Since players & owners can’t come to an agreement and end the lockout, it looks like there isn’t going to be an NBA season this year. Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all-time and current majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, was one of the strongest advocates against giving the players concessions in the new collective bargaining agreement. Instead of using his multilateral experience to unite opposing sides, Jordan drove a wedge between them by going hard against the players. Now NBA players feel betrayed by their idol and many of them are publicly voicing their displeasure.
Ron Artest (I’m not calling him Metta World Peace, even if his name change is legal), told TMZ that the players felt as if Jordan didn’t show support “when we most needed him” during the negotiations.
“He’s an owner now, so I guess [as] an owner, he’s on the other side,” Artest said. “The players, we didn’t say Jordan’s name. We were just supporting each other. And then Jordan came out and said, ‘the players need to do this and do that.’ But we’re the same guys who looked up to Michael Jordan when we were kids, the same guys that wanted to fly like Mike and be like Mike. Even though we’re guys from different companies, [we] still love Mike, love his sneakers and everything. Guys just felt like he didn’t support us when we most needed him.”
Stephon Marbury, an NBA outcast who now plays professional basketball in China, was less forgiving and ripped Jordan with a misspelled fiery rant on Twitter.
Micheal Fake Jordan is a sell out. #Period. He forgot which hole he came out of. I said it “Stephon X Marbury”… MJ went from MJ the black cat to a guy who forgot he was a player. Sell your team if you can’t make a profit.. Your just a regular dude now! … When he rapped the Bulls for 36 million for one year no ones said nothing about that…
He’s just a man. I know he’s some people’s GOd but real is real. Dude forgot he played and demanded millions… he wasn’t my idol I just loved his game. He never did nothing that I knew about to change the life off of the court other then hit cats over the head for a 100 150 dollar sneakers and still doing it. Jim Brown said it best. Micky mouse type cat. Wave and break you pocket for as long as he can.
He didn’t create nothing. The game was played way before him…
Jordan definitely looks like a hypocrite since he was a strong advocate for player’s rights back when he was a player. After all the money he made on the court, he can’t understand why his successors want to get paid? It’s partly his fault they’re so money-hungry! But is anyone really surprised by all this? Honestly, when has Mike ever stood up for anything other than filling his own pockets? He’s always been apolitical; the polar opposite of an outspoken Muhammad Ali. In fact, Jordan basically ushered in the “shut up, smile & get paid” era for professional athletes.
This is the same guy who famously said “Republicans buy shoes too” when asked about his refusal to make a formal political endorsement in a Senate race. The same guy who undermined Bulls teammate Craig Hodges, who was a social activist off the court. Jordan allegedly had Hodges blackballed from the league after Hodges took MJ to task for ignoring social/political issues and doing nothing for the urban community.
Charles Barkley, a good friend of Jordan’s, once told a story about how he and MJ went to dinner at a fancy restaurant. Barkley saw a homeless guy and gave him some money. After chiding Barkley’s generosity, Jordan went outside, took the money from the man and gave it back to Barkley. “If he wants to count change he can work at McDonald’s,” Jordan said, according to Chuck.
Knowing how greedy he is off the court, it should come as no shock that Jordan would leave the NBA players high and dry at the negotiations. I loved Mike as a player, even if he did bump my Knicks out of the playoffs year after year. I’m a hypocrite my damn self ‘cuz even as I write this, I’m rockin’ a fly pair Jordans on my feet… third-world sweatshop labor makes for good shoes.
But NBA players and fans are now seeing Michael Jordan for the selfish, stingy, hypocritical Grinch he really is. No wonder he’s been wearing that Hitler mustache lately.
Nice article but comparing him to Hitler is a little extreme
Nah, I’m not comparing him to Hitler. Just makin fun of his mustache, which even Charles Barkley said looks silly.
He definitely ain’t Hitler… Jordan loves Jews. They’re the main ones who made him rich.
He’s an opportunist and definitely came off as being pompous during his induction to the hall of fame.
I don’t Rodman was ridiculed for his public personae, as was Karl Malone, but I remember these guys for their actions on the court and standing for something.
Good article.
Jordan’s an idiot.
