Washington Wizards Wiretap

Wiz eyes Nets' Jordan

Nets assistant coach Eddie Jordan has been granted permission to interview with another team about its head coaching position sometime after the NBA Finals. Nets director of scouting Ed Stefanski may be on his way to Washington to take a job as Wizards general manager.

Most intriguingly, Stefanski may get hired in Washington and bring Jordan with him. That was the fallout from a busy day in an NBA rumor mill that really got churning once the Wizards finally made it official and fired head coach Doug Collins.

Nets president Rod Thorn confirmed he had given approval to another NBA team to talk to Jordan about its head coaching vacancy, but Thorn would not say which team.

"We gave permission to talk at an appropriate time, yes," Thorn said. "I'm not going to say which team. There are nine possibilities."

There are nine teams with vacancies, but the Raptors, Hawks, Sixers and Clippers seem among the more likely candidates.

Via Star-Ledger


Pollin offering refunds to season-ticket holders

The Washington Wizards, seeking to quell a firestorm of angry fans seeking some sign of direction from the team, are offering refunds to season-ticket holders unsatisfied with the team's actions this offseason.

Owner Abe Pollin, in a letter that will be sent to season-ticket holders Monday, will pay back in full any deposits to account holders who want them after the offseason. Initial season-ticket deposits are due within the next several weeks and in the past have been non-refundable. "If you renew your Wizards ticket plan now, you are doing so at no risk," Pollin writes in the letter. "If you are not satisfied following the off-season, you will not risk your deposit. I am confidant [sic] that you will be pleased with our new direction and you will look forward to coming out again for another exciting season." Pollin's surprising letter comes as the team operates without a president of basketball operations or a coach following yesterday's firing of Doug Collins. Also, general manager Wes Unseld will take a leave of absence after next month's draft.

Via Washington Times


Collins Fired as Wizards Coach

The Washington Wizards fired Coach Doug Collins yesterday, opening the door for the pursuit of former Philadelphia 76ers coach Larry Brown and other potential candidates.

Collins said he had expected to be fired after the team declined to rehire Michael Jordan as president of basketball operations. Jordan hired Collins in April 2001 and was tightly aligned with the coach during Jordan's two seasons as a player.

"Everybody had the sense all along that I was going to be fired," Collins said in a conference call from Hawaii, where he is celebrating his 30th wedding anniversary. "I think it was just a matter of when that was going to happen. Obviously, any time you get fired, it's disappointing. That hurts. But I understand the organization is moving in another direction. [Team owner Abe] Pollin was always very nice to me and the one thing I told them was I appreciated the opportunity to coach there in Washington."

Via Washington Post


Wizards May 2003 Archive

  • Bucks' Grunfeld keeps options open

    Milwaukee Bucks general manager Ernie Grunfeld has not talked to other teams about employment possibilities, but he is not ruling out doing so in the future if the circumstances are right.

  • Wizards Fire Collins

    The Washington Wizards today announced they had fired head coach Doug Collins after back-to-back 37-win seasons in which the team failed to make the playoffs.

  • Brown Approached By the Wizards

    The Washington Wizards have approached Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown about becoming their president of basketball operations and head coach.

  • Wizards Denied Access to Bucks' GM

    The Bucks have denied the Wizards permission to speak to GM Ernie Grunfeld about Washington's vacant president of basketball operations job.

  • Wizards' White Won't Face Charges

    Authorities in Salt Lake City have determined that there is insufficient evidence to file sexual assault charges against Washington Wizards center Jahidi White, according to a spokesman for the Salt Lake County District Attorney's office.

  • Johnson Won't Pursue Baseball Team for D.C.

    Robert L.

  • Brown quits job as coach of 76ers, Magic may feel domino effect

    Coaching lifer Larry Brown, known for rebuilding franchises and moving to the next challenge, resigned from his job with Philadelphia Monday.

  • There Are Lots of Riders On the Coaching Carousel

    Rudy Tomjanovich should have known he was in trouble as early as training camp when his owner, Les Alexander, said the Houston Rockets had assembled just about the finest team in the NBA.

  • Wizards targeting Nets exec

    The Washington Wizards appear to be very impressed by the Nets' postseason run.

  • Collins Wants To Return

    Washington Wizards Coach Doug Collins, who is expected to be fired soon, said today that he still wants to return to the team.

  • Pollin, Wizards Move Forward

    Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin, in his first public remarks since issuing a statement declaring his intent to not re-hire Michael Jordan to the team's front office, said tonight he has interviewed candidates to replace Jordan and that the Jordan era is in the past.

  • Rip-for-Stack trade never looked better

    He moves like a water bug, so fast that sometimes all you see is the streak of where he was.

