“Coach How MJ Wanted to Coach”- Former Wizards Player Details Why Michael Jordan Failed with the Team

Michael Jordan is most widely known for his time with the Chicago Bulls. MJ won 6 championships with the Bulls and retired for the second time in his career after title #6.

However, MJ made a comeback to the league in 2001, this time as a Washington Wizards player. But the stint was unsuccessful for Jordan, and it was clear it was time to hang his sneakers up for good.

When MJ played for the Wizards, he brought back former Bulls coach Doug Collins to lead the team. However, it didn’t work out with Collins at the helm.

Former Wizards player Larry Hughes discussed this issue in detail on The Rematch podcast. “I think I really do think it’s different personalties. Coaching has something to do with that. We played you know MJ was there, we had Doug Collins.

“We knew that MJ brought Doug Collins in there so he could play for Doug Collins and Doug Collins knew that MJ brought him there so he could coach how MJ wanted to coach. That was a problem, I think with Stack and MJ, it was like Doug.

“Because Stack is from the same area as MJ’s from. Stack’s from a small town where you gotta get it how you get it and he’s never going back down, he’s never going to take that and just ride with that.

“So it was always a constant budding of heads because Stack respected MJ so much but he couldn’t talk through Doug because MJ brought Doug.

“So, basically Doug was going to shut everything to Stack, Stack want the ball on mid post or Stack wanted to like he was shutting all of that down.”

Although MJ didn’t win a title as a Wizard, he still was a terrific player even in his late 30s. One might wonder, why Jordan didn’t succeed with the Wizards?

What went wrong for Michael Jordan with the Wizards?

Despite Jordan being named an All-Star in both years with the Wizards, he was not the same player. Jordan suffered a knee injury which ultimately slowed him down even further. At the age of 38, it was clear that this injury would ultimately impact the team as a whole.

Following Jordan’s departure, the team couldn’t make the Playoffs and finished the season with a record of 37-45. When Jordan returned next, he never regained his scoring prowess and averaged barely 20.0 points. Following this low-scoring season, Jordan’s Wizards finished with a record of 37-45 yet again.

What do you think? If Jordan didn’t injure his knee would the Wizards have made a deep playoff run?