Michael Jordan tearfully accepts a local Charlotte ‘Business Person of the Year’ (Video)
Michael Jordan, famously, turned a celebration centered on his legendary basketball career into a petty, spite-heavy, and ultimately cruel affair designed on taking down those who Jordan says wronged him.
Michael Jordan, famously, does not talk to one-time good friend Charles Barkley because Barkley accurately referred to the Jordan-owned former-Charlotte Bobcats as a terrible team.
Michael Jordan, tellingly, broke down as he accepted a relatively minor local Charlotte business award on Tuesday, in an affair that was only caught by cell phone cameras. Watch:
Take a look:
The Charlotte Business Journal named MJ its Business Person of the Year earlier in January, after Jordan helmed a restructuring of the former Bobcats into a surprise playoff team in 2014. The squad surprisingly made the playoffs last season after Jordan backed off of the reins when it came to make strict basketball personnel decisions, and after a disappointing start to 2014-15, the team is still in playoff contention – a half game in back of the Brooklyn Nets, a team with a payroll that eclipses Charlotte’s by nearly $50 million, once luxury taxes are applied.
Jordan also oversaw the franchise’s decision to grab onto the ‘Hornets’ nickname, starting with this season, after the former Charlotte Hornets-turned-New Orleans Hornets-turned-New Orleans Pelicans abandoned the name last season. The move, along with the playoff turn, drove up season ticket sales along with apparel purchases.
Co-incidentally, on Wednesday, Forbes valued the Hornet franchise at $725 million; an uptick of 77 percent over this time last season. For a man that bought the team in 2010 in $300 mainly to assume the debts of the previous owner (whom Jordan worked under as team president), this is the latest in a series of successful swaps.
Still, as Dan Devine noted in his column about the Forbes valuations, that jump in perceived value has as much to do with the incoming NBA TV deal and (frankly) Forbes whiffing on a series of too-low estimations for each team in last year’s valuations as it does Jordan’s moves. Charlotte, a small market team, still only ranks 26th out of 30 NBA teams in value, up just three spots from Forbes’ lists from 2013 and 2014.
To be fair to Barkley and Jordan’s other critics as he both purchased the team and continued on as its basketball el jefe, Jordan engaged in a series of win-now moves for years that most knew at the time would result in little more than a shot at mediocrity and perhaps a spot in the Eastern Conference’s lacking playoff bracket. Jordan’s Bobcats made the playoffs in 2010, but by and large he made a series of personnel missteps along the way prior to deciding to start over from the bottom up.
Even after that bottoming out, Jordan rolled the dice on a series of misspent draft picks, and his 2011-12 Bobcats turned in the worst winning percentage in NBA history. This, after Jordan pushed for then-NBA commissioner David Stern to cancel the entire 2011-12 season in order to save Jordan money – 13 years after Jordan stood on the opposite side of that table, chiding owners for not being able to make money off of their teams.
None of that got in the way of Jordan being drawn to tears on Tuesday night. From Charlotte Business Journal:
Jordan, with tears streaming, said, “Thank you for allowing me to cry in front of you.”
His wife, daughter, brothers and financial adviser, Curtis Polk, all attended the gala at the arena. Jordan spoke of his deep North Carolina roots several times during his remarks, noting he was born in Brooklyn but grew up in Wilmington. In college, Jordan led UNC Chapel Hill to a national championship as a freshman in 1982.
“I’m sort of emotional,” Jordan said. “I take great pride in something the city of Charlotte can feel proud of.”
He should feel proud of the turnaround. The Hornets are hardly world-beaters, but Jordan has learned to do what the best bosses always do – delegate properly.
Ever the competitor, Jordan still understands that the Charlotte Hornets have a ways to go before they can match Jordan’s heights as a champion with the Chicago Bulls. From the Business Journal:
“We’re nowhere where we need to be,” he said. “My promise to this community … is to bring a winner to Charlotte.”
Fans would settle for the second round of the playoffs right now, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t a good start to things.
(Video via CBS Sports, Twitter heads-up via The Sporting News.)
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
