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CNN Saturday Morning News

Jordan Returns to Chicago, But as a Wizard

Aired January 19, 2002 - 11:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, NBA fans in Chicago will be glued to their TV screens. Maybe some of them will even go to the United Center this afternoon for the return of the man who built and carried their franchise.

CNNSI's John Giannone has more on the highly anticipated, much- hyped return of Michael Jordan in a slightly different set of colors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN GIANNONE, CNNSI CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He will forever be a treasured Chicago keepsake, a towering figure in this city's landscape, a rich part of its history. But on Saturday, Michael Jordan will do what once seemed unimaginable, return home in a rogue uniform.

MICHAEL JORDAN: I'm pretty sure the Chicago game is going to be made into like a playoff game, you know. Myself, I go in there knowing that I'm wearing a different uniform and I'll probably be considered the opposition. I don't know if I'll get booed or not. I don't expect I will.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That will be a standing ovation. There will be a standing ovation for Michael Jordan, because I think the fans in Chicago appreciate him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I always said he looks bad in that uniform, and those colors don't suit him. So yes, he does look a little funky.

JORDAN: The Chicago uniform was different. I know that, you know. It's different people in those uniforms. I can understand if players I played with are still in those uniforms, it's a different situation. But they're not you know, and I'm in a different uniform. I'm with another organization and that's just the way it is.

GIANNONE: And that's a reality many people in Chicago still haven't accepted, the truth that might still be rejected even after Jordan's prodigal spectacle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd be able to have to try to catch myself sometimes when Michael makes a great play or makes a basket, where when he played with the Bulls, it would be Michael Jordan. And now I'm going to have to go, Michael Jordan. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We enjoy Michael Jordan, as you know, because we're all Chicago fans and we're all Michael Jordan fans also. We're just sorry he's over there instead of over here.

GIANNONE: Another surreal Saturday element is the fact that Jordan's return will be almost immediately overshadowed by another return just a few miles away, the Bears, back in the NFL playoffs after a seven year drought.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think our game should be more important, because Michael's playing for the Wizards now and you know, he's done his deed here. He's won championships and we're trying to get one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a great sports town and eyes will be, all over the world be looking at Chicago with Michael coming back, and of course Chicago Bears.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really do think in many ways this is a Bears town. As great as Michael was, I think more people will be talking about the Bears Saturday night.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIANNONE: Well, Michael Jordan's advice to the fans in Chicago, go watch the Bears. They haven't been in the playoffs since seven years. They are a bigger story, of course. That's Michael trying to deflect some attention to (sic) himself.

But it's worth noting how far the Bulls have fallen since Jordan left three and a half years ago. This team has lost 199 games in that span, and Miles, that's nearly double the total that Jordan lost in his six championship seasons.

O'BRIEN: Wow. That's an interesting little stat. You know, I think when he says that though, I'm not sure I fully believe him. I think he does like a little bit of attention, John. Let's -- what do you think?

GIANNONE: He covets the spotlight a little bit, and especially in this scenario where he realizes he'd like to show the Chicago fans for the millionth time that Jerry Krause dismantling that dynasty was the wrong thing to do.

O'BRIEN: Yes, a little bitterness remains there. All right, gentlemen let's -- John, don't go away. I'm going to keep you laced up there, keep you on the microphone and bring in our friend, Fred Mitchell of the "Chicago Tribune." He's sitting in our, well actually our building is right with the "Chicago Tribune." He probably just pushed the elevator button, came a couple of floors, and sat himself down.

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, but he did it on a Saturday morning.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Anyway, good to see you Fred.

FRED MITCHELL, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE": Good to see you.

O'BRIEN: And we've got some good e-mails. You know, just before I get started with the e-mails, I'm surprised at how much anti-Michael Jordan sentiment there is out there right now. We'll get into that in just a moment.

But first, let's go to Robert who's in New York City. He has this. "M.J. still the best, even with his coming of age, he can still show that he can compete with the younger generation. What I don't think is that the Washington Wizards work in conjunction with M.J. Most of the time it seems like M.J. is the team." Fred, do you want to take that?

