Stephen A. Smith on Michael Jordan’s Washington Wizards debut | Fox Sports Net (October 30, 2001)

Stephen A. Smith on Michael Jordan’s Washington Wizards debut | Fox Sports Net (October 30, 2001)

the NBA inside for Pot Sports and Philadelphia Inquir. My man Stephen A. Smith who always keeps it real. How you doing, man? I’m all right, Steve. Michael Jordan coming back. Played six, eight preseason games so far. Is it too early to tell if he’s back? Um, I don’t think he’ll ever be back, quite frankly, not to the level that he was once at, but he is MJ and even at 80% I think he can easily average 20 to 25 points in this league. I don’t think you’re going to see the aerial game that he had the aerial assault that he was able to throw on a lot of teams, but he’s replaced that with a significant jump to a big time jump shot. He can still get to the hole. He still got a quick first step. He can really take it to the hole and do his thing. So, you take that into account. Look at the young players in this league that still don’t understand the nuances of the game. Take the new rules into account and how he can manipulate that to his advantage. All of those things take into consideration. I see absolutely no reason why he can’t average 20 to 25 points. But that don’t mean the Wizards are going to win. That’s right. He He wants to come back. He wants to win. Michael Jordan is used to winning. He has no personnel around him right now. He He does want to win, but he’s realistic and he knows that he’s not going to win very many games. He said in his press conference when he announced he was coming back that he didn’t expect to win 50 games. He’d be shocked if they win 50 games. I’d be shocked if they win 40 games. I expect the Washington Wizards to win approximately 33 to 35 games. Improve significantly, but certainly not enough to be a playoff team in this league. They’re just not that talented. Now, you know MJ, you know he’s competitive. He’s going to want to go to the playoffs. Is he going to start getting frustrated say 40 games into into the season and the Wizards of maybe 15 and 25? I don’t think he’s going to get frustrated with them losing necessarily. I do think he’ll get frustrated with mental errors. I think he’ll get frustrated with people making mistakes that they shouldn’t make because he’ll feel like they should know better. It’s like being on the court with somebody and if somebody’s sitting there and they playing like garbage, what do you do about that? Michael Jordan’s going to have a problem with that. He’s definitely going to get on guys. He’s going to check them when he needs to check them. But ultimately, he’s very realistic and he recognizes that, you know what, we’re not that good. They’re depending on me. I’m 38 years old and I’m the number one offensive option. That should tell you something right there. What about tonight? He always tortures the Knicks. When he comes to the Garden, he tortures the Knicks. He puts it on. Well, I expect them to, you know, really bust them up pretty good. I expect Jordan to drop over 30 tonight and do some damage or at least. But I I also expect the Knicks to struggle, but I expect the Knicks to win this basketball game because they’re season, they’re veterans, they’re potentially a playoff team. They know the game, and MJ has come in here and torched them before and still lost when he had a credible and a championship team. So, I see no reason on earth why he can’t come in here, do something similar tonight, but still walk away here with a defeat.

Stephen A. Smith on Michael Jordan’s NBA return ahead of the Wizards’ regular-season debut versus the New York Knicks.

🎥 FSN [Oct 30, 2001]

Love NBA history? Search ‘In all Airness’ on your podcast player and follow my show. Hear conversations w/ former players, coaches, media and more. 200+ episodes in the archives!

Web: https://www.inallairness.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/inallairness.nbahistory.pod/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/inallairness
FB: https://www.facebook.com/adamryan23