced yourself back onto center stage, forced the ball back into your hands and forced the team's personality to be your personality. Then you complained when you felt no one was supporting you. Well, you did not give them much of an opportunity to support you; you never gave them the chance to figure out their roles.

Of course, the lack of patience with Brown has been most glaring--depending on which source I listen to, either Brown is lazy and uninterested, or you and coach Doug Collins have hammered him into a shell with your public floggings. Either way, whatever the kid had to offer in his first two years in the league, he did not give it, and you must take some blame for that.

Some would add that by not allowing your Wizards to really stink for a couple of years, to rebuild through the draft and go young, you hurt the long-term fortunes of the club. Nonsense. You had the No. 1 overall pick the previous year, got Juan Dixon and promising Juan Carlos Navarro last year, as well as the recuperating Jared Jeffries. Maybe you're missing out on a higher lottery pick, but what would that have gotten you, exactly? Last year, it might have been Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Dajuan Wagner or Mike Dunleavy. Franchise players? Uh, no, not unless you got lucky and landed Yao Ming. You've done as well as could be expected in the draft.

Besides, that misses the point. Why do teams bother going through rebuilding? To become competitive, to get fans excited and, ultimately, to put butts in the seats. Michael, you will have sold out 82 home games at the MCI Center by the time you return to retirement. The average home attendance for Washington in two years before this comeback was 15,308. Since you've been back, it's 20,173 in the stands every game. That's 4,865 more tickets per game over 82 games in two seasons, with an average ticket price of about $45, that works out to nearly $18 million you've brought to the franchise with two years of ticket sales alone. Let's not forget that the people using those extra 4,865 tickets buy beer, hot dogs, T-shirts, bobbleheads, parking spaces, etc. No wonder your Wizards turned a profit last year, Mike. You put butts in the seats.

Ultimately, that's what sports is about. It's about making something exciting, about creating something that people can watch, enjoy and care about in a shared environment. When you were the general manager, the Wizards were 19-63 and a joke of a franchise. Your presence on the floor changed that. There are only 121 franchises in major team sports on this continent, and let's face it, 90 percent of them are not particularly compelling. Yours was compelling, simply because you were there. Would anyone give a wet Kleenex about the Wizards in a rebuilding phase? Or even after the rebuilding was complete? Why can't rebuilding start next year?

Looking at the way you've handled your teammates, imposed your role on the court, brought in bad-fit players--well, you've made a lot of mistakes, Michael. But make sure you don't forget this: putting that uniform back on was not one of them.