The Nba

Air Condition
Not even Michael Jordan can immediately elevate the Wizards

At each game in Washington's MCI Center, the fans make a point of glancing at the owner's private box. Only eight times this season have they glimpsed Michael Jordan, and that has caused concern that the greatest player in league history is not wholly dedicated to becoming a great team president. "Anybody who would question Michael Jordan's work ethic and commitment would have to have had his head in the sand," says the Wizards' rookie coach, Leonard Hamilton. "He is the ultimate competitor, and when you have that kind of motor, you don't have any first, second, third or fourth gear. His is running full blast all the time."

So far that hasn't lifted the Wizards, who at week's end had the league's second-worst record (12-36) to show for the fifth-highest payroll ($59.1 million). Sources say that since Jordan's arrival as team president 13 months ago, the front office has split into two camps: one headed by Jordan and assistant G.M. Rod Higgins, who want to improve the team quickly; the other by the old guard, owner Abe Pollin and G.M. Wes Unseld. So determined is the 77-year-old Pollin to cut costs that he has reportedly vetoed several trades put together by Jordan, whom he hired.

It was Pollin and Unseld who traded future superstars Chris Webber and Rasheed Wallace and left Washington with over-the-hill guards Rod Strickland, 34, and Mitch Richmond, 35. Their $10 million salaries devour a huge chunk of Washington's salary-cap room, which otherwise is largely consumed by the $105 million due forward Juwan Howard through 2002-03.

Barring a trade by the Feb. 22 deadline, Jordan will have to sit tight until after the season, when he can buy out the last year of Strickland's contract for $5 million and hope to make wise use of the Wizards' likely lottery pick, which will be only their second first-round choice in six years. To that end, Jordan has upgraded the team's computerized video systems, crucial to analyzing talent, and more than doubled the scouting staff, sending nine scouts to study domestic and overseas prospects. Because the top choices are expected to be early entrants from college, high school players and possibly Chinese center Yao Ming, they will all need time to develop. "Michael will be successful," says Pacers president Donnie Walsh, "but it's going to take four or five years."

In fairness, Pollin—the league's longest-tenured owner, in his 36th year—is no cheapskate. In addition to paying outrageous salaries, he spent $200 million to build the MCI Center in 1997 without public funds, a rarity these days. Those investments have left him unwilling to expose himself to the luxury tax the Wizards must pay unless he can trim $2 million to $4 million from his current payroll by next season. Here's another incentive: It's likely that next season every NBA player will have to return up to 10% of his salary to the owners as part of a new formula designed to keep payrolls down. It's also expected that those teams paying the luxury tax will be precluded from receiving their share of the players' refund.

The Wizards' financial pinch recalls the famous debate during the 1998-99 lockout, in which Jordan, on behalf of the union, told Pollin it was time for him to sell if he wasn't willing to pay what it took to compete for a championship. The two have had no public arguments since they started working together. Though Jordan has taken a lot of the heat for the worst first half in Wizards history (7-34), he has remained silent, declining almost all interview requests (including one from SI for this story) and refusing to blame Pollin or Unseld.

The differing management styles of Jordan and his old-school predecessor, Unseld, became obvious when the ever troublesome Strickland missed a practice last month. After Unseld ripped Strickland publicly, Jordan, hoping to maintain his point guard's trade value, was more temperate. Strickland has missed another practice and a team flight and has been arrested for driving under the influence for the third time in three years. The only positive development for Jordan regarding Strickland is that the player's base-year standing expired last Saturday, making him easier to unload.

Jordan has made his share of mistakes, too. He hasn't addressed the players as a group since his tirade on Dec. 6, after Washington blew a 21-point lead to the visiting Clippers. That prompted Howard and others to respond that they might play better with Jordan's support rather than his criticism. Higgins says Jordan has gotten better at managing his temper, understanding that TV cameras catch his reaction to every bad play.

"He's learning on the job, like me," says Grizzlies president Dick Versace, who participated in Jordan's first trade, a five-player deal last August that allowed the Wizards to shed center Ike Austin's $5.3 million salary. "I get lots of calls from him. He's working harder than people suspect."