MITCHELL: Well, you know, I look at Michael as being the sort of quintessential hands-on employer and he was so frustrated as a GM, not being able to shape the team with the personnel that he wanted because of the salary cap restrictions.

So he goes down on the court, becomes one of the players, and tries to sort of prove by example, you know, what it takes to be a winner. And it's cause him to, you know, demand all the attention perhaps at times and demand the ball and take most of the shots. But he has kind of reinvented himself and has been able to defer to some of the other players. But it's still very much a work in progress.

O'BRIEN: So what you're telling me is, he's allowed to be a ball hog, Fred?

MITCHELL: He's allowed to be a ball hog, as long as he can get them to win games. You know, this is a team that has been horrible for the past several years and I think they're just one victory shy of their entire win total of last season. So he's already affected quite a change.

CALLAWAY: You know, John, you have to say that Chicago's record has been less than stellar since Michael Jordan left. It really shows the importance of what a real star, a real athlete can do, sort of make everyone else play better.

GIANNONE: Yes, it's not only what he did on the court, and that's been legendary. Certainly, he's known throughout the sports world as one of the two or three greatest athletes of all time. But it's what he did off the court as well.

The amount of attention that was paid to this franchise while he was here, and when you just look at what has happened, not only on the court with how far the Bulls have fallen, but the fact that when Jordan was here the attendance was number one across the NBA every single year. And since he's left, in only three years the Bulls are 11th in the league in attendance. So they're certainly feeling it in the pocketbooks as well.

CALLAWAY: Let's quickly take a call now from Emanuel in Atlanta. Emanuel, good morning.

CALLER: Good morning. I want to ask is Michael still considered the best player in the NBA, even though he has been inactive for the past three years?

CALLAWAY: Why don't you take that, Fred. Did you hear the question?

MITCHELL: He asked if he was still the best player?

CALLAWAY: Right.

MITCHELL: No, I would not say that he's the best overall player, and I mentioned earlier that he sort of reinvented himself. Obviously, at the age of 38, he doesn't have the quickness and the leaping ability that he had three, four, five years ago.

So can he score, can he shoot? Absolutely. Can he play for as long a stretch as he did before? No. Does he play a sound defense, which was you know, a sort of underrated aspect of his great game was his defense? No. He's not the same player, but he's very good. I'd certainly put him in the top five or ten.

O'BRIEN: Certainly could take us though with two hands tied behind his back and a blindfold. So, all right, let's go to Tom with an e-mail question. "Do you think he, Michael, will take the Wizards to the playoffs this year?" John, your prediction.

GIANNONE: I say yes, only because the Eastern Conference is very weak and I think, as Fred was pointing out before very astutely, Jordan's game has changed, even since the beginning of the year.

There was that feeling out process between he and his teammates, and Jordan made a comment when they were about 2-9 or 2-10. He said "we stink" and I think that really brought this team together, believe it or not, and I think Jordan realized he's got to ease up a little bit on what he's trying to do and more players stopped being so in awe of this guy. So yes, I think because the Eastern Conference is weak and because this team is playing better, that the Wizards will be in the playoffs.

O'BRIEN: Fred, you're on the record.

MITCHELL: Yes, I agree with John and I think that's going to be part of the sort of resentment maybe that Bulls fans will feel today, when they see Michael Jordan lead the Wizards against a young, underachieving Bulls team that was very similar to Washington last year and the year before. And they've seen that Michael can make a huge difference, and perhaps take them to the playoffs.

So, I think Bulls fans will come today to the game and obviously respect what Michael's done and meant to this franchise and to this city. But they also feel a little sense of being jilted by him and that they wish that he was in a Bulls uniform, and maybe leading a young Bulls team to the playoffs.

O'BRIEN: Well, this is a pretty good follow-up to that. Emory Plitt has this. "Chicago owners should start the bidding now. He is everything the franchise ever was. The attendance stats alone tell the whole story. I would be curious to see how merchandise sales stack up since his departure?"

What are the chances, Fred, of Michael Jordan returning to Chicago? Slim and none?

MITCHELL: Slim and none. Yes. No, there's just been too much, there's just too much baggage that exists between Bulls ownership and Michael and his decision to leave when he did, the dismantling of the team. All these things are still in Michael's mind and I would be shocked if he were to change his mind as far as coming back to Chicago.

