Jordan Still Keeping League in Suspense

Attention Michael Jordan fans: Break out the No. 23 jerseys, waggle the tongue and cross your Air Jordans.

After nearly a week of “Where’s Waldo?”-like guessing, the MJ Watch goes on full alert this week.

No, there haven’t been any new smoke signals. But after six months of wrangling, a deal to end the lockout and several days of lawyer-speak, the NBA finally gets going today.

Players can begin using team training facilities, though they aren’t allowed to have contact with coaches. Teams can negotiate with agents, although no deals can be signed until Jan. 18.

And the Chicago Bulls will begin offering daily updates on everything from Jordan to the schedule.

“There’s a lot of questions to be answered both on and off the court,” team spokesman Tim Hallam said Sunday in Chicago. “We will be trying to inform our public in all aspects of our organizational goals.”

The Bulls have four players--Ron Harper, Toni Kukoc, Randy Brown and Keith Booth--under contract. But ever since the NBA and the players’ union reached a deal Wednesday to settle the lockout, the primary question has been, “What’s Jordan going to do?”

Bull fans want to know whether their team is going to contend for a seventh championship in the 1990s or a lottery pick in June’s draft. Chicago’s free agents want to know if they’ll be fighting the city’s nasty traffic on game days or trying to find their way around a new city.

And the NBA wants to know if Jordan will save the league once again, this time from post-lockout apathy.

“It’s not polite or appropriate for commissioners to beg, but Michael, please come back,” Commissioner David Stern said last week.

Jordan’s brother said he thought the NBA’s MVP would play again. His good buddy, Charles Barkley, disagreed. His agent, David Falk, said he didn’t know. As for Jordan himself, he’s not saying. He was vacationing in the Bahamas with his family when the lockout was settled, and hasn’t said a word.

*

Veiled threats of rough play have been aimed at NBA stars who took a low profile during negotiations with league management, according to Newsweek.

“All of us had to stand up for things that were unpopular and all of us took a hit,” one veteran superstar told the magazine. “[Grant Hill] and a couple guys who decided to be quiet and keep themselves clean better expect to get dirty come game time.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Key Dates

A look at what’s happened and what’s ahead for the NBA:

Jan. 7: League’s board of governors votes, 29-0, to ratify deal with the players.

Today: Players can begin using team training facilities, but they can’t have contact with coaches.

Jan. 18: Although teams can negotiate with agents, deals can’t be signed until this date.