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Plenty believe that greatness knows no age. However, Father Time prevents the body from moving like it used to. Even Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest ever to touch a basketball, succumbed to its inevitability. But, at random moments – like an eclipse, perchance – greatness couldn't help but seep through and scream towards others that it is still there, just laid dormant by the incessant march of time.
In 2010 – seven years after his retirement – Jordan turned back the clock to light a fire underneath the floundering Charlotte Bobcats. Stephen Jackson fondly recalled the time when MJ, who was 47 at the time, went off on the team for getting blown out.
Michael Jordan then proceeded to get into whatever basketball gear was available and teamed up with the Bobcats' bench unit, promptly defeating the starters led by Jackson and All-Star forward Gerald Wallace.
“After the game, he's just going off on us, like we need to get our s–t together, right? I made some little comment and said, ‘he ain't saying that. He can't even practice the next day,” Jackson recounted. “[Then MJ rebutted,] ‘back on that s–t. You think y'all did something. […] Take my shoes off. That s–t was kind of directed to me and Gerald Wallace ‘coz we the leaders of the team.”
“He was going off on us to the point that he gets on the second team in practice… and we lose!”
Stephen Jackson tells a crazy Michael Jordan story 😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/caRhBgpyXN
— Shannonnn sharpes Burner (PARODY Account) (@shannonsharpeee) December 11, 2022
The 2009-10 Bobcats roster is uninspiring, to say the least, especially its bench. Come playoff time, the Bobcats relied on D.J. Augustin, Tyrus Thomas, a washed-up Larry Hughes and an underutilized Tyson Chandler as their main bench pieces. To lead that team to any sort of victory, particularly against a solid enough starting lineup led by Stephen Jackson, Gerald Wallace, Raymond Felton and Boris Diaw, is something only Michael Jordan could pull off.
That's what happens when MJ takes something personally.
“Whatever he had on, he came out there, he pushed against whoever Gerald Wallace was guarding. […] He scored a couple points and to the point where he talked so much s–t afterwards. He grabbed the ball and dunked one on the way out,” Jackson added.
Losing to 47-year old Michael Jordan may have been a foreshadowing of what was to come for the Bobcats franchise. After scuffling to a 34-win season in 2010-11, they then proceeded to put up the worst season in NBA history. It's unclear when Jordan's greatness would rub off on his team's performance as an executive, but at the very least, he could put his players in their place when they get in over their heads.