TRUTH
The longer he keeps Kobe and LeBron off the court the longer his “legacy” as a player continues.
If Kobe wins a sixth, and possibly seventh title…
If LeBron starts to realize his full potential…
For Jordan it’s better business for his personal brand to keep those guys off the court.
For the record, I think he’s an ass.
Why is Jordan a hypocrite for not backing the players? Jordan should, as another writer said, be a bridge between players and owners? Not gonna happen. He’s an owner now, not a mediator.
MJ’s probably been this way since Wilmington, NC. He just doesn’t have to hide it now that he’s retired. Money just intensifies the character a person already has.
karl malone is a fuckin deadbeat dirt-bag father who knocked up a 14(13?) year old…..
Karl Marlone musta picked up them habits in Utah, y’know that’s Pervland.
@Adam – Y’know, that’s a good point. I didn’t see that aspect of it. Especially with Kobe right on his heels with the championships. And if Dwight Howard goes to L.A., a 6th & 7th title are virtually a lock.
@Matthew – I agree, MJ should be a unifying force. But he went EXTRA HARD against the players. It’s ironic that when he finally takes a stance on something, it’s against the ranks of the very ppl he influenced… the ranks from which he came. Almost like what Ice Cube said, “Black police showing out for the white cop…” This ain’t a racial thing, it’s all about green but y’know what I mean.
He’s a hypocrite cuz when he was a player, he was doin the SAME shit… he set the precedent for greed. Why can’t he be mediator? He can’t be the ambassador for all that’s good in the NBA one minute & just be a regular owner the next. He gets treated like a God amongst men & what Spider Man say?
“With great power comes great responsibility.”
To be real…a lot of great athletes are vane. You rarely get a Derek Jeter: good on and off the field. Jordan is just a another name on a long list of greedy, self centered, mega stars. You hear the stories all the time about cheap ass athletes who slacking on his child support or giving weak tips at restaurants. They must think, when they die, they’re taking all their worldly possessions with them. I heard nothing but bad things about Barry Bonds, the greatest slugger (steriods or not) in the MLB. Heard he was a straight asshole but the dude was one of the most feared hitter in baseball. I guess when you’re great at something, it’s hard not to let it go to your head & feel almight & shit. Specially in Jordan’s case when you got sooooo many people dick riding you so hard. When you mention the name Jordan, Michael or Air is the first thing that comes to mind. He’s all about the peso, the dinero, the greenbacks, that bread, cream, & cheese rolled up or folded up. But lets not forget that they’re are mega stars that do give a fuck about people & not just money. I just be forgetting their names cause you don’t hear much about them.
Dead On Spizzy! I was thinking the same thing, the sad shit is how one-sided the presentation has been on Stern related TV programming. Steven A Smith has lost all credibility in NBA matters, the man obviously is one of Sterns go to teabaggees. I was hip to Michael Jordan after his run in with Chamillionaire.
@CM – You speak plenty truth. Most of these mutli-zillionaires forget their roots, that’s why they consider $90 million deals to be “insults” when ppl are out here starving. It’s just crazy cuz the NBA players are Jordan’s fellow rich athletes… you’d think he’d respect their greed.
The only reason Jordan was able to become an owner is b’cuz he was a player first. He ain’t go into the Hall of Fame as an owner, he went in as player. Truthfully, his decisions as an owner have been questionable at best.
@Sandman – Yeah, I heard about the Chamillionaire shit. Straight foul.
It’s hard to be a mediator to a punch of players when you’re losing a ton of money. MJ bought the team from another black “sell-out” named Bob Johnson, who lost a ton of money as well. The Bobcats aren’t even 10 yrs old, and yet for the majority of their existence, they’ve been losing money. The truth is that there either isn’t a market for the Bobcats, or Charlotte is just an awful place to have a basketball team (it used to be the home of the Hornets as well) and should be moved to Seattle or some other city where money can be made.
That being said, I’m not mad at MJ for wanting to kill the players in negotiations, his franchise has a lot of disadvantages and he wants to make money; that is more important than the welfare of the players. I mean the players on average would lose a million in salary if they got railroaded like MJ was talking about. MJ’s losing ten’s of millions and lost almost 200 million to his wife, a couple years ago. I think the guy deserves the right to be greedy in that regards.
