He's not in it because he loves basketball. He just wants money. Period. A team other than his own had to pay him $200k just to get him to play a preseason game. He's setting a terrible example for the young players on the Wizards. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news/ap/20021022/ap-wizards-jordan.html "Hoping to accelerate his timing and conditioning, Michael Jordan made a surprise appearance" Hoping to accelerate his ego and bank account more likely. They didn't mention the $200,000 he was paid by Denver until the end of the article. Jordan may be the greatest player in NBA history but he might also be the most selfish and he has an ego that dwarfs Shaq's. Simply amazing.
Nice manipulation of the story, there... The Nuggets didn't HAVE to pay Jordan $200K to play in that preseason game. The report said that they offered him 200K as an incentive if he'll play, because it was DENVER that advertised that Jordan would play in that game, despite the fact that he hadn't played in a single game all pre-season because he's still rehabbing from surgery. If he didn't play, then they were going to give every fan a free ticket to another game, and they figured that the 200K to Jordan would be cheaper... C'mon, he donated last year's salary AND he's donating this year's salary to charity, a total of $2,000,000. Why would he want to squeeze the Nuggets out of an extra 200K?
Not only that, but the article says he was "offered" the money...it never says he took it. Nice spin though.
Well, well...look what we have here at ESPN...Jordan didn't even get any of that money. It was the Wizards that got it. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=221021007 The Wizards had said Michael Jordan would not play in the preseason. But when the Denver Nuggets started talking big dollars, the Wizards listened. And changed their mind. The Wizards as a team will receive a $200,000 payment because they decided to play Jordan in Monday's preseason game. If Jordan did not play, the Wizards would have received only $50,000. Jordan hadn't played for Washington in any preseason games because he is resting his right knee. Jordan said the money was not a factor in his decision to play. ''I would never do this for the sake of money,'' Jordan said. ''My decision to come back is merely for the sake of trying to get my rhythm and timing back. I couldn't care less what was being paid or what someone was making.'' The Nuggets advertised Jordan's preseason visit to Denver and had promised fans a regular-season ticket if he did not play. -- ESPN.com
I had no idea NBA teams got paid to play preseason games. So if the Wizards would have earned $50k to play at Denver minus Jordan, I wonder how much the Lakers can command???
Personally, I think Jordan is not the greatest ever, and he is the most selfish ever. However, the Denver game had nothing to do with either one of these things, as noted in several posts above.
Way to go A-Train, I'm glad somebody posted that article or I would have. Also, I'd like to know how Jordan is the most selfish player ever. If it's because of his huge contract, which isn't such a stretch compared to today's contracts, I'd like know who in here would turn down millions of dollars to play a game.
Remember, you actually asked for this... I'm just going to cut and paste some stuff I wrote in a thread a looooong time ago, because writing out all the reasons Jordan is selfish could take awhile... Post 1 (responding to someone's claim that Pippen was an "egotistical cancer"): Egotistical cancer? I didn't know this topic was about Jordan! Pippen never won anything without Jordan? He did better in '94 with the Bulls than Jordan did pre-Pippen. It's not like Pippen had a great team around him, either. When Jordan left he was replaced by CBA journeyman Pete Myers. You know how many regular season games the Bulls dropped without the "best player ever?" Two. Wow, I care. In that same season, Pippen became the second player in history (Dave Cowens was the other) to lead his team in ALL FIVE categories: points, assists, rebounds, steals, and blocks. Pippen was as important or more important to those teams than Jordan was. And since we're talking about egotistical cancers, do you know why Pippen "selfishly" wouldn't stay with the Bulls in '98? Do you know the real reason he ended up being labeled a "quitter?" Pippen's salary up to that point was $3 million a year. Jordan's was $36 million. Pippen wanted a bigger contract. Jordan refused to take a pay cut. That was that. That's why Pippen was so sensitive about getting the max when he was with the Rockets: he had been robbed of a reasonable salary for his entire career by Jordan. Of course, Jordan called him a quitter. Never mind that Jordan had walked out on the team for two years. Never mind that Jordan was the reason