Wizardry Will Be Required of Jordan

As expected, Michael Jordan’s impact on the Washington Wizards was immediate and dramatic.

A huge media crowd turned out for the news conference, hosted by Washington Mayor Anthony Williams, who led cheers for embattled owner Abe Pollin (causing the Washington Post’s Tony Kornheiser to muse, “I wonder if he does bar mitzvahs.”)

President Clinton attended that night’s game, posing for pictures with Pollin and Jordan.

The D.C. press corps melted into Jordan’s arms, gushing about his decisiveness, his appearance (“so regal, so handsome, so electric and at the same time so beatific.”)

Jordan talked to his new players before the game, no doubt reminding them about the effort they owe for their fat contracts, after which Juwan Howard, who has the fattest contract of all, called him “the god of basketball.”

Unfortunately, Jordan can’t go onto the floor any more, where the Wizards lost by 18 to the 12-25 Dallas Mavericks in a game that, at least, showed Jordan what he’s up against.

Howard, who has three years and $56.25 million left on his deal, missed seven of nine shots and took five rebounds (well, at least it was better than his 4.8 average).

Mitch Richmond, 34, with two years and $20 million left, sat out because of the broken rib that’s expected to keep him sidelined two weeks.

Rod Strickland, 33, with two years and $20 million left, missed 10 of 12 shots.

Ike Austin, who has two more years and $11 million, played 12 minutes and missed three of four shots.

The walk-up sale was small, as was the crowd, 11,358 in the 20,674-seat MCI Center, answering the question: How many people will show up to see Michael in a $1,000 suit sitting in the owner’s box?

“It was a great day for the Wizards in a lot of ways,” Maverick Coach Don Nelson said, “but not on the court.”

For this, Jordan is risking his mighty aura?

On the other hand, why not?

Despite all the official denials, minority owner Ted Leonsis reportedly made him a gift of $50 million worth of equity in the Wizards, the NHL’s Capitals and the MCI Center.

So, as a business deal, you can’t knock it.

As Jordan’s new life’s work, well, he was going to need something to do besides play golf and make appearances in malls for his shoe line.

The great thing about his baseball experiment was his willingness to risk failure, which so many deemed so strange in an icon they regarded as synonymous with winning. Only Jordan knew how little such distinctions mean in one’s life.

Now that he’s through playing, if he thinks he’d like to run a team, why shouldn’t he try? (I give Magic Johnson three months at the outside to find his own team to run, now that Jordan’s in the game.) If you decide Jordan is no longer synonymous with winning, that’s your problem. He has a life to live.

Good luck, Mike. You’re definitely going to need it.

FACES AND FIGURES

What kept them? Boston Celtic ownership is considering bringing someone in above Rick Pitino, who was supposed to have unlimited power but whose personnel decisions have locked the team in for years. Of course, Pitino says he doesn’t mind, and it isn’t really his fault. “I don’t want a dictatorship,” he said. “The only thing I asked coming in is that I didn’t want what happened in New York, where if I don’t want a person, I don’t want them forced down my back. But conversely, I don’t force anyone down their back. It’s all of us. We’re a team. Chris Wallace is the general manager. Every decision that has been made has been made by Chris Wallace, his staff and myself. . . . From the Vitaly [Potapenko] trade to the [Tony] Battie trade to the Kenny Anderson trade, it’s always been a vote situation where we all cast our vote. And it’s always been like 7-2 or 6-2. I haven’t made a decision yet. And although I do like the moves that we’ve made, they haven’t been my moves.”

Not that he’s taking this personally but: Pat Riley, exasperated by losses to the Vancouver Grizzlies, New Jersey Nets and Chicago Bulls in the new AmericanAirlines Arena, says he still feels fine but his Miami Heat players don’t look so good. “I look at them and see a dead team,” he said. “I woke up this morning at 5:30, sitting on a rock and watching the sun rise. If the players want to be dispassionate, I can find another team for them to be dispassionate. The more they’re doom and gloom, the more I want to get their [behind] out of here. If you can’t handle the pressure, go somewhere else. There are a lot of players who would like to come to Miami.” Riley had a deal worked out, sending Jamal Mashburn to the Philadelphia 76ers for Larry Hughes, Billy Owens, Nazr Mohammed and Bruce Bowen, but word leaked and negotiations stalled. Riley, whose organization is as open as the Kremlin, said he didn’t appreciate the 76ers letting the news out. Larry Brown, whose organization is more accessible, said he didn’t appreciate Riley’s comment. Whether they can still work out something remains to be seen.

Avery Johnson, David Robinson’s buddy in San Antonio, after the Admiral scored 38 points against the Clippers: “We need Dave to be more demonstrative like this. But we also need him to be more demonstrative against someone besides the Clippers. If he plays like this against Portland on Wednesday and the Knicks on Saturday, then we’ll be happy.” Well, maybe not. Robinson got 29 against the Trail Blazers, who double-teamed Tim Duncan, held him to nine points and beat the Spurs in the Alamodome.

Mr. Generosity: Latrell Sprewell says he has no problem with the New York Knicks’ big men taking a few more shots, as long as they move the ball when they’re covered. Said Sprewell: “Patrick [Ewing], he’s a little shaky out of the double-team.” . . . In a haunting precursor to Bobby Phills’ fatal car crash, the Charlotte Hornets’ Derrick Coleman was charged with driving under the influence for an early-season accident in which teammate Eldridge Recasner was injured, then lamented, “People act like nobody ever had an accident before in the world.” Recasner has been sidelined since and is upset at Coleman’s attitude. Said Recasner’s friend and ex-teammate, Chucky Brown, now with the Spurs: “If I’m in a car accident with a guy and he showed some remorse and was sorry about what happened and I know it’s not his fault, I can’t say that I’d do anything. But if I’m in a car accident with a guy who doesn’t come to see how I’m doing, doesn’t come to see about me, then I might have to.”

Steve Francis of the Houston Rockets, who yearned to be drafted by the Bulls, lit them up for 27 points and 11 assists in his first trip to the United Center, getting 19 in the first quarter. “I won’t lie to you,” he said, “I wanted to go there to follow my idol, Michael Jordan. I wanted to be the No. 1 pick and I wanted to be in Chicago. I know they’re the worst team, but it still would have been sweet. That was the uniform I pictured myself in. It would have been the fulfillment of a dream.” . . . Oops: The Bulls didn’t take Lamar Odom because of his predraft disappearing act. They didn’t take Francis because they didn’t want to start rebuilding around a guard. Elton Brand is a good young player, but how many dynasties do you start around the third-best player available?

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ Danny Ferry, on defending Shaquille O’Neal: “I can’t tell you what it’s like to move him. I’ve never done it. He’s like three of me.” . . . The Mavericks were so upset that Scottie Pippen of the Trail Blazers dismissed Michael Finley’s all-star candidacy (“I wouldn’t consider him an all-star just because he’s putting up numbers”), they boycotted Pippen at their next game, refusing to talk to him. Finley walked away when Pippen tried to explain, then scored 32 points with six rebounds and eight assists in a 113-105 Dallas upset. . . . Karl Malone on Coach Jerry Sloan’s 700th victory: “Damn, he’s old.” . . . The Indiana Pacers’ Jalen Rose after the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Malik Sealy banked in a last-second game-winning three-pointer against the Pacers: “I don’t know if it was Martin Luther King’s birthday or Malik Sealy’s birthday.”