Jordan Not Only Mvp, But Also Most Deserving

He accepted his most valuable player award Monday, and Michael Jordan said he was grateful to be recognized as more than the most celebrated scorer in basketball history.

He is, of course, the MVP of offense and defense, both sides of the floor, both sides of his mouth.

Offense: “That’s it, that’s the absolute bottom figure,” Jordan said, after throwing up a $36 million, two-year figure in Monday’s Chicago Tribune, as the amount it will take to keep him in Chicago next year.

Defense: “To talk about my contract would be a selfish act,” he said, deflecting inquiries regarding the story, call it “speculation that was made.”

How can quotes directly attributed to him be speculation? Well, he said that he said something like that but didn’t really mean it that way. Or he said it but he didn’t mean for it to be repeated. Or he meant for it to be repeated but not now, or not attributed to him.

Having given enough twisted testimony to the news media’s grand jury, Jordan picked up his fourth Maurice Podoloff Trophy and off he went, presumably to ask himself why he, the only player in the NBA who is actually worth The Money, had to stand there and defend the position of wanting more money.

He put himself in that position, undoubtedly by design, so this is what he should have said, instead of, as usual, awkwardly blaming the messenger: “I said it. I meant it. I deserve it.

And who in his or her right mind would have stood up and argued with that?

Something must be brewing in the Bulls’ back room, a wariness of the United Center’s 72-victory team splitting up before a championship banner can be hung next fall. Jordan will be a free agent July 1 in a year when the going rate for NBA stars is expected to dramatically escalate, when a first-round loser whose nickname is ‘Zo is said to be commanding a ballooning $16 million or $17 million yearly salary from the great and powerful Riles.

Alonzo Mourning’s Georgetown summer workout partner, Patrick Ewing, made $18 million this seaon, not counting the few million he cost the Knicks by essentially refusing to play for Don Nelson.

To compare what any of these players, Shaquille O’Neal included, provide with what Jordan does is to draw parallels between the hairlines of Chuck Daly and Jeff Van Gundy. Jordan is aglow in his own solar system, and everyone else is a distant twinkle.

In The Tribune Story, Jordan said a $23 million-a-year salary he could promote on his next batch of authentic jerseys would be ideal but that he could live with $18 million, which, in this crazy-money market, would be a steal.

But here’s the rub: Jerry Reinsdorf, who owns the Bulls and White Sox, is one of the most notorious men in sports for resisting player leverage, as evidenced by his hawking a baseball system that would have required players to pay for the cleanup of all tobacco stains left in the dugout.

“They’ve made a lot of money here and it’s time to give a little back,” Jordan told The Tribune. “If they mess around with me, which I don’t think they’ll do, I’ll play for $10 million less if I have to, just on principle.”

Pay attention, Knicks. Jordan may not be bluffing.

He knows Reinsdorf’s stubborness in rewarding productive talent cost the Bulls Horace Grant and perhaps another title after Jordan’s return last spring. He has refused to redo Scottie Pippen’s outdated contract and, last week, negotiations with Phil Jackson for an extension of his expiring deal broke down.

Jordan has said he’d like Jackson to remain as coach and Pippen to get paid his fair share. Now he has successfully floated his own ultimatum. He said the story was poorly timed, as if he didn’t plant it, but it seemed to be perfectly timed, on the day he reclaimed the award borrowed the last three years by Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson.

He just didn’t want to admit to introducing a contract issue in the middle of the big Orlando series after being portrayed as greedy last summer for his role in the NBA labor wars. Hey, Michael: It’s all right. Without you, there’d be no Bulls championships, no lofty WGN superstation ratings, no United Center luxury box windfall and probably no United Center.

Reinsdorf owes you. No need for defense here.