Michael Jordan's record as Hornets owner is worth a look

Is Michael Jordan the GOAT among the NBA's worst team owners right now?

Michael Jordan is the greatest player in basketball history. He made the NBA a global brand. In 1985, the Chicago Bulls sold for $16.2 million. Today, they are worth $4.1 billion. Jordan is the main reason for this increase. He deserves every penny the sport could pay back in his lifetime.

Jordan is also a trailblazing businessman, serving as the NBA's only non-white head coach in nearly a decade after acquiring a majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets in 2010 for $275 million. Six years later, he became the first billionaire athlete, the same year Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Philanthropy in Jordan includes $100 million to "organizations dedicated to ensuring racial equality, social justice, and strengthening education," $10 million to America that works wonders, $5 million to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture, and millions elsewhere.

This man is an idol. Maybe icons.

News broke Thursday that Jordan plans to sell his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets for $1 billion, keeping a minority stake in the team. There is no word on whether he will retain the title of "member of basketball operations management," a minority shareholder in the position he first held in 2006.

These caveats are necessary before we draw another, less exciting conclusion in the big plans: Jordan's record as a basketball operations department executive is abhorrent.

He hired former Bulls teammate Rod Higgins as general manager in 2007, Rich Cho in 2011 and University of North Carolina alumnus Mitch Kupchak in 2018, but Jordan was always the loudest voice in the room. Charlotte has been his NBA home court since he took over basketball operations in 2006.

Kemba Walker was Jordan's only home run with the Hornets, and Charlotte even drafted Bismarck Björbo two spots ahead of him. His average batting average in the first-round draft was worse than the .202 he played with Birmingham's double A. The draft record is somehow worse than at first glance:

2006: 3. Adam Morrison

2007: 22. Dudley

2008: 9. D.J. Augustine, 20 years old. Alexis Akinka

2009: 12. Henderson

2011: 7. Biyombo, 9 years old. People who walk

2012: 2. Gilchrist

2013: 4. Cody Zeller

2014: 9. Noah Vonlay, 26. P.J. Helston

2015: 9. Frank Kaminsky

2017: 11. Malik Munch

2018: 12. Myers Bridge

2019: 12. P.J. Washington

2020: 3. LaMelo ball

2021: 11. James Bunnett, 19 years old. Kay Jones

2022: 15. Mark Williams

Only a handful of them signed a second contract with the Hornets.

Morrison is one of the most unsuccessful players of all time, even though the 2006 draft didn't shake much. Tyros Thomas finished fourth in Chicago that year. Don't worry: In 2010, Jordan traded a future first-round pick to acquire Thomas, gave him a five-year, $40 million contract, and applied extension terms to the deal over three seasons.

Jordan traded his 8th overall pick in 2007 when Joaquin Noah was still on the board in exchange for Jason Richardson, and a year later Charlotte traded it with Dudley for Raja Bell, Boris Diaff and Sean Singertry. Only Diave lasted the year, and he eventually quit the Hornets because "losing was tough. ”

In 2008, Jordan drafted Augustin with the ninth overall pick, one position ahead of Brooke Lopez, and then traded for another future first-round pick to sign Akinsa with the 20th pick. Starting in the 2012-14 season, the Hornets spent the top 10 picks on Kidd Gilchrist, Zeller and Von Leh, while each season featured multiple future All-Star picks.

The coup could have occurred in 2015, when Jordan reportedly turned down four first-round picks from the Boston Celtics, including Jaylen Brown, to draft Kaminsky.

Over the next four seasons, Jordan's Hornets traded Marco Bellinelli with a first-round pick in 2016, Monk with the 11th pick in 2017 instead of Donovan Mitchell (13th pick) and Bam Adebayo (14th pick), 12th pick (Bridges) with 11th pick (Shay Kyrgyzs Alexander) in 2018, and Washington in 2019 after Taylor Herro. Too many unfortunate decisions are impossible for them, just bad luck.

Time will tell if Ball's choice will free the Hornets from the pain of the draft. In his second season, he became an All-Star backup. He was unable to stay fit this season and eventually fractured his right ankle last month. There are already rumors that he may ask Charlotte for a trade in the future.

To revolve around Ball, the Hornets selected Bnet with the 11th pick and traded another protected first-round pick to Jones, the 19th pick. Neither is a regular rotation player for the 22-win team this season. In June of this year, Charlotte fell from 13th (Jalen Durham) to 15th, replacing Williams, who was often listed as a "DNP coach's decision" until after Christmas. The Hornets will have two first-round picks this year when they will play in the Victor Winbanyama draw, so hopes will never be dashed.

Jordan often trades his second-round pick, and his Hornets are one of two teams that have never paid the luxury tax. A reminder: Jordan also spearheaded the charge amid a group of tough owners during the 2011 shutdown, who cut players' share of basketball-related revenue from 57 percent to 50 percent. As Howard Baker pointed out for The New York Times at the time, it was Jordan who told then-Washington Wizards owner Abe Poling as a player during the last shutdown, "If you can't make a profit, you should sell your team." ”

If only profit could be an excuse for Charlotte's poor record in free agency. Any expectations that Jordan's greatest asset as a owner will be his ability to attract players to the Hornets have long since subsided. His recruitment brought only non-performing assets. In 2013, the Hornets signed faltering Al Jefferson from the Utah Jazz. He broke into the All-NBA Third Team in his first season with Charlotte, torn his meniscus the following year, the same knee he had previously torn his anterior cruciate ligament, never again.

Jordan's free agency signings include Lance Stephenson, Jeremy Lin, Roy Hibbert, Michael Carter Williams and Tony Parker for the 2014-18 season, whose NBA dreams were shattered. His high-profile recruitment in 2020 was named with the often injured Gordon Hayward (four years, $120 million!). ) ends. The Hornets also don't have free agent diamonds. If they hadn't rejected Christian Wood's minimum option in 2017, he might have done so.

If you don't like what you see in drafts or freelance proxies, then trading can't be better. If the Hornets don't award future Defensive Player of the Year to three players who can't be rotated after a season, 2009 Tyson Chandler's Emeka Okafor might be a good choice. Similarly, if Charlotte hadn't given up two first-round picks in the coming years, the Gerald Wallace trade could have been successful. In 2015, Charlotte traded Henderson and von Lich for Nicolas Batum, gave the Frenchman a five-year, $120 million contract a year later, and dropped him before the 2021 deal came to a successful conclusion.

In 2009, Charlotte acquired Stephen Jackson, his last two quality seasons, both without a playoff win. For the most part, the Hornets trade one bad contract for another, often recycling players who previously failed in Charlotte.

The Jordan era has made three playoff appearances in 17 seasons, all of which were first-round outs, sweeping opponents twice. When the Sacramento Kings make this year's playoffs for the first time since 2006, their seven-year playoff drought will be the longest in the NBA. Charlotte and the Minnesota Timberwolves tied for the fewest playoff wins (three) since Jordan joined the Hornets 17 years ago.

The New York Knicks are the only other team to have single-digit playoff wins, and more than two-thirds of teams over the same period have 10 times more wins than the Hornets. We can only admit that Jordan is a superior team owner to the Knicks' James Dolan in every way, except for fielding a winner.