Jordan's Prospective Deal For Bobcats Continues To Garner Reax

Media Members Debate What Kind Of Owner Jordan Will Be

Michael Jordan’s prospective bid to buy the Bobcats continues to elicit reaction several days after it first became public. FanHouse.com's Jay Mariotti said Jordan’s business legacy “is on the line” with the transaction. Mariotti: “He needs to be front and center because in that city they don't believe he's really serious. He doesn't live there. He needs to live there, be there, be the face of the franchise and make people care and sell tickets." Denver Post columnist Woody Paige said, "If he's going to be the face of the franchise along with Larry Brown until they get a player of an all-pro kind of caliber that really everybody in the city adopts, I think he's got to be out in front. He can't be an absentee owner." ESPN.com's Michael Smith: "You don't spend over $200(M) on this team to sit on the sidelines and watch somebody else be the face of the franchise. He's got to be there … doing meet-and-greets. … He's got to shake hands with the fans, kiss babies, sign autographs. People will be buying tickets just for the chance to possibly see or get a picture of Michael Jordan" ("Around The Horn," ESPN, 3/2). Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who coached Jordan when he was with the Bulls, said, "I think it's a great opportunity for him. I think it's also an opportunity for Charlotte to get to kind of embrace basketball again. … Michael brings a familiarity to that community and perhaps can help that community get some people in the seats” (ESPNLOSANGELES.com, 3/2). But ESPN’s Jim Rome wondered, “Can you really own a team without actually working? Because I haven't seen anything that leads me to believe that the guy even wants to work or have a job at all.” Rome: “He's never attacked it as an executive the way he did as a player and if he hasn't as an executive, what makes anyone think that he will as an owner?” ("Jim Rome Is Burning," ESPN, 3/2).

STRAY CATS? In Charlotte, Scott Fowler cited a source as indicating that there is "no way the Bobcats could change their name before the 2010-11 season." The source said that if the Bobcats "did want to change the name, they would have to apply over two years in advance of the change, and the change would also have to be approved" by the NBA BOG. Fowler: "Sounds like the team is stuck with the name 'Bobcats' for awhile" (CHARLOTTEOBSERVER.com, 3/2). Meanwhile, in Charlotte, Mark Washburn writes outgoing Bobcats Owner Bob Johnson was "never that into us." Washburn: "Charlotte is a warm town where relationships matter, and Johnson was dry ice. ... He should have named the team the Cheshire cats, and it would have been more personal. He liked to smile and disappear" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 3/3).