Michael Jordan may well be the greatest player ever, but his time as an executive and majority owner isn’t going to be looked back at too fondly. Jordan, who is ending his 13-year run as majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets, has especially been criticized for his poor drafting.
The two names that are often brought up for that are Kwame Brown and Adam Morrison, but Gilbert Arenas thinks Jordan shouldn’t be criticized for picking them. He also explained how MJ would defend his selections.
“I got the No. 1 pick, okay I got Kwame Brown right,” Arenas said. “Now, let’s rewind it, who was I gonna pick now right? Am I going to pick Tyson Chandler? Yeah, he had 20 years but he was never a star. Do I take that with the No. 1 pick? Probably not. Eddy Curry? Probably now. (Pau) Gasol, ding ding ding. But was Gasol even considered the No. 1 pick? No, so technically you can’t fault me for picking what everybody would have picked as the No.1 pick.”
Pau Gasol was the third pick in that 2001 NBA Draft which indicates he was still fairly highly rated. Would a team at that time have selected him with that first pick though? Probably not. Arenas then used the same reasoning to justify selecting Morrison with the third pick in 2006.
“Now we go to my Charlotte days,” Arenas continued. “And I take Adam Morrison. Alright, who else would I would have took with that pick? Yeah, we can look at who became stars after but were considered of that pick then? No.”
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The problem with the Morrison pick though is that not many thought it was a good idea in itself. Sure, there was only one other All-Star selected after Morrison in the top 20 (Brandon Roy) but still, picking him was just the wrong decision. Had Jordan picked someone else who didn’t pan out, he wouldn’t have received the criticism that he did.
Gilbert Arenas’ Justification Won’t Apply For The 2023 NBA Draft
Even if we do completely agree with Arenas, his justifications won’t apply to this 2023 NBA Draft. Jordan had the final say on who they’d select and he picked Brandon Miller over Scoot Henderson.
Henderson was seen as the second-best prospect by many and if he turns out to be a star while Miller flops, Arenas’ point won’t stand for this draft. It would go down as Jordan getting it wrong once again and we certainly hope that doesn’t happen.
It would be great if at least his final pick was one that helped revitalize the Hornets and Miller certainly has the potential to do that.
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