CALLAWAY: All right. Speaking of coming back, John and Fred, stay with us. We're going to take a break. We'll be back with more on this in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CALLAWAY: Welcome back, everyone. We're talking about Michael Jordan's return to Chicago in a Wizards' uniform, and joining us is CNNSI's John Giannone and "Chicago Tribune"'s Fred Mitchell. They're fielding your questions out there.

We're going to take a call now from Sean in Florida. Good morning, Sean.

CALLER: Hi, good morning. I have a question for John. John, how has Michael Jordan been able to handle the pressure of him and his recent, pending divorce and playing ball for the Washington Wizards?

GIANNONE: Handling pressure has never been a problem for Michael Jordan. In fact, he always talks about the court being his sanctuary and that's certainly the case coming back here to Chicago and ever since the announcement of his pending divorce went public.

I mean, you remember this is the same Michael Jordan whose father, James, was tragically murdered. Jordan used the court and then the baseball field to help him get through that.

Jordan also went through a situation where he was suspected of gambling, having a gambling problem, even maybe gambling on NBA games, and that of course, was proven to be untrue. But he used the court to get away from things then too.

So really, for Michael Jordan, he's never more comfortable and never more at home than when he's on the court and that's where he really cherishes being.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's go back to the e-mail, shall we? This one comes from Red, probably not Red Ohrback (ph). Anyway, "will Jordan return for a second season" is the question. Fred, we'll pose that one to you.

MITCHELL: I think the odds are in favor of that happening right now, particularly if he's able to lead them to the playoffs and if he can remain healthy, you know, he does not sustain a serious injury. I think that as long as he feels he's able to contribute to the success of the team, and it's obvious that he has been, I think he will continue to play. He obviously enjoys playing basketball. It fills a void in his life that he has not been able to fill of the court.

You know, he's retired a couple times and tried playing golf all day every day and that doesn't seem to fill that competitive void that he has. So I think he will continue playing basketball.

O'BRIEN: All right. Now, I mentioned at the top that there were some surprisingly anti-Mike Jordan statements out there. This one comes from Don Rock, sort of indicative of some of the e-mails we got.

"It seems like he makes money off the backs of people who can least afford it, kids in the projects who can't afford $100 shoes. He's all about money, cheats on his wife, gambles. Yes, great man, no thanks."

Do you get the sense, John, that I mean the public relations on Michael Jordan over the years has been amazingly good, almost always positive stories. Is there a little backlash underway there, or am I just overstating what I get from a few e-mails?

GIANNONE: Well, he's always been able, Miles, to put a Teflon shield around himself and whether that's part of a public relations spin from the Nike people or from other people who represent him, or it's just Michael Jordan realizing that that's the key to his success is to present this certain image, he's always been able to deflect so much of these problems.

And, of course, now more and more is coming out since the divorce decree was issued by his wife here in Illinois. So, yes certainly I think that Jordan's image has taken a hit recently, and there are some people who, if you choose to dislike Michael Jordan, will look at the negative rather than the positive.

So, I agree with you. More recently his image has become a little more tainted than it has been through most of his time here in Chicago, where he was enormously protected.

O'BRIEN: Fred, not much time, but I want to give you the last word on that. Any more to add on that point?

MITCHELL: Well, I would just say that what we learn and report and talk about with Michael Jordan is sort of reflective of the modern day personality, not just the athlete. But America's always had its heroes in past decades, going back to Babe Ruth and sports heroes and that type, and the media just sort of looked the other way as far as personal indiscretions or problems.

Same thing with our presidents, with President Kennedy, things that have come out, you know, in recent decades about these people have been alarming to us.

Well, I think Michael represents the modern day personality and modern day super star athlete.

CALLAWAY: Yes, but it's what he does on the court that sells the tickets, right?

MITCHELL: Absolutely. Absolutely.

O'BRIEN: Life in the fish bowl is rough. Fred Mitchell, John Giannone, excellent job gentlemen and great questions from all of you out there. We appreciate them as always.

MITCHELL: My pleasure.

O'BRIEN: All right.

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