The NBA / Sam McManis : Michael Jordan May Finish the Season in Classroom

Michael Jordan, presumably riding a DC-10 and not his popular Air Jordan shoes, flew back to North Carolina Monday morning to resume work toward his degree in cultural geography.

Even though the official word is that Jordan will miss only another four weeks because of the slow-healing broken bone in his left foot, speculation in Chicago is that Jordan will not return to the slumping Bulls until next season.

Jordan has been out since the third game of the season and the earliest he can return is March 15.

That would give him only a month to find his timing and then find a way to lift Chicago into the playoffs. But the Bulls, whose 17-38 record is the worst in the Eastern Conference, might be so far out of it by then that even he wouldn’t make enough of a difference.

Last week, though, Jordan told Chicago writers that he will play--this season.

“This was a very emotional decision for me,” said Jordan, after hearing the latest from the doctors. “I’m told that the foot is not ready.”

But during the All-Star break, Jordan was saying that his left foot felt fine and that he even could launch dunks off it. He also said that his celebrated return would be on Feb. 14, sort of his Valentine’s Day gift for desperate Bull fans.

A decision last Wednesday by three foot specialists, who examined Jordan, changed those plans. X-rays showed that a tiny crack running length-wise on the bone still had not fully healed.

That night, in a six-way conference call among the doctors, majority owner Jerry Reinsdorf, General Manager Jerry Krause and Jordan, the doctors said that Jordan probably could return but that the safest course of action would be no action for at least four more weeks.

David Falk, Jordan’s agent, recently told Anthony Cotton of the Washington Post that Jordan should sit out the rest of the season and start the 1986-87 season on the right foot, so to speak. Falk may get his wish now.

Jordan’s doctors insist that there will be no permanent damage once the foot is fully healed. But the same kind of injury almost ended Bill Walton’s career. It took three years and major reconstructive surgery by Dr. Tony Daly, the Clipper physician, before Walton could resume playing without pain.

Walton’s break, however, ran across the bone, not lengthwise, and thus was more serious, according to doctors.

Meanwhile, Jordan says he is working hard to earn his degree in cultural geography, which includes studies in meteorology. Maybe he’ll one day get a job as a television weatherman.

Another Foot Note: Philadelphia 76er guard Andrew Toney, also out since early October with injuries to both feet, returned to the lineup and scored eight points in 19 minutes Saturday in the 76ers’ one-point overtime loss to the Detroit Pistons.

If any of the growing list of players with foot injuries--Jordan, Toney, New York’s Bill Cartwright--figured to miss the entire season it was Toney, whose foot problems the last two seasons probably have paid for several podiatrists’ vacations.

Toney suffered the fracture in his right foot early this season, and while doctors ran a routine check of his left, they found that he also had a stress fracture and bone spurs in that one. Toney was forced to spend his holidays with casts on both feet.

Even with Toney back, the 76ers probably won’t be able to sneak up on Boston in the Atlantic Division. But they probably will hold off third-place New Jersey and may be able to finish ahead of Central Division leader Milwaukee for the second-best record in the Eastern Conference.

Add 76ers: When the 76ers play at New York, New Jersey or Washington, they usually take a mid-morning bus and spend the afternoon at a hotel before heading to the arena.

But last Thursday, when the 76ers played the Knicks, their bus left at 3:30 and got caught in traffic in the Lincoln Tunnel. By the time the 76ers arrived at Madison Square Garden, it was 6:25 and they missed some warm-up time.

Phil Jasner of the Philadelphia Daily News wrote that many 76er players accused owner Harold Katz of not wanting to spend money for meals and day rooms in a hotel.

Katz, whose player payroll is near $6 million, reportedly is experiencing financial problems.

Unless Denver owner Sidney Shlenker does a sudden and unexpected reversal, forward Alex English soon will be signed for the rest of his Nugget career.

English, battling Utah’s Adrian Dantley for the NBA scoring title, reportedly will be one of the league’s highest-paid forwards. Sources said that English will earn $1.35 million next season, $1.5 in 1987-88, $1.65 in 1988-89 and $2 million in 1989-90. Only $500,000 of the $2 million in the fourth season is guaranteed.

Representatives of English met with Shlenker Monday in Denver. Apparently, only minor points in the contract need to be worked out.

English, 32, has scored more points than any other NBA player in the last five seasons.

San Antonio’s Alvin Robertson, a starting guard for the West in the All-Star game, has two seasons plus an option remaining on his contract, but Spur owner Angelo Drossos recently said he is willing to renegotiate.

The unusual thing is, Robertson hasn’t asked for renegotiation.

Robertson, who has developed into one of the league’s best off guards in only his second season, is earning $231,125 this season and will get $302,250 next season. The Spurs have an option in 1987-88 to sign him for $300,000.

Once the subject was brought up, though, Robertson and his agent said they would like a six-year deal for “considerably more” than his current contract.

Rumors persist that Cleveland Cavalier Coach George Karl may be headed to the University of Pittsburgh to fill that coaching vacancy.

Even though Karl will likely guide the Cavaliers to their second straight playoff appearance, he is said to be interested in the job. Karl was a prep star at Penn Hills High in a Pittsburgh suburb before playing college ball at North Carolina.

It seems that the New Jersey Nets finally have gotten tough with troubled guard Micheal Ray Richardson, who has been in and out of drug rehabilitation centers and last week missed a practice last week that prompted speculation that he again was using drugs.

A drug test showed that Richardson was clean and he was reinstated to the team. But Coach Dave Wohl said that Richardson will not be a major contributor until he shows some stability in his life.

“Chronologically, he’s 30,” Wohl said. “But he sometimes acts 15. . . . These things have been a distraction the entire season.

“He didn’t show up to a team flight to San Antonio in November, and the team went on a four-game losing streak. Then, the Christmas thing (in which Richardson entered a drug treatment center after a team Christmas party) happened, and we went into another tailspin. I want to guard against another distraction period. He’s let his team down three times. He’s abdicating his responsibilities.”

Adding to Richardson’s problems, the New York Times reported that he has split with his wife, Leah. When Richardson called in sick for practice last week and then missed his doctor’s appointment, he spoke to team officials from a New York hotel, not his New Jersey home.