he wanted to leave. Jordan was the reason for the lockout! After the Bulls won their last title, the Bulls announced that they had made virtually no profits from the season. They were almost in the red. They had to pay Jordan that much money so he wouldn't leave and sign with someone who would. What team loyalty! And Pippen is supposed to be the quitter? Pippen is supposed to be the egotistical one? Pippen is supposed to be the selfish one? Post 2 (responding to someone who didn't believe Jordan robbed Pippen of a fair salary): Jordan was making twelve times the salary of Pippen. Pippen asked for a reasonable deal. Since the Bulls were almost in the red financially, they needed Jordan to take a paycut to keep Pippen. Nope, Jordan needed all $36 million. Remember how Jordan had said he would only stay if Pippen and Jackson stayed? When Pippen left because Jordan wouldn't take a paycut, Jordan blamed Pippen for "letting down the team" (he called him a quitter). You're telling me Jordan was worth twelve times what Pippen was? Pippen had been sucking that up since '87. He wasn't obligated to do it any more. Post 3 (responding to a claim that Jordan never bashed his teammates by name or tried to make himself look better): You're kidding, obviously. Jordan never made quotes to make himself look better? Jordan never blames teammates by name? There are far too many instances of both those things for just one post, so I'll just settle for just one quote where he does both. This is from a CNNSI article by Jennifer Cooper on Monday, April 1st: Following the 110-103 heartbreaker (against Dallas), Jordan blamed Collins for not using him at point guard as much as he should have and said Washington's playoff fate is in the coach's hands. “[Collins is] going to have to earn his coaching ring to try to find my minutes and how to minimize my minutes and keep me in the focus of what's happening with this team,” Jordan said. What makes this so amusing is that Collins coached Jordan with the Bulls, back in the day. Collins tried to make him a complete player by playing him at PG. Jordan didn't like it; he wanted to shoot, so he had Collins fired. Now, because Jordan knew Collins really was a good coach, he hired him to coach the Wizards. And now he's complaining because Collins DIDN'T play him at point?! He led the team this season with 1324 FG attempts. Hamilton was second with 984, Whitney was third with 595. He also shot a lower percentage than both of them. Jordan was also second in the Dallas game in FG attempts (4-14) in just 28 minutes! Does this sound like a man who wants to play point? No. Jordan was just a really good gunner who doesn't want to take responsibility for anything. Jordan talked all the time before the season about how he was bringing the playoffs back to Washington. When he failed, he blamed Collins. By name. If you need another example, see above where Jordan calls Pippen a quitter. By name.
I love it when drexlerfan22 craps on Jordan! It's like he ran over your dog or something, heh heh. But I agree that he is selfish and gets away with so much more than most other guys in the media and with the public its almost unfair.
Yeah, I know I crap on Jordan a lot. I'll be honest with you. There are 3 people in all of NBA history that I really don't like for how overrated and arrogant they are: Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan, and Shaquille O'Neal. You all probably know this by now, but I just thought I'd make it perfectly clear. I basically dislike all of them because they all think they're the best at what they do, and they're not (at least in my opinion). However, I'd also like to point out that I try my hardest to remain very objective with every player and coach, and I honestly think I do a pretty good job.
Jordan saves Denver thousands, maybe even millions of dollars by playing because of what they promised their fans. I think it's a class thing for Jordan to play, he didn't even have to play but he actually respect the game.
I'd like to know how Shaq is the most selfish player ever. If it's because of his huge contract, which isn't such a stretch compared to today's contracts, I'd like know who in here would turn down millions of dollars to play a game.
JORDAN is the most underated player in NBA history...why don't yall get that???? People still say he isn't the best(as my man EVOL said...all but 2% of you say he is the best), please people... ps - Who ever started this thread needs to get beat down with one of the Bulls championship trophies...Jordan sneezes and makes $250,000....why would he need 200,000???? HE MADE THE NBA WHAT IT IS TODAY!!!!! By the way....OCTOBER 29th is taking too long...I wanna see the Rockets take over the league(FINALLY)....and don't u love how Eddie Griffin is being so aggressive... Yao Ming aka "Lunch Special"
