Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: It's not true, but he can say what he wants.
Tim Grover joined WFNZ in Charlotte with Mac Attack to discuss a potential Michael Jordan comeback, the Jordan/LeBron debate, why Jordan would be the Charlotte Bobcats' best player today and what kind of numbers Jordan could put up at age 50.
Do you think Michael would even consider a comeback bid right now?
"We've had no communication about that. … When he made that comment in the Hall of Fame speech, it was the one thing that stood out to me and I said, ‘You know what? I better be ready just in case I ever get that phone call.'"
It's pretty easy to tell that there's just something in him that makes it hard for him to not be playing:
"Any person that is that great at what they do, it's always hard to walk away when you know, in the back of your mind, that you can still go out there and do the things you used to do. It's extremely, extremely tough. Then when you have situations when you go out and young guys challenge you on the team and you end up beating them … it just kind of gets the competitive juices going even more."
Do you think all this talk about who is better, Michael or LeBron, bothers him?
"I don't think so, that it bothers him. But again, being a competitor, he's definitely hearing it. And it's part of what's probably stirring things up a little bit is this whole debate. But I don't think it's bothering him, because listen, records and greatness, you always think somebody's going to come along and dethrone you. I don't think it's going to happen, but LeBron's on one hell of a streak right now. … But, again, there's a long way to go to do what M.J. did, not only including the championships, but the rest of the stuff along the way."
Tell me why you truly believe if he made a comeback, he'd be the best player on the Bobcats right now:
"First of all, the Bobcats are a very young team, so he knows how to create [things] and how to take away guys' strengths. … Just the way he would compete, that if one of the players actually did beat him, he would take it so seriously that he would get himself in better shape and re-challenge that individual until he'd be able to beat him again. His skill set was so high. … I guarantee it's still higher than most of the guys out there."
What kind of numbers would he put up?
"He'd average 20. Yeah, he'd average 20. … Listen, would he be able to go out and get through an 82-game season? One thing people also [forget], he had no major injuries. … But yes, Father Time is undefeated. But again, there's so much advancement out there … in anti-aging and so forth, so it is possible. I don't think that he would come back unless he was 100 percent ready."
Is your gut feeling that he won't come back?
"Yes, my gut feeling is he won't come back."
This post, written by Eric Schmoldt, appears courtesy of Sports Radio Interviews. For the complete highlights of the interview, as well as audio, click here.
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