In his first move as Wizards President of Basketball
Operations, Michael Jordan dismissed coach Gar Heard on
Saturday night. In DC, Wyche & Wilbon report the team will
announce the hiring of CBA Lightning coach Darrell Walker as
interim coach after a source said its plan to hire Warriors
assistant coach Rod Higgins "came apart" when the Warriors
"demanded compensation." Warriors execs "refused to
release" Higgins from his contract after the Wizards
"declined to alter the terms" of a '94 trade that "could
involve" the Wizards' first-round draft choice this June.
Jordan released a statement on Heard's dismissal on Saturday
(WASHINGTON POST, 1/31). In DC, Tony Kornheiser writes, "I
... can't help but notice that Jordan wasn't on hand
personally to tell Heard he was out." Jordan: "I wanted to
do it. I told [Exec VP & GM] Wes [Unseld] that, and he
said, 'I hired him. I feel I should do it.' I told Wes I
had no problem doing it." Kornheiser: "I'll give Jordan a
pass on this. But Jordan needs to be connected [to the
franchise] by more than a cell phone" (WASHINGTON POST,
1/31). FSN's Keith Olbermann, noting Jordan issued a
statement on Heard: "Maybe Dean Smith needs to give his old
protegee a call about managerial elan" (FSN, 1/30). NBC's
Peter Vecsey: "What it shows me is that Jordan is a player's
owner. He's listening to the players" (NBC, 1/30).
SHOW ME THE CONFLICT OF INTEREST: In N.Y., Richard
Sandomir wrote that Jordan retaining David Falk as his agent
presents "a clear conflict, and there are no rules governing
how to deal with it." Agent Leigh Steinberg, on a potential
conflict: "I might have another lawyer in the office handle
[Jordan's] business" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/30).
