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Sometimes playing with your hero is not all that it seems, even if that idol is Michael Jordan.
Jerry Stackhouse, a fellow product of the North Carolina Tar Heels, partnered with His Airness in Washington during Jordan’s last NBA season in 2002-03, Jordan’s second season with the Wizards after a three-year absence after retiring from the Chicago Bulls in 1998.
“Honestly, I wish I had never played in Washington, for various reasons,” Stackhouse, now the Vanderbilt coach, said on ESPN’s “The Woj Pod” on Thursday. “I felt like we were on our way to Detroit before I was transferred there. But it was really challenging to be in a situation with an idol who, at this particular point, I felt was a better player. And things were still going on for Michael Jordan. “
Stackhouse played 18 NBA seasons, including two in Washington after being traded by the Detroit Pistons for Rip Hamilton in a six-player trade in 2002. He averaged 21.5 points per game in his first season under former Bulls coach Doug. Collins, just ahead of the 39-year-old Jordan, drops his career from 20.0 dpi on a 37-45 team.
“I think Doug Collins, I love Doug. But I think it was an opportunity for him to make up for some bad moments they may have had in Chicago, ”Stackhouse said. “So, (it was) almost everything Michael wanted to do. We got off to a good start, and then I think he didn’t like the way the offense was run because it went through me a little bit more. He wanted to get a little more isolating in the post, of course, so we had more isolates for him in the post.
“And it just shot in a way that I didn’t enjoy that season at all. Like the image I had in my mind of Michael Jordan and the reverence I felt for him, I lost a little bit over the course of that year.”