What makes me mad at MJ is that he’s been an awful owner. He’s given away all the good players who if they had stayed could have made the team much better and improve their chances in the long run. MJ was a hero because he played hard and busted his ass, I’d be disappointed if he didn’t take that approach to business (that doesn’t necessarily mean he is right).
People who generally want one man to make a financial decision based on loyalty or self-righteousness, often don’t consider the individual who is making the sacrifice and the consequences it has on his own life: it’s the same thing with people who thought LeBron should stay in shitty Cleveland with no possibility of a championship; they didn’t care that he was on the path of playing for a lousy city with a great possibility of him ending up nearly 34 years old without a ring.
Total Salaries made thru ’10-’11
$292mm Shaq
$196mm Kobe
$183mm Tim Duncan
Salaries owners are having issues with, yet they offered these bi-lateral contracts:
$161mm T-Mac
$100mm Gil Arenas
[I'm sure there are a bazillion other crappy contracts out there]
$90mm Michael Jeffrey Jordan
[$63mm came in the 96-97 & 97-98 seasons]
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jordami01.html
TV regular season ratings have been falling since ’96.
Where does a majority of the revenue come from? TV dollars.
MJ got people to watch the NBA [on NBC!].
Eyeballs = dollars
People watch the NBA, networks shower the NBA with huge deals, players get PAID, owners make money.
MJ leaves, people start watching the NBA less and less [56% drop in ratings from '96 > '06], the NFL is on the rise, and players want to continue to get paid.
Shame on the owners for co-signing the contracts, but sorry…the Association is no longer the King.
You make good points, jevioso. Yeah, I know all about Bob Johnson; he’s the guy who sold BET to white folks instead of keeping it for the greater good of black-owned media (even though he was already a billionaire). And yes, drafting Kwame Brown & trading Rip Hamilton & Gerald Wallace are among the awful moves Jordan made as an exec.
To me, Jordan is a hyprocrite b’cuz he got rich as a player, not an owner. Being a player is what enabled him to become an owner. The Bulls lost revenue (and a potential 4peat) when he decided to fuck around & play baseball for a year. You think he cared? Nah, cuz the world revolves around Jordan. HE set the precedent that these players follow both on & off the court. Lost revenue or not, you think Jordan’s hurtin for cash? This is about something bigger, the future of the game he claims to love.
What if this were the 80′s and Wilt & Dr. J tried to cut Jordan’s cash flow when he first entered the league? How would Jordan feel about that?
Nobody’s saying he has to completely side with the players, but he went extra-hard against them with no mercy. No understanding of how as a player, he contributed to their mentality. Truthfully, he mighta got more respect from everybody if he sat these negotiations out for conflict of interest. Obviously his presence ain’t helpin shit. Mighta been seen as an honorable move.
But as always, he’s all about one person: Michael Jordan.
@docious – Ah, my man rolled out the statistics! Preparation is key.
You also make great points. No doubt, MJ helped make the NBA as big as it is now & it’s popularity declined when he retired. However, last season was one of the NBA’s best ever ratings & revenue-wise, which is why this lockout couldn’t come at a worse time. They could’ve built off the momentum of a great season full of memorable playoffs & compelling story-lines.
The owners put themselves in this position by giving out those ridiculous contracts, but I understand their side too. Still, this is about HOW Jordan handled the situation with the players. I don’t personally feel betrayed, but they do. Any time someone rises from your ranks & acts like they can’t relate to you anymore, right or wrong you’re gonna feel that way, especially when they caked-up doing exactly what you’re doing now.
can we just PLAY BALL>>>GODDAMN YALL…im so tierd of POLITICS,,IDK what to do..NOW yall dissin MY fav of ALL TIME..along with majic..I wonuld play for the fuckin minimum..be happy..and OUTBALL ALL YALL.guys played till thier forties in the seventies for a tenth of what you guys make..PAY ME..I do this shit for fun!!! no disrespect to anyone…
MAn alive….anaconda..