WASHINGTON -- On the day his Washington Wizards won the NBA draft lottery, Michael Jordan downplayed the possibility of a comeback, saying back spasms have slowed his conditioning regimen.
Speaking on a cell phone from the 12th fairway of a golf course -- no, he didn't watch Sunday's lottery -- Jordan said he had not worked out for a week.
"Right now, I've been focusing on my job," said Jordan, the Wizards' president of basketball operations. "My back has been giving me some problems. Myself has been secondary. Right now, I'm not even thinking about it.
"I just had some back spasms. With age, that happens. I had them when I was playing."
The five-time league MVP also refuted recent statements by Charles Barkley, who recently said he was going to move in to Jordan's Chicago home so the two could train together for simultaneous comeback bids with the Wizards.
"We all know Charles, and sometimes his motor gets running," Jordan said. "We have not talked about him working out with me or me working with him. That's just Charles being Charles."
Jordan said he did work out with Barkley recently on a trip to Arizona. Both former stars have been dropping weight with an eye on possible comebacks, and Barkley has said the pair will announce their decision in late June, which would coincide with the June 27 draft date.
Jordan did not address whether his own status would affect the Wizards' selection, although new head coach Doug Collins has said it would. Jordan did not say which golf course he was playing Sunday. He said he made it a point not to watch the lottery because he didn't want to get too excited about it.
The Wizards, who had the third-worst record last season, had never moved up on lottery day before. They haven't had the first overall selection since 1961, when the expansion Chicago Packers chose Walt Bellamy two years before moving to the Baltimore-Washington area.
"This pick sets the tone for our rebuilding," Jordan said. "We really have to be careful with this."
Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles, sandwiched around a brief retirement to play baseball, before retiring a second time before the strike-shortened 1999 season. He joined the Wizards front office in January 2000.
|
|
|
