Wright Thompson, you magnificent bastard

Kobe still has that edge to him. Not as much as Jordan did, but it's still impressive that he still has it after all these years...

 

Chris Paul has the same type of "edge" or attitude. Of all the guys Jordan left off his list, Paul was the most surprising. Also, obviously, not including Durant is delusional.

 

Agree. He brings it every night even when hurt or sick.

 

Decent story. Not great by any means. His getting that kind of access is the story to me. Jordan's 50. Still has the itch. Still as competitive as ever. Doesn't think much of the modern players. Yeah, we already knew that.

But that access was amazing. Good for him.

 

Decent. Yeah.

I mean, I know that journalism is, like a lot of things, subjective. I hardly fawn over everything Thompson writes, but to call that piece "decent" is a confession that you just can't recognize an outstanding piece of reporting and writing. And that you're one of those people who post here to find a fault in something everyone else is complimenting.

This story is a beautiful piece of work, a project that went the distance, and I'm frankly surprised anyone who has studied this profession can't see that.

 

It was a nice story.

One thing I felt it lacked was taking the Sucky Bobcats thing a step or two further: "Why is it broken, Mike, and how are you going to fix it?"

Were their ground rules to this access, such as don't ask that question? Because if Mike is so goddamn competitive, what is he doing to keep the Bobcats from being this generation's version of the Clippers? I would have loved a section on that kind of interaction between interviewer and interviewee.

But it was a nice little journey with Mike at 50.

 

Great story. But ... I can't help but think about the story you have to write, and the one you're not permitted to write, if you're granted that kind of access. So little on his performance in management of the Wizards and Bobcats.

One of the most interesting lines to me: Jordan saying he owns the arena in Charlotte. Uh, unless I missed the law that passed giving him ownership, that's pure hubris. Charlotte owns the arena.

 

Excellent.

Thompson's style fits Jordan perfectly. All the details Thompson mentions, Jordan has thought about in creating his overall...impression of life. The shoes, the cigar, the twisty straw in the wine; Jordan, like most great narcissists, is forever scanning the room for impressions and edges for fear that he might on the butt end of something. Thompson's been rightly accused at times of injecting meaning where the subject probably didn't intent it to exist, but Jordan intends it. Hell, he supplies some of the detail: The McRib, the three Westerns, LeBron's style of play.

 

I don't think this story is about the Wizards and Bobcats in the least. There's enough of that in there to satisfy some curiosity on it -- such as noting that he built the team with the lowest winning percentage ever -- but good lord, when you have that kind of time with Michael Jordan, you don't waste it haranguing him about Adam Morrison.

This is a personality profile. And you walk away from it feeling like you know Michael Jordan pretty damn well. Let a thousand daily columns figure out what's wrong with the Bobcats.

 

But if you're throwing in the Sudoku and world jumble stuff and whatnot to define his obsession for competition, asking a question about fixing the Bobcats can't hurt the narrative. It would have fit right in with the personality profile.

That said, the descriptive stuff is great. Jordan let Wright in to the inner sanctum, and the writer wrote what needed to be written.

 

I'd guess Jordan is more focused on LeBron these days because Kobe is on the backside of his career. Jordan knows now Kobe isn't ever overtaking him in terms of legacy. With LeBron there's still that possibility and I figure that is the kind of thing that keeps Jordan up at night.

 

Only thing that rankled me was repeating this quote from one of his letters home -- "Dear Mama and Pops … Please send stamps." That was a bit maudlin. It was in this part:

"There's an unspoken shadow over the stories about that town house on Essex Drive. James Jordan remodeled the basement for his son. Did all the work himself, because he'd never let Michael pay for something he could do on his own. The first winter, while Michael was out of town for the All-Star Game, his pipes froze. His dad ripped out the walls, replacing the pipes himself, patching and repainting when he finished. He spent two weeks fixing his son's home. James and Mike -- that's where all this nostalgia has been headed, from the moment it began.

Dear Mama and Pops … Please send stamps."

I found it interesting that his fiance had never seen him play, and found it amusing that his in-laws to be could give a damn about basketball. It seems like his family-to-be will keep him a bit more grounded.

I thought the article was interesting, and I laughed out loud at the "breathtaking asshole" bit. As a personality piece, it was pretty damn insightful, especially the fact that his friends laughed about his HOF speech.