Was MJ the Bulls GM?

Shawon0Meter

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So you know how LeBron is basically the GM of the Cavs when it comes to deciding who's on the roster with him... did Jordan make those same kind of decisions with the 90's Bulls?
 

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The short answer is no.
 

Gustavus Adolphus

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Scoot is right about the short answer, but the longer answer is that he did lobby hard with the Krause for certain things. I've always heard a rumor that he was looking to get Pippen traded for Shawn Kemp, and it's pretty much known that he hated the Oakley for Cartwright trade. Jordan really isn't the businessman he thinks he is - certainly not in the same vain as Magic Johnson. He's more like Isaiah Thomas, but it's much more hidden. That said, in his retirement from playing the one thing he's definitely good at is picking second wives.
 

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No, and I suppose in the grand scheme of things, we should be glad he wasn't because he would've probably hindered those 3peats more than helped.
 

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While Jordan had a public opinion on some moves(like most players would), he was mostly hands off. There are a few that he stuck his neck out for. Nothing that comes ANYWHERE near close to being confused as a demanding player GM. LeBron is truly unique in that regard, as he does a lot more than ask for help, he tries to dictate the entire organization like no person the league has ever seen. And the thing here is, because the league is pretty watered down as far as complete physical two-way players go, guys like LeBron have more pull and the FO has to take them seriously to a much further extent. Dwight tried to play GM, but he was laughed out of Orlando. Chris Paul had lesser demands than a lot of players. A lot of guys didn't want to play with Oscar Robinson, so he basically only got some of what he wanted and the rest went down as having a lot of tantrums with the front office.

Jordan trusted the experts around him with all things considered and spent his free-time playing golf, being pampered by businessmen, and battling gambling addiction. Very different types of personality and personality issues from Bran. For most of his career, Michael wanted to do as much of it by himself. He wasn't about forming NBA superteams and people confuse him making his teammates better with him having a superteam. Jackson was a nobody coach beforehand, Pippen was like dozens of other swingmen of the time, Grant was a generic PF, and Rodman was on the verge of being kicked out of the NBA. BJ Armstrong was a bench microwave guy that took a few steps. It's amazing how things look in hindsight compared to how they looked in real-time. Jordan had a lot to do with why these guys were regarded as great players. When you develop your team, you don't need to play GM.


Just ask yourself this. Delonte West, good player. Very good come off the bench and get you 9pts and maybe force a TO type of player. Why did he get blacklisted from the NBA? Did Jordan ever get anyone blacklisted like that? IMO that is one example of abusing power far more than just being demanding to the top positions of your organization about trades, drafts, and signings.
 
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Gustavus Adolphus

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Well, Jordan did keep Isaiah Thomas off the Dream Team.
 

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Eh, a lot of Dream Teamers came out against Isiah Thomas. Yes, some were okay with him too, so it's not a full group effort. I'm not sure that one gets pegged on Jordan. It's not like the Bad Boys only made one rivalry, and not like IT was suddenly a clean player when playing other teams. Chuck Daly also wasn't blacklisted by any players, in fact, he was embraced by Jordan and Pippen after a brief meeting, so far more things point away from Jordan or Pippen dictating IT's position here. Heck, they remedied the Rodman situation, the Buddha Edwards situation, and eventually were good with Spider, so IMO that's a flat out silly accusation to suggest one is kosher and the other is not.

Barkley also had rubbed a lot of guys the wrong way, he was a dirty player in the last few seasons in Philly, on par with anyone the Pistons had, aside from 'Freddie'. None of it mattered. It stayed on the court. So whatever Isiah did runs deep, far beyond that of the Bulls rivalry.
 
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No and it was good that he wasn't. He would have took Joe Wolf over Pippen/Horace.

Krause with all his ego and disgusting appearance was 100x the talent evaluator Jordan was/is. Glad he stood his ground when it came to running the team...even though he eventually ended up running it into the ground.
 

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From my recollection Michael tried multiple times to get certain players. All of them were awful. I never heard of Kemp before, but Michael has shown to be a poor talent evaluator when you consider his ownership. Michael pushed as hard as he could within the rules of the time. I have no doubt he'd do what Lebron is doing now if he played now and had the ability to move teams as easily as Lebron does now.
 

