Hornets owner Michael Jordan isn’t on board with shortening games, an idea the NBA is experimenting with this weekend, as Jordan tells Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. Jordan said the league didn’t indicate to him when it let him know of Sunday’s planned 44-minute game between the Nets and Celtics that it was seriously considering such a change for regular season games, Broussard notes. The iconic former player also expressed his disagreement with LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki, who told reporters this week that they’d like to see the NBA shorten the season.
“It’s not like football,” Jordan said. “We don’t really have to worry about concussions and some of the physical damage that football players deal with after they retire. I can understand football players wanting to play fewer games from a physical standpoint. But basketball’s not the same. I’m not diminishing the fact that we go through a grueling season. But I wouldn’t want to shorten the game or play 15-20 fewer games.”
Still, shorter games clearly have their proponents, so it’ll be interesting to see if Jordan can prevail on his fellow owners to make Sunday’s game a one-time experiment. Here’s more from MJ’s Southeast Division:
- Chris Webber took to Twitter to confirm his interest in the Hawks, and while he doesn’t disclose the identities of the investors he’s partnering with, he insists they would keep the team in Atlanta.
- The formal sale process and vetting of prospective owners can’t start for the Hawks until all of the team’s existing owners determine whether they’re selling, and they’ve yet to schedule a meeting to discuss the issue, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- Free agent power forward Tyrus Thomas has changed agents as he attempts to return to the NBA, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Thomas hired Roger Montgomery of the Montgomery Sports Group, according to Kennedy, replacing John Hamilton of Performance Sports Management. Thomas has been out of the league since the Hornets (then the Bobcats) put him on amnesty waivers in July 2013.
- Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel takes a stab at predicting the Heat‘s opening-night roster amid his latest mailbag column.
If any games should be shortened it sholud be baseball. Baseball and maybe basketball could have a mid season round robin tournament with winners advancing to the season finals, winner takes all. Baseball’s just to long. It could use a kick start mid-season. I wouldn’t pay to watch a game that’s been cut short. I’d just as well stay home and watch the games on TV.