Maybe MJ wasn't such a failure after all

As a DC area person I am forced to followed the Washington Wizards, who have given us all reason to cheer this season. They are in the playoffs as the fifth seed, after years of bottom-dwelling. They play Chicago and have a good chance of mopping the floor with the Bulls.

The interesting subtext for the series is Michael Jordan. Jordan, of course, is Mr. Chicago Bulls, because he won 6 useless championships there. Jordan also came out of retirement to run and then play for the Wizards in what has generally been acknowledged to have been a disaster. He finally left after two years and left a team that had no where to go. His greatest flop is the can't miss highschool phenom, Kwame Brown, who in four years has shown that it is possible to make millions and millions of dollars doing nothing.

Well, this was the view I held of MJ until I read this article in today's Washington Post.

M. Jordan's Legacy Is a Vastly Different Tale of Two Cities

But while Jordan built a championship model for the Bulls to follow, he also helped build the foundation for the Wizards. He is responsible for bringing in half of the players on the Wizards' playoff roster: three starters in center Brendan Haywood, guard Larry Hughes and forward Jared Jeffries; and three valued reserves in Dixon, forward Kwame Brown and center Etan Thomas.

[...]

When Wizards President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld took over in the summer of 2003, he signed point guard Gilbert Arenas to a six-year, $65 million contract but he didn't bother tinkering too much with the talent Jordan left in place.

[...]

Maybe it wasn't so bad after all. Maybe he does have a management acumen, if so, he has lousy, grade F personality skills.