Michael Jordan was a force of nature during his time with the Chicago Bulls as he won 5 MVPs and a record 10 scoring titles. He would also win 6 championships in the 1990s to firmly establish himself as the greatest player of all time.
When you have had a career like the one he had, there aren’t too many regrets, but of course, Jordan, who had seemingly retired for good in 1998, decided to come back one more time. He had become part-owner and President of Basketball Operations for the Washington Wizards after retiring but announced in September 2001 that he would be returning to the court as a member of the Wizards.
Michael Jordan Once Revealed That Playing For The Wizards Was One Of His Biggest Mistakes In Washington
Jordan being Jordan meant that he was still effective despite his advanced age, but he just didn’t seem right with the Wizards. He averaged at least 20 points per game in both of his seasons with them, but team success would elude them and Jordan was very critical of his teammates to the media as well. It was just a bad idea to come back, and MJ admitted during an interview in 2005 that he had made a bad decision.
MRS: They say that from every experience, good or bad, there is a valuable lesson learned. What lessons did you take out of the Washington Wizards?
JORDAN: I think it exposed me to a lot of decision making. One of the bad decisions I made was to go back and play. Even though I was soothing an itch that I had, I also thought I was being innovative in my job by going down and evaluating the talent firsthand. I thought it would be a good idea to play against them, see what their tendencies were and what we were paying for. But at the same time, I became more critical of them because of the way I played the game and the way I’d approached the game, and the players didn’t respond to that. They didn’t respond to the desire that I had when I was playing. I may just have gotten too close to see or maybe too critical of certain actions of the players. That was one of the biggest mistakes that I feel I made in Washington.
He felt he was being innovative but ended up being overly critical instead and his teammates from then didn’t have too many positive things to say about him apart from his work ethic. During this interview, Jordan also spoke about what would be his dream team, and it is quite a squad.
MJ also spoke about how he once ordered the most expensive wine to shut up his agent, who constantly checked prices during dinner. He also had some high praise for Shaquille O’Neal, as he stated that he’d still be playing as a 43-year-old if Shaq was on his team.