  • Wizards' lottery chances are slim

    The Washington Wizards know their chances of winning today's draft lottery and the right to draft the top pick are slim — 14 in 1,000, to be precise — but that doesn't always spell doom.

  • Lottery Conspiracy Theory – A History

    At the end of the 1982-83 season, the Houston Rockets were finishing a very disappointing season.

  • Wallace gets OK for Portland talk

    Celtics executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge said yesterday he has granted permission for general manager Chris Wallace to talk with the Portland Trail Blazers.

  • Net coach, exec see stock rise

    Nets president Rod Thorn says he has yet to receive any inquiries from teams looking to interview assistant coach Eddie Jordan for any vacant head coaching positions.

  • Seeing DeBusschere from two sides of a rivalry

    Dave DeBusschere is not the first trusted teammate to be mourned by Earl Monroe, not the first pugnacious power forward.

  • Wizards need to make some key decisions soon

    The lottery-bound Washington Wizards are up against the longest odds imaginable following the dismissal of Michael Jordan.

  • Why not ask if Jordan would join Griz?

    A high-ranking Grizzlies official recently called me crazy.

  • Jarvis Vulnerable to Wiz Wooing

    With Mike Jarvis' future at St.

  • Wizards may fire Collins

    The Washington Wizards are considering firing coach Doug Collins before the June 26 NBA Draft, a move prompted by the short list of quality replacements available.

  • Jilted Jordan on Brown's wish list

    He admits it is a wish, but Larry Brown seriously wants Michael Jordan to join the 76ers, so much so that he is willing to hand Jordan his title as vice president of player personnel.

  • Gee Wiz: Jarvis may go

    MJ is gone, which could pave the way for another man with the same initials - St.

  • Unseld won't return as GM

    Wes Unseld, the Washington Wizards general manager for the past seven seasons, said yesterday he will relinquish his position with the organization.

  • Wizards Need Good Cheer

    There is a way out of this for Abe Pollin (besides a bus ticket to Duluth).

  • Silas quickly becomes league's hottest new free agent

    One little press release has created as much fallout around the NBA as a 1950s-era nuclear weapons test in the Nevada desert.

  • Pollin makes a mistake by firing Jordan

    When the last labor negotiations got particularly hot and Michael Jordan made a rare appearance at the negotiating table, Jordan tried to take on Wizards owner Abe Pollin for the first time.

  • The Wizards' Uneasy Alliance

    Curtis Polk, Michael Jordan's business adviser, said yesterday that the end of Jordan's career as an executive for the Washington Wizards actually came more than 20 months ago, when Jordan returned to the court as a player.

  • Wizards' Pollin Kept His Plan From Partners, Associates Say

    When Michael Jordan walked into Tosca restaurant in downtown Washington last Tuesday night to meet with the Washington Wizards minority owner Ted Leonsis and two of his partners in Lincoln Holdings, he was growing genuinely concerned about his relationship with the franchise.

  • Stack coming back?

    Adding to the Washington Wizards' instability in the aftermath of Michael Jordan's firing, guard Jerry Stackhouse is undecided on whether he will return to the team.

  • Indebted to Jordan, Pollin Owed Him More

    There's a firestorm in town over the dismissal of Michael Jordan and it may rage long enough to singe Abe Pollin if he doesn't start paying attention to the fans of the team.

  • Pollin Met With Players Before Jordan's Dismissal

    Washington Wizards majority owner Abe Pollin met with some of the team's younger players without the knowledge of the basketball operations staff or Michael Jordan in the days leading up to his decision not to rehire Jordan, sources said.

  • Brown wants Jordan to have NBA job, maybe his

    Larry Brown said he was serious.

  • Leonsis said to be disturbed about MJ

    Washington Wizards minority owner Ted Leonsis did not agree with the dismissal of Michael Jordan and is deeply disturbed at how Leonsis' role in the situation has been portrayed, a source with knowledge of the situation said yesterday.

  • Without Jordan, Wizards Could Be a Tough Sell

    A day after Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin told Michael Jordan he would not be re-signed as the team's president of basketball operations, sports marketing experts said that fans likely will punish the club at the ticket office.

  • Unseld: No Changes, for Now

    General Manager Wes Unseld yesterday told the Washington Wizards' basketball operations staff that they would be retained at least until he begins an indefinite leave of absence from the team, which is scheduled to start after the June 26 NBA draft.

  • After an Angry Exchange, a Bitter Parting

    Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin's offer to pay Michael Jordan an extra $10 million in gratitude over the next five years was the flashpoint that turned Wednesday morning's 18-minute meeting into a heated exchange full of name-calling and shouting that concluded with Jordan stomping out of MCI Center, according to people familiar with the meeting.

  • Pollin Blunders Yet Again

    The book on Wizards owner Abe Pollin has long been a simple one: good man, bad owner.

