Many see Michael Jordan as the greatest of all time. However, his stint as NBA executive and owner may be somewhat of a blotch in his legacy. After all, the Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets could never find sustained success under MJ's leadership.
Gilbert Arenas even poked fun at Jordan in an appearance on "Guess the Secret NBA Player" earlier this year. One of the masked participants was trying to impersonate Frank Kaminsky by saying he played college basketball at the University of Wisconsin and got drafted ninth in 2015. Upon hearing that the player was selected by the Hornets , Arenas took a shot at "His Airness."
"Damn, that makes sense, too, 'coz MJ don't know nothing," Gil said .
Jordan's track record in roster-building
Evidently, Arenas isn't a fan of Jordan's stint as an NBA executive, a sentiment shared by many. His ownership era was marked by plenty of questionable and bad decisions, one example of which was Charlotte's constant failure to succeed in the draft.
For instance, the Hornets brought in Kaminsky in 2015, hoping that the sweet-shooting big man's skills would translate to the professional level. It was easy to be optimistic at the time, given that he had just won several Player of the Year awards and led the Badgers to the national championship game, where they lost to Duke University.
Unfortunately, he couldn't become an impactful player, and the Hornets would have likely been better off drafting any of Justise Winslow, Myles Turner, or Devin Booker, three of the next four picks following Kaminsky.
Of course, those aren't entirely Jordan's faults, as the draft—as well as free agency and the hiring of coaches—typically involves hit-or-miss decisions. In addition, he had folks helping him in the decision-making process.
Still, MJ probably had the final say most of the time, and his track record just left much to be desired.
Related: Steve Ballmer explains why he put an emphasis on the toilet count at the Intuit Dome: "It stops people from getting back into the game"
Arenas' experience in righting Jordan's wrongs
Unfortunately, Jordan's ownership had the Hornets stuck in a loop of mediocrity and inferiority.
Perhaps the six-time NBA champ should have learned his lessons during his time as the Wizards' director of basketball operations, where he also had more misses than hits.
Arenas even dealt firsthand with the aftermath of Jordan's front-office decisions, as the retired point guard joined Washington in 2003, right after the 14-time All-Star was let go by the organization. The late Wizards owner Abe Pollin even charged "Agent Zero" with the mission of making people stop talking about MJ.
In some ways, Gil succeeded in his task after helping lead Washington to four straight playoff trips and figuring in a gun incident that had become the talk of the town in the nation's capital for a long while.
Related: "I'm not saying that I can take Kobe Bryant or Tracy McGrady" — Michael Jordan was real about his ability when he played with the Wizards
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