Michael Jordan not only dominated on the basketball court during his playing career but also after it. We have heard stories about Jordan dominating during practice when he was the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets, and former NBA player Raymond Felton spoke about just how good he was on Podcast P with Paul George.
“MJ as an owner is just how he is as a player,” Felton said. “He was super competitive, he hated to lose, and he came to the locker room many times and told us how he felt about how we was playing. The one moment I’mma take from that was it was me, him, Jeff McInnis, Gerald Wallace, and I want to say [Jason Richardson].
“J-Rich might not have been there, but I know it was me, Gerald, and Jeff Mcinnis,” Felton continued. “We played 1-on-1 against MJ. When I tell you he was frying us… Man, he was frying us, bro, and was talking crazy to us too.”
Host Paul George felt that Jordan, who had become a minority owner in 2006, surely would have lost some of these games, but Felton admitted he won every time.
“We were scoring on him, but he won the games,” Felton stated.
Felton, whom the Bobcats had selected with the fifth pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, revealed that Jordan would post up and hit those fadeaways like he did in his heyday. It would have been quite a humbling experience for those players to get beaten all the time.
Jeff McInnis only played for the Bobcats during the 2007-08 season, so Jordan was about 45 years old when this particular 1-on-1 session was held. The fact that these active NBA players couldn’t even beat him once speaks to his greatness.
Stephen Jackson also once revealed that Jordan beat the Bobcats’ first team in practice with the reserves as his teammates. This was in 2010, when he was 47 years old.
Jordan was talking a lot of trash, too, as he was upset because the Bobcats had been blown out in their last game. To say he wasn’t shy about speaking his mind would be an understatement.
Raymond Felton Defended Michael Jordan’s Stint As Owner Of The Bobcats/Hornets
The stories about Jordan dominating his players are incredible, but that’s about the only thing he excelled at. In his 13 years as majority owner from 2010 to 2023, the team made the playoffs thrice and never won a series. Jordan has received a lot of criticism for his failures, but Felton came to his defense during this episode.
“Him as an owner, though, man, let me say that, though, a lot of people give him, giving him dirt about being an owner. But a lot of people don’t understand, man, it’s not easy. It’s not easy, you know, you’re taking a chance and drafting kids and you know signing people in free agency and you know you just don’t know how things are going to pan out, you know? You just, you basing on their talent, you basing on what you feel like the potential can be sometimes, it works, sometimes it doesn’t. And I think he just gets a lot of scrutiny from that.”
“And I mean obviously he ain’t going to live up to being anything else in life outside of being the man who he is in a game of basketball. He’s the GOAT, and especially for me, you know, he’s the GOAT. So he can’t, anything he do ain’t going to live up to that. But you know, just people always got a lot of negativity to say when it comes to him as a basketball owner.”
No one expected Jordan to be the greatest owner ever. He wouldn’t have faced criticism if the Bobcats/Hornets were a team that made the playoffs often but never came close to winning the title. The fact that they were bad more often than not is why he came under fire. Jordan certainly made the right call by selling the team for $3 billion in 2023.
