Stephen Jackson said ex-coach Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown lost the team with his negativity in the preseason.

"When I had my beginning-of-the-season meeting, he basically told me we weren’t going to be good, that we weren’t going to be a playoff team. You know me, I’m not going to accept that from anyone – telling me before we even get to see what happens that we aren’t going to be any good. He lost me there.

"The captain of your ship being unconfident in his abilities and the team’s abilities, before you even get a chance to play – that kills everything."

Michael Jordan believes the Charlotte Bobcats can become a destination franchise for the NBA's best players.

"I like to think that we're one of the teams that's a destination," said Jordan on Wednesday. "Why can't Charlotte be that destination?" Jordan asked rhetorically. "It has been in the past. It was. Why not now? I like to think we have the organization to do that. And I will do everything I can."

Sources say the Bobcats took a major financial hit this season, but Jordan insists they will have money to spend on players.

"I don't want people to think we're not willing to spend," says Jordan. "I want to spend money for a team that's going to get us in the top four (in the Eastern Conference), the top three."

He adds: "We haven't put ourselves in position to do that yet because of some of the stipulations of our contracts. And now this is the first time we feel like we're going to have a pretty good summer because we have some flexibility. We want to invest. To get where we have to go, we know we have to."

The Associated Press asked Chris Paul if his relationship with Michael Jordan was strong enough to consider signing with the Charlotte Bobcats when he becomes a free agent in 2012.

Paul grew up in the state of North Carolina and the Bobcats could be positioned to have cap space that summer.

"I think guys do and will want to play for MJ," Paul said. "Who better to learn from? . . . . Now that he has a team, he's like a kid in a candy store," Paul said of Jordan. "He's so happy because he's one of those guys that no matter what, he can't get away from the game. . .

"I thought about (playing near home in Winston-Salem) then when I got drafted," Paul said of the potential of playing pro ball in his home state. "But that feels like that was so long ago now."

Paul's comments on Twitter indicated he felt as though his words were taken out of context.

"Come on now people," Paul tweeted, "I did 3 different interviews about the Jordan Brand Classic this morning and was asked if Michael Jordan had influence on free agent signings and I said at the end of the day guys want to win...they askd would I want to return home and I told them I'm focused here in NO and that's the future and anything can happen...Hate when people try to turn things around just to make it a story.. #slowdown."

Former Charlotte Bobcats head coach Larry Brown confirmed that he has been in contact with UNLV athletic director Jim Livengood as recently as Wednesday about the Runnin' Rebel's open head coaching position.

BYU associate head coach Dave Rice and former Sacramento Kings and New Mexico State head coach Reggie Theus (now a Minnesota Timberwolves assistant) are widely considered the leading candidates for the job.

With Livengood believed to be leaning toward Rice and school president Neal Smatresk said to be backing Theus, there are boosters who are intrigued by the idea of adding a coach with Brown's pedigree.

Brown, who is the only coach to win both an NCAA and an NBA championship, last coached at the college level when his Kansas Jayhawks won it all in 1988.