Kwame Brown and Adam Morrison.

After you allow those names to sink in for a moment, consider this: So Michael Jordan wants to do WHAT?

The man already joins the likes of Kevin McHale, Wes Unseld and Elgin Baylor in the Hall of Fame for The Worst Former Basketball Greats Ever To Run An NBA Franchise, and now Jordan wishes to own one.

This is not good, not unless Jordan drastically changes his ways.

That said, I'll defer to somebody whose opinion I respect, and he knows a little something about His Airness. This is somebody who often floated through the upper reaches of arenas against Jordan -- you know, Dominique Wilkins, the Human Highlight Film. He has remained pals with Jordan during their retirement years, and Wilkins paused when asked if Jordan would prosper if he fulfills his rumored wish to become the majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats.

"I think if he's 100 percent involved in the ownership process and in the whole rigors of that business, I think he could," said Wilkins, the former Atlanta Hawks star, who works in their front office these days. "Michael and I, we talked about his desire to do something like this a while back, and I think that if the opportunity presents itself, he'll do well. If he has the same passion level in Charlotte, anything is possible."

Thus the problem here: Jordan hasn't shown a "passion" for anything in the game outside of dribbling, dunking and dominating as a player.

As an executive, well, we're back to Kwame Brown, Adam Morrison and other disastrous moves by Jordan, 47, who began his slide toward front-office infamy as the absentee director of basketball operations for the Washington Wizards. He acted as if he were working for the Chicago Wizards since he rarely left his home city. He later spent most of his time in northern Illinois or traveling the world with his golf clubs as part-owner and managing member of basketball operations of the Bobcats.

This lack of focus -- or just plain incompetence -- led to Jordan's other miscues, ranging from hiring NBA coaching busts Leonard Hamilton and Sam Vincent to urging the Wizards to swap Rip Hamilton for Jerry Stackhouse.

Here's the bottom line: If you go by Jordan's actions after his playing days, he tried to become Jerry West as an executive without a Jerry West effort, which was strange. As a player, Jordan was all about rising to greater heights with a Michael Jordan effort, which was superb. He even used his tongue and his fists to bash teammates in practice for not hustling as much as he did, and it spurred many to wish to Be Like Mike, but they often failed. That's because they rarely worked as hard as Mike.

We've lost that Mike, who currently is no Jerry.

West was a rarity, by the way. He was exceptional as a player and as an executive for the simplest of reasons: He grabbed the work ethic that he used to become so potent as a Los Angeles Lakers guard that he was the inspiration for the NBA logo, and he transferred it to his role as the prominent front-office force behind transforming his old team into a Shaq and Kobe powerhouse.

Only the Detroit Pistons' Joe Dumars has come close to matching West's success and drive in the league as both a player and as an executive. Larry Bird had spurts during his early days with the Indiana Pacers. Danny Ainge was mostly a bust until he snookered McHale, his former teammate, into trading a world championship named Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics.

So maybe it is true that most great players can't do these things.

"You know what? I personally think that statement is crap," Wilkins said. "I cringe, because to become a great player, you had to become a great teacher to make that happen for you. I know when a great player becomes a coach, I think the intimidation factor comes into play. And a lot of times, people are just afraid of that. I mean, you talk about Larry Bird. He took a team to [the NBA Finals] when he coached the Pacers."

This is different, though. This is Jordan, who ranks as a great player trying to become the primary owner of a professional sports team. Except for Mario Lemieux's deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins, it hasn't happened.

Walter Payton once tried to purchase an expansion team for St. Louis before the Rams moved to that city from Los Angeles. Elsewhere, you have situations such as Wayne Gretzky serving as a limited partner with the Phoenix Coyotes, and Magic Johnson doing the same with the Lakers.

"When you're talking about buying a team itself, I mean, look at these teams, and a lot of the owners can't afford to own them by themselves," said Wilkins, whose Hawks franchise has eight owners, including one that is suing the other seven in an ongoing legal matter. "The smart thing for somebody who wants to purchase a franchise is to start by going out and building a financial team.

"Magic and I are very close friends, and I know he's developed a billion-dollar empire over the years. I know he has a nice percentage of the Lakers, but whether he wants majority ownership someday, I don't know. Magic is involved in so many different things that he probably doesn't have time to do that."



Does Jordan have the time between chipping and putting?

If so, does he have the money?

No question, Jordan was the original Tiger Woods with more revenue coming from outside endorsements than anybody in history during his day. It's just that Jordan also has been known to gamble a bit, and he paid his former wife Juanita more than $150 million in a divorce settlement.

What we know for sure is that Jordan is suffering from another one of his mid-life crises that began with his retirement at the height of his NBA career to play minor-league baseball. While some folks in these situations want to buy a shiny new car or something, Jordan wants to own an NBA team.

Yeah, but would Jordan do what it takes to make it work?

That's debatable.

Source: Terence Moore, FanHouse