Michael Jordan's resume as an executive has long been tarnished by the name Kwame Brown, his much-maligned choice with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 National Basketball Association draft when he ran the Washington Wizards.
Eight years later, he has to live with another failed decision: Adam Morrison, Jordan's first draft pick with the Charlotte Bobcats. After not living up to expectations, Jordan traded the No. 3 overall selection in 2006 to the Los Angeles Lakers over the weekend.
In a rare conference call with reporters on Tuesday, Jordan owned up to the mistakes, but insisted other moves he's made as managing partner of the Bobcats have positioned the struggling franchise to compete long-term.
"I think we've grown from it. I've grown from it and hopefully down the road when you make a choice, you try to make a better choice," Jordan said from Chicago, where he still lives after winning six NBA titles as a player with the Bulls. "People are going to point out the mistakes. Very rarely do they point out the successes. I understand that. It's part of the game."
Jordan's Bobcats have been the NBA's most active team this season. After luring Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown out of his two-year exile after a bungled season in New York, Jordan has teamed with his tinkering coach to pull off three trades and use a league-high 23 players.
The last deal, sending Morrison and reserve guard Shannon Brown to the Lakers on Saturday for Serbian reserve forward Vladimir Radmanovic, was an acknowledgment of error by the part-owner with the final say on basketball decisions.
Morrison missed all of last season with a knee injury.
While Morrison joins Kwame Brown as the picks that critics point to and suggest Jordan's a failure as a talent evaluator, Jordan chuckles that little is said about taking point guard D.J. Augustin with the ninth pick in last year's draft. Augustin is having an impressive rookie season.
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily Feburary 12, 2009)
