Michael Jordan: ‘Now I’m involved’
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Well, it’s official. Michael Jordan owns the Bobcats. It’s really happening. He even had a press conference about it and everything. They grow up so fast these days.
And while Jordan’s stint as minority investor was marked by not showing up to games or wearing bad jeans in the rare case that he did, he seems pretty serious about his new role.
"It’s motivating," the six-time NBA champion said of the naysayers who joke he’ll be more worried about tee times than season ticket renewals. "I’ve never been asked to be out at the forefront of an organization. I never had the financial commitment to do that. Now I have. Now I’m involved. How can I not, when I’m owning 80 percent of the basketball team, not put my face on the organization?"
He also answered a lot of questions that were popping up in the weeks leading up to and after his purchase of the team.
On a potential name change:
"If I get the understanding from the community, from the public, that we need it and it signifies a change, yeah, I will do that," Jordan said.
On Larry Brown’s status with the team:
"I don’t expect Larry is going anywhere,” Jordan said, adding he anticipates Brown finishing the last two years on his contract and the Bobcats offering an extension beyond that.
But if Brown asked out?
"I’d do everything I can to keep him here,” Jordan said, "but if for family reasons or (wife) Shelly’s reasons he feels like he’s got to do something else, what else can I do?"
On actually being with the team:
"Now that I have invested in this process, I assume his responsibility in terms of putting my face on this organization and obviously trying to move to the next level," said Jordan, who will buy a home here but remain a resident of Chicago.
Like I said, he’s serious. It’s like the opposite of an episode of "Lost" with all these answered questions. All that remains to be seen is if the first former player to ever own a team can remake his new purchase in his image. Those are some pretty big and famous shoes to fill.
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