New York Times, July 24th, 1998
Jackson's agent, Todd Musburger, said his client was flabbergasted at Reinsdorf's comments during a Bulls news conference in Chicago yesterday (to announce the hiring of Tim Floyd). That reaction left Reinsdorf's olive branch to Jackson looking like a public relations tactic, and a way of deflecting blame from himself and Jerry Krause, the team's vice president, should Jordan remain steadfast in his stand to leave the Bulls unless Jackson is the coach.
''It's so transparent and so disingenuous and so much the result of this spin doctoring, if you will,'' Musburger said of Reinsdorf's appeal to Jackson. ''There isn't an ounce of legitimacy to what was said. Are we to believe that Phil, the head coach, and Floyd, the coach to be, would occupy the same space in that organization? It is positively ludicrous. Once again, they have proved their skill at sucking the joy out of the moment. Floyd should have been properly praised and announced. Instead, he had to pretend he was window dressing.''
Reinsdorf said he hired Floyd only after offering Jackson a chance to return for another year, an offer that still stands.
''Sure, he made the offer, but after Phil had spent two days packing up his office,'' Musburger said. ''So if you're really sincere about keeping someone you truly value, do you announce his contract in the summer of 1997 as the last deal the Bulls will ever do with you? And along the way, will you say to him in private, I don't care if you win 82 games, you are not coming back? Is that the way you treat a man you want to return?''
Is that the way you treat a man you want to return? Of course not.
Loyal: faithful to a private person to whom fidelity is due. In the Bulls case, it applied to Krause and not Jackson. Obviously, the PR move worked on a lot of the fans. Apparently, a young Dwayne Wade wasn't drinking the Kool Aid.