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From my recollection Michael tried multiple times to get certain players. All of them were awful. I never heard of Kemp before, but Michael has shown to be a poor talent evaluator when you consider his ownership. Michael pushed as hard as he could within the rules of the time. I have no doubt he'd do what Lebron is doing now if he played now and had the ability to move teams as easily as Lebron does now.
Shawn Kemp was actually a good talent, but he had attitude issues and I think ended up being a druggie his post Seattle years. Like most things Jordan wanted personnel wise, it probably would've not worked very well.

So did Jordan try to play GM? Yeah, but he got (rightfully) ignored. LeGM has a lot more power over his teams than Jordan ever did. I suppose in his defense, he's done a better job than Jordan historically has.
 

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I'll take: "Things every star player did with their GMs" for 100, Alex.

Not anywhere near the same, not anywhere near as bad as many lesser players and easier to manipulate GM/owners. Sham Smith made a career out of taking Bulls players out of context or making much ado about nothing as well. He still does it today, not as bad as Crowley does now. Report one truth, and bend four rumors. Quote a spitball idea then report it as the dominant notion. Yeah, not really someone to respect for much of anything and I'm surprised some of the older posters here are still putting out his trash.

I'll defend Jordan for what he did right, and call him out for bonehead moves. FAR from a Jordan apologist, but when pushing bad information contrived either from his enemies or professional spinsters, it's hard not to defend the record for accuracy.


Also, the Shawn Kemp thing started when the Bulls drafted Stacey King and BJ Armstrong, and felt they could have done something. Then doubling down IIRC said something about rather having him than Pippen. He also tried to recruit Mutumbo to the Bulls after one of the ASGs, but that may have just been a passing conversation on a night out that leaked for a few sentences in some speculation reported by a quack journalist, but that seems to get forgotten. I might have those newspapers somewhere from when I used to keep all things Bulls.
 
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Gustavus Adolphus

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You also have to take into account the power structure in the league. Players in today's NBA have much more power than they did in Jordan's era.
 

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You also have to take into account the power structure in the league. Players in today's NBA have much more power than they did in Jordan's era.

Absolutely. And the NBAPA pushed for CBA changes that allowed more top-heavy, which in turn gave players more power to create more top-heavy. That didn't exist before. But star players have been talking with GMs forever, making requests and demands. That has been going on since the dawn of organized sports. That doesn't mean Cousy was playing GM, just because he clashed with Macauley and Red made a trade.
 

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Absolutely. And the NBAPA pushed for CBA changes that allowed more top-heavy, which in turn gave players more power to create more top-heavy. That didn't exist before. But star players have been talking with GMs forever, making requests and demands. That has been going on since the dawn of organized sports. That doesn't mean Cousy was playing GM, just because he clashed with Macauley and Red made a trade.

Jordan was most famous for it during the era. Is that because he's Michael? Most definitely. But to say Jordan was better than James because of this is flatly revisionist history imo.
 

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Jordan was most famous for it during the era. Is that because he's Michael? Most definitely. But to say Jordan was better than James because of this is flatly revisionist history imo.

Uhhhh... To say Jordan was better than James because Jordan was no more playing GM than anyone else of the era? Yeah. Not exactly revisionism. Heck, to say Jordan was "most famous for it during the era" is pretty much a hater argument. It ignores quite a bit. Like Charles Barkley, as one that comes off the top my head that constantly was pushing GMs and leaving if he didn't get his way. Jordan didn't get his way and he didn't leave until he basically bought shares of his own team and was partly bound to play for them if he was going to play at all.

Being fair, who comes close to LeBron in the modern era that plays GM to the level of say... you want to use Jordan, so who else? If this is just an era problem, then look at the drop off from LeBron to the next guy. And not just being a FA and moving elsewhere. But going to the GM/owner and throwing up ultimatums, forcing moves, etc(which BTW, other than speculation, give me one example of Jordan actually getting his way with one of these GM discussions in some manor where the team wasn't already going in that direction anyways, I'll wait, but wont hold my breath).
 

Gustavus Adolphus

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Jordan was most famous for it during the era. Is that because he's Michael? Most definitely. But to say Jordan was better than James because of this is flatly revisionist history imo.

Because of what? Can you expand on this out a bit?
 

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