Commentary: Eddie Jordan steps in it

WASHINGTON, June 19 (UPI) -- Can one take seriously Eddie Jordan, the newly-hired coach of the NBA's Washington Wizards? Not really.

The hire of Jordan, the chief assistant of the New Jersey Nets, was made by long-time team owner Abe Pollin, who may or may not be aware that he and his franchise is the laughing stock of the entire pro basketball universe. That is saying something, because that universe includes the likes of the Los Angeles Clippers and the Chicago Bulls.

As I listened intently, I must have heard Jordan, a Washington native, say "Mr. Pollin" about 100 times. For the life of me, I can't think of 10 people who would call him Mister and keep a straight face. The Wizards have been so poorly managed and so woeful for so long, I thought Jordan was either crazy or brainwashed.

"The triumvirate that is now, has been and seemingly likely always will run the Wizards (Pollin, Susan O'Malley and Wes Unseld) can't manage its way out of a paper bag," a friend once said.

Harsh as that sounds, it could be close to being true.

After all, this franchise canned Michael Jordan as its President of Basketball Operations one morning in a meeting that lasted about 30 minutes when he thought he was coming back to the front office. Word is the only person outside the triumvirate who knew he would be ousted is Pollin's attorney, and even that is questionable.

Without Michael Jordan's presence, the Wizards would not have come close to selling out its 82 home games in the past two seasons, but Pollin is a businessman. I guarantee you he knew how much money he made even if he says he never listens to sports-talk radio and rarely reads the sports pages. That makes him even more out of touch with the NBA than we realize.

The Wizards have made disastrous draft picks since they got lucky and won the NBA title in 1978, and they've had numerous coaches in the last few years -- seven in six years to be exact.

What person in his right mind would want this job? I asked myself that question Thursday, and it came to me. Eddie Jordan is from Washington, grew up as a fan of the Bullets (that's the Wizards' former nickname), and he wanted to come back here. The Wizards have been so bad in the past few years that being in his home town may be his lasting grace.

"I'm coming home to Washington, and I am proud to be head coach of the Washington Wizards," he said at a news conference.

Eddie Jordan inherits a team that has malcontent Jerry Stackhouse, a talented player with a bad attitude, the underachieving Kwame Brown, a former No. 1 overall draft pick straight out of high school whose confidence and game was all but destroyed by Michael Jordan and former coach Doug Collins, and a cast of other underachievers that nobody else will touch, save for guard Juan Dixon, who for some reason didn't play as much as people thought he would last season, and forward Jared Jeffries, who will be trying to come back next season from knee surgery.

Highly-respected and well-known coaches said thanks but no thanks to the Wizards, who still have not named a replacement for Michael Jordan and are getting ready to lose Unseld for at least one year for health reasons. That made the hiring of Eddie Jordan easy.

After all, his record as a head coach in the NBA is an overall 33-64. He guided Sacramento in 1997 and '98. This reminds me of trying to make chicken salad with spoiled chicken. Can it be done? Is the pope a member of al-Qaida? I think not.