23, 45, 23, 0
anyone who knows me, knows that i'm not the biggest mj fan. but i found this article quite interesting.
widely received by most as the greatest basketball player of all time, jordan has lived with a "could do no wrong status" for quite some time. however, if you are like me, there were things about his playing days in washington that just didn't sit right. more than just the creeky bones and layups instead of dunks. something was a miss about the whole situation.
now i think we are realizing what it was. jordan was a great basketball player, possibly the greatest, but nothing more. jordan the gm was a failure. jordan the exec didn't work out well. even after he laced them back up for washington, jordan the "mentor/player/coach" wasn't a success either.
it appears that jordan approached every person as if he were approaching himself. there was some talent in washington when he returned. the talk was that the talent just needed some seasoning, a cagey veteran. insert jordan. however, apart from rip hamilton (who was jetisoned away to detroit. thank you joe dumars!), which player is still effective in the league. chris whitney? courtney alexander? brendon haywood is probably the closest we can come.
it got me thinking about discipleship. the very penetrating question has to be asked, "what am i trying to reproduce?" myself? something like me? am i trying to disciple cookie cutters, who will all look the same? am i only thinking about now, or am i willing to let my ministry be measured by the results generations from now?
maybe it's just my pistons bias coming out, but i'd rather look a lot like joe dumars. be known as a great player (don't debate me on that one, to quote jon rose, "look at the stats!"), a great mentor/player (seamlessly intigrated grant hill), an amazing gm (insert darko joke here, but also acknowledge he brought a dead franchise a championship). if anything, dumars took the guys that everyone else said had no potential, and proved the critiques wrong.
i guess i like that so much, because when i look at my own life, i think i'm more of a darvin hamm than a michael jordan.
widely received by most as the greatest basketball player of all time, jordan has lived with a "could do no wrong status" for quite some time. however, if you are like me, there were things about his playing days in washington that just didn't sit right. more than just the creeky bones and layups instead of dunks. something was a miss about the whole situation.
now i think we are realizing what it was. jordan was a great basketball player, possibly the greatest, but nothing more. jordan the gm was a failure. jordan the exec didn't work out well. even after he laced them back up for washington, jordan the "mentor/player/coach" wasn't a success either.
it appears that jordan approached every person as if he were approaching himself. there was some talent in washington when he returned. the talk was that the talent just needed some seasoning, a cagey veteran. insert jordan. however, apart from rip hamilton (who was jetisoned away to detroit. thank you joe dumars!), which player is still effective in the league. chris whitney? courtney alexander? brendon haywood is probably the closest we can come.
it got me thinking about discipleship. the very penetrating question has to be asked, "what am i trying to reproduce?" myself? something like me? am i trying to disciple cookie cutters, who will all look the same? am i only thinking about now, or am i willing to let my ministry be measured by the results generations from now?
maybe it's just my pistons bias coming out, but i'd rather look a lot like joe dumars. be known as a great player (don't debate me on that one, to quote jon rose, "look at the stats!"), a great mentor/player (seamlessly intigrated grant hill), an amazing gm (insert darko joke here, but also acknowledge he brought a dead franchise a championship). if anything, dumars took the guys that everyone else said had no potential, and proved the critiques wrong.
i guess i like that so much, because when i look at my own life, i think i'm more of a darvin hamm than a michael jordan.
posted by danny2 @ 8:30 PM
2 Comments:
At 12:39 PM,
Anonymous said…
DON'T KNOW IF YOU WILL READ THIS BUT... JORDAN WAS A GREAT GM THAT GOT SCREWED AND LIED TOO. HE PUT THE YOUNG TALENT TOGETHER THAT KEEPS THE WIZARD TEAM ALIVE. LOOK AT WERE THE PRO ALL STARS THAT ARE PLAYING CAME FROM (THEY WERE NEVER IN THE PLAY-OFFS). HAYWOOD, HUGHS, AND DIXON WERE ALL PART OF THE JORDAN GM ERA. AND THE REASON HE ISN'T GM NOW IS BECAUSE HE IS A WINNER FIRST EVERYTHING ELSE SECOND. I DON'T AGREE WITH THE WAY HE LIVES HIS LIFE, BUT WHEN IT COMES TO BASKETBALL HE IS THE GREATEST MIND THAT HAS EVER PLAYED THE GAME. PHIL JACKSON IS A PRODUCT OF MICHAEL JORDAN, AND JORDAN TAUGHT HIM HOW TO COACH SUPERSTARS. MAKE HIM A GM AND I GIVE THEM 3 YRS AND THEY WOULD BE COMPETING FOR THE TROPHY.
-THE ORB
At 9:40 PM,
danny2 said…
thanks for your "passionate" comments.
however, yelling is not necessary.
i guess im just shocked that the wizards made the playoffs AFTER jordan left and they've comletely gutted his roster. in other words, jordan "the winner" was fired and the team improved.
hughEs didn't improve til he was gone. dixon and haywood are nothing to talk about.
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