  • Without MJ, Wizards' stock to tumble

    The $2 Michael Jordan Wizards jersey available on EBay yesterday said it all.

  • Jordan is gone, uncertainty is here

    Michael Jordan is out, Wes Unseld will take a protracted leave of absence after the NBA Draft in June, and the status of coach Doug Collins is uncertain.

  • Jordan's Exit Leaves Businesses at a Loss

    Last season, Michael Jordan was worth 20 points a game, six rebounds, and -- on a good night -- $1,000 worth of tapas and sangria.

  • Outside D.C., Jordan Won't Lack for NBA Suitors

    Bob Johnson, the owner of the Charlotte expansion franchise, said yesterday he would offer Michael Jordan a role with his team, which will begin play in 2004.

  • Wizards Decide Not to Retain Jordan

    Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin ended his team's 31/2-year association with Michael Jordan yesterday in a brief, acrimonious meeting at MCI Center in which Pollin informed Jordan that he would not be re-signed as president of basketball operations.

  • Jordan Surprised and Inflamed as Wizards Show Him the Door

    During a curt, five-minute exchange yesterday that ended with Michael Jordan making a futile case for his job, Abe Pollin, the Washington Wizards' owner, told Jordan, the man recognized as the world's greatest basketball player, that his services were no longer needed.

  • Charlotte owner plans on meeting with MJ

    Michael Jordan can have a job with Robert Johnson's NBA expansion franchise if he wants one.

  • Jordan Departs, Wizards Must Plan For The Future

    Michael Jordan will not return to his duties as head of the Washington Wizards basketball operations.

  • Deflation in D.C.: Air Jordan Out

    Michael Jordan won't return as president of basketball operations for the Washington Wizards.

  • Breath of fresh Air possible for Hawks?

    There will be a meeting today between Michael Jordan and Washington owner Abe Pollin and probably a few less significant millionaires.

  • Gasol outdoes Jordan in voting

    Pau Gasol will tell you that his growing popularity in basketball has essentially made him the Michael Jordan of Spain.

  • Decision Day for Jordan, Pollin

    Michael Jordan and Washington Wizards majority owner Abe Pollin plan to meet today to determine Jordan's future with the franchise.

  • Jordan-Charlotte might not be good fit

    Ask yourself a simple question: Why would Michael Jordan want to run Charlotte's new NBA franchise? Jordan has many virtues, but patience isn't among them.

  • Wizards deny being leaks

    "It wasn't me.

  • Jordan Wants to Remain With Wizards

    Two days before a critical meeting with owner Abe Pollin, Michael Jordan said last night that he wants to return to the Washington Wizards' front office.

  • Jordan Is Set to Meet With Wizards Ownership

    Michael Jordan and the Washington Wizards' minority owner, Ted Leonsis, are expected to dine tonight in the Washington area, a supposedly gentlemanly affair with only one detail at stake: perhaps the future of Jordan with the team, a franchise he and his legions feel he rescued from the N.

  • Jordan said to be on radar for Charlotte's new team

    Could Michael Jordan end up running Charlotte's pro basketball franchise after all? A meeting this week, involving Jordan and Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin, could go a long way in determining whether Jordan would be interested in coming to Charlotte.

  • MJ has several options

    When Michael Jordan and Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin sit down for their long-overdue meeting this week, Jordan will want to hear Pollin say he is willing to give the former player complete control of personnel decisions.

  • Can Pollin, Leonsis and Jordan Co-Exist in Washington Sports Scene?

    In the soap opera that has swirled around MCI Center since the seasons of the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals came to abrupt and unsatisfying ends, there are three main characters: One is the patriarch of Washington sports, the man who brought professional basketball and hockey to the area and a downtown arena to the nation's capital.

  • Wizards' Big Man Looks Inside

    Stephanie Hill shoved her way through the crowd and whipped out a pen for Washington Wizards center Etan Thomas.

  • Many Variables in Wizards Equation

    The division within the Washington Wizards appeared to widen yesterday with a published report in which unidentified team officials alleged that owner Abe Pollin and minority owner Ted Leonsis were unhappy with Michael Jordan's performance in his two years as a team executive.

  • Jordan's Strained Ties to Wizards May Be Cut

    A meeting planned for later this week between Michael Jordan and the Washington Wizards' owners, Abe Pollin and Ted Leonsis, was intended as a discussion about Jordan's possible return to the team's front office, but it may instead end their partnership.

  • Unseld takes leave of absence

    Washington Wizards general manager Wes Unseld is taking a leave of absence to deal with health issues.

  • Celtics Finish Off Pacers With Rout

    The Boston Celtics set a record for playoff futility two days earlier, but this time it was the Indiana Pacers who couldn't make a basket.