To be liked by Mike - relations between Michael Jordan and future Chicago Bulls coach Tim Floyd

Appeasing Jordan was the essence of the Bull's spin on the hiring of TIM FLOYD as their director of basketball operations--and future coach

With most teams, the procedure for introducing a new coach is rather simple. The hire is presented before a slew of reporters, television cameras and photographers, and the team's management lavishes the appointee with praise. Everyone speaks optimistically--as if better days are virtually assured--during the official start of a honeymoon period that lasts usually until the newcomer's first loss.

Things aren't quite that simple with the Bulls.

Before Tim Floyd was introduced as the team's future coach (and current director of basketball operations) last week, team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf began the news conference by announcing the position Floyd was hired to fill will remain vacant indefinitely.

Phil Jackson, the former (and perhaps future) coach who resigned last month, was given the opportunity to change his mind about returning for the 1998-99 season at least until the current NBA lockout is lifted.

The offer to Jackson is legitimate, and all he needs to do is say the word and the job is his again. But Reinsdorf and general manager Jerry Krause know the odds of that happening are about as remote as Steve Kerr throwing down a 360-degree dunk.

None of the reasons behind Jackson's departure--burnout, his troubled relationship with Kranse and a desire to get some things settled in his personal life--has changed. The unusual gesture simply was an attempt to appease Michael Jordan, not a longing on the part of management to bring back Jackson and extend the most coaching run in NBA history.

"If Phil Jackson changes his mind and decides to return, Michael can have the coach that he, and we, have always wanted him to have," Reinsdorf said. "Should Phil not return, Tim will succeed him as head coach."

Jordan has insisted time and time again--and as recently as two weeks ago at a pro-am golf tournament--be would opt for retirement rather than play for a coach other than Jackson.

Reinsdorfs not-so-subtle message to Jordan is this: If you want to keep playing and you want Jackson as your coach, then it's up to you to convince him to come back.

Of course, Jordan probably would have an easier time convincing the owners to lift the lockout unconditionally than getting Jackson to return.

"It may not be over for Michael or the team, but it's over for me," Jackson said. "(Reinsdorf) offered me another year, there's no doubt about that, but the working relationship between Jerry Krause and myself had deteriorated to that level where Jerry likes to have a lot of control and do things his way. I grew on by some of those control issues that he likes to put up as barriers, but those things happen in relationships."

Which means that Reinsdorf's surprise announcement changed basically nothing. Everyone from management to Bulls fans everywhere still is waiting for Jordan's decision--and the holding pattern figures to continue for a while.

Jordan declined comment on Floyd's hiring, and David Falk, Jordan's agent, said his client wouldn't make any announcement until the lockout ends.

"Michael needs to take his time to see how all of the pieces fall into place," Falk said. "I think he needs to step back from alt the events of the season and all the political events surrounding the team and decide what he wants to do. He's earned the right after what he's brought to the team and the city and the game of basketball to do whatever brings him joy and satisfaction."

A week before Floyd's hiring, Jordan said he was leaning toward retirement, saying, "To me, basketball is dead at this particular time."

According to a source close to Jordan, that feeling has little to do with Jackson's departure and much to do with the fatigue he's still fighting after a draining season in which he led the Bulls to their sixth championship in eight years. At this point, Jordan doubts he could muster up the energy necessary for a run at a seventh title.

"I'm waiting for that situation to get settled and making sure in my mind that that's the way I feel," Jordan said of the lockout and any retirement announcements. "I feel that way right now, but I don't