Jordan legacy tied to Okafor decision

As a player Michael Jordan didn’t want Isaiah Thomas on the Dream Team. The two were giants of the late 80s and early 90s and found it difficult to fit their personas in the same room. The thing that made them winners also repelled them from each other.

It might also be the thing that has made them both front office failures. One-on-one and even in small groups it must be hard to say no to either Jordan or Thomas after watching them make so many right decisions on the court. In the front office though, their decision-making might not be as flawless, but it's difficult to separate the two. Thomas has turned into an abject failure as a front-office man, certainly he made some bad decisions. Jordan might not be too far behind.

But Jordan still has another chance.

He and the Charlotte Bobcats are facing their biggest decision to date. What are they going to do with Emeka Okafor? When Charlotte drafted the 6-foot-10 forward from Connecticut in 2004, he was supposed to become the face of the franchise. That year they surrounded him with fresh young talent. With seven years in the league apiece, point guard Brevin Knight and forward Corey Alexander were the team’s elder statesmen. Bobcats management seemed content letting a young team grow together and they hired a coach in Bernie Bickerstaff, that hadn’t had great success as a coach, but he’d been around the block a few times and his knowledge was thought to be good for a young team. If anything, the Bobcats at least had a plan.

Then after three seasons Charlotte fired Bickerstaff and replaced him with Sam Vincent, who had no coaching experience, but he had Jordan as a reference The two played together in Chicago and he was hired a year after Jordan's deal to own a piece of the team was finalized. Majority owner Bob Johnson hardly had a choice. No one but Jordan's high school basketball coach had ever said no to Jordan in North Carolina, and you see what people think of that coach. Dumbest decision ever, right? Plus, Charlotte has already sent one team packing.

Before Bickerstaff’s final season the team's direction started to seem uncertain. They brought in journeyman Othella Harrington and he couldn’t stay healthy. Then last year they traded Brendan Wright, at young prospect a power forward for Jason Richardson, a great scorer that had lost some explosiveness since he had come into the league. There’s no doubt Richardson is a better player than Wright, but adding him from the Warriors -- a team that made it to the second round of the playoffs in 2007 -- it seemed to put the Bobcats in a win-now mode. In their fourth year of existence, they were going with veterans now instead of developing rookies.

They were looking for a winner -- like, today. No team whose front office has associated with Michael Jordan has had a winning record and he can't like that. But it's a fact.

Jordan was in the front office of the Wizards from 2000-02 before he decided to come back to play for two seasons. They once won 19 games and never won more than 37 games in a season. He drafted Kwame Brown out of high school with the first overall pick in 2001. He traded Rip Hamilton for fellow North Carolina alum Jerry Stackhouse in 2002. When Jordan thought Brown wasn’t developing fast enough, he called him out in the media.

After two losing seasons with the Bobcats, Jordan is starting to look no better than Thomas when it comes to making basketball decisions in the front office, but still, when Jordan talks, people listen -- for good or ill.

Perhaps that’s why ownership forced him out of Washington, not offering him a share of the team when he retired again. With Jordan out of the way, the Wizards eventually acquired Gilbert Arenas, Antwan Jamison and Caron Butler. They have been winners since Jordan left, making the playoffs in three of the four year’s he’s been gone.

Now if Jordan is going to be part of a winner, he’s going to have to help the team make the right decision with Okafor, a player that’s not spectacular but effective. He’s a lot better than most big men teams have. Going into his fifth year in the league, his peak is still ahead of him. He’s not Nazr Mohammed and he’s not Kwame Brown. In both cases that is a good thing.

He’s not the Bobcats’ only big man. They have other players there, veteran players, and they could use a veteran point guard. Okafor wants around $12 million per year, yet isn’t an offensive threat. But he can rebound. He was a dominant shot-blocker in college although he's only been over the two-blocks per game plateau once in this three healthy seasons.

The decision Jordan and company are going to have to make is are they willing to go with Mohammed at center in exchange for a veteran point guard, assuming a sign-and-trade with Okafor, or are they willing to stick with Okafor at center and a rookie at point guard.

Pay Okafor the money, and the Bobcats already have a center and a developing point guard. Trade Okafor and they buy time for their point guard, but they may never have as capable of a center.

The safe bet is keep Okafor and let the rookie develop. But it’s up to Jordan.

When he talks, people listen.

It’s his legacy on the line.