MJ apparently close to owning the Bobcats

[Superman]

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/sports/article_212284818.shtml

Charlotte Bobcats Coach Larry Brown says managing partner and basketball legend Michael Jordan is trying to buy a controlling interest in the franchise.

The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer said Tuesday that Jordan has not commented on his potentially increased role in the club, but Brown revealed that a deal could be on the horizon.
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Does everyone in the NBA agree that Michael Jordan doesn't know how to run a team/isn't dedicated enough to being great at it? Another writer mentioned a few months ago that, on the eve of the new season, Jordan was in the Bahamas golfing. Just two or three weeks ago, he was in the Bahamas golfing. Not begrudging the guy his golf, and of course you can make deals from anywhere on the globe nowadays, but I think RC Buford and Mitch Kupchak and Kevin Pritchard are in their offices and with their teams, especially with the trade deadline looming near. Seems like Jordan is still living the life.


I will say, however, that the Bobcats are on their way to a first playoff appearance under Jordan's management. Maybe he can do it.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Maybe he could step back from running the team if he owned it? Seems like celebrity owner is right up his alley if he hired a full time GM and basketball ops staff.

 

[Warhawk]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/02/27/michael.jordan.bobcats/index.html?hpt=T2

(CNN) -- Retired basketball icon Michael Jordan bought a majority share of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, officials said Saturday.

Jordan, who was already a minority owner of the team, headed a group that bought a majority share of the team from businessman Robert Johnson, Johnson said in a statement.

Johnson said he has signed a "definitive agreement" to sell majority interest of Bobcats Sports and Entertainment to Michael Jordan and MJ Basketball Holdings, LLC. The deal is subject to NBA approval. Details on the purchase price were not available.

Jordan has overseen the team's basketball operations in recent years. He won six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls.

Johnson, who founded BET and sold it to Viacom for $3 billion in 2001, announced that he had been looking for someone to buy earlier this year.
His fortune was depleted by an expensive divorce, but in a 2009 interview with CNN, Johnson estimated his net worth was still $1.1 billion.

Johnson's resume is full of firsts: BET was the first African-American owned company traded on the NYSE. He was the first African-American billionaire in the United States. And, in 2002, he became the first African-American majority owner of a professional sports franchise.

 

[Superman]

What's sort of funny is that last week, Bill Simmons writes an article about how smart people with tons of money are refusing to buy NBA teams right now, because the franchises are over-valued and there's a strike looming in a couple of years, and that's part of the reason the NBA didn't hesitate to let the Russian owner in (these are comments from a person who could easily buy a team that he talked to at All Star weekend).

And now, Jordan is leading an ownership group to buy the Bobcats, a team that has been bad since its inception, and because of one good season might very well be one of the most over-valued franchises in the NBA. Great timing, Mike.

 

[Superman]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/michael_rosenberg/03/01/jordan/index.html

Still, it wouldn't surprise me to see Jordan fail. And it isn't surprising that he is willing to fail, to put himself in a position to put a giant disaster on his basketball legacy, because Jordan has always been willing to risk that. He did it when he left to play baseball, and did it when he went back to the Bulls and wore No. 45, and he really did it when he joined a bad Wizards team as he was pushing 40.

No, this is the part that I don't understand: Where is Jordan's work ethic? Where is his competitive desire? All those qualities that separated him from Dominique Wilkins and Clyde Drexler, or even Kobe Bryant ... where did they go?

Where is his want?

Maybe he has finally figured out that he wants to own a team but doesn't want to do the day-to-day work. That is probably the best-case scenario. Then he can let other people build the team.​