Michael Jordan took majority ownership of Charlotte in 2010 and immediately started shaking things up.
Former NBA veteran Stephen Jackson who had just arrived at Charlotte, recalls the time when MJ was so frustrated with the team that he suited up with the second string side at practice, after officially being out of the NBA for seven seasons.
“When I first got there, it was kinda rocky,” Jackson said on the Million Dollaz Worth Of Game podcast. “I just got traded. So, we got our ass beat by somebody, and he came in the locker room after the game just going off on us, like, ‘We need to get our sh*t together,’ right? I made some little comment or something like that. He ain’t say nothing.
“So, he came to practice the next day…back on that sh*t. ‘Y’all think y’all did something?’ He started talking about all his accolades. ‘Take my shoes off.’ He wasn’t just talking to me, he was talking because everybody had his shoes on, he gave me a deal and all that. This sh*t was kind of directed to me and Gerald Wallace cause we the leaders of the team. Going off on us right to the point where he gets on the second team in practice, and we lose.”
“Whatever he had on, he came out there, pushed against whoever Gerald Wallace was guarding at 3 guard, kicked him out and got in that spot, played with the second team,” Jackson explained. “He scored a couple points and to the point where he talked so much sh*t afterwards, he grabbed the ball and went — dunked one on the way out. This what I told myself. You can ask my pops, when I got home, ‘That’s why he the GOAT.’”
After MJ embarrassed the whole team, they actually went on a crazy run and made the playoffs that season. They finished with a 44-38 record, made their first postseason appearance since 2001-02 and to top it all off, had the NBA’s first-ranked defense. So his hard ball tactics must have done something.
The Charlotte Hornets, as they are now known, are still yet to win an NBA championship and the last time they made the playoffs was in 2016.
They are currently 14th seed in the West and 7-20 so maybe it’s time for MJ to use some of his old tactics to see results.