Michael Jordan defended the Bobcats against widespread criticism as they finish the season with the worst record in the NBA.
Critics have said Charlotte's front office has "yes men" to Jordan.
“It’s absolutely wrong that I don’t want guys to challenge me. And the people who say that aren’t in the room,’’ Jordan told the Observer.
“The idea that people can’t do that is just wrong. Curtis (Polk, team vice chairman) has worked with me for over 20 years and he’s never had a problem telling me, ‘no.’ Rod (Higgins, president of basketball operations) has no problem telling me no. Fred (Whitfield, team president) has no problem telling me ‘no.’ And Rich (Cho, the team’s general manager) is about as direct and candid a person as you’ll ever meet."
Jordan acknowledged Charlotte would struggle this season, but he didn't anticipate the results would be historically bad.
“This was going to be a trying year – we knew that,” Jordan said. “But did we want to chase the most Ping-Pong balls (in the May 30 draft lottery)? No way.’’
“Ever since I’ve owned the team (buying control from Bob Johnson in March 2010), I think we’ve made some very positive moves on the business side. We had to make a difficult decision to turn over the (basketball) talent.
“This year the talent we had didn’t respond, but that doesn’t cause me to turn my back on the plan."
Jordan remains optimistic about the future of the Bobcats.
“They are being judged wrongfully. We’re on the right track,’’ Jordan said. “I didn’t anticipate a season anything like this, but we had to make some difficult decisions, with (buying out unhappy veteran) Boris (Diaw), for instance.
“And we had to play the rookies, (Bismack) Biyombo and Kemba (Walker) more than they were really ready to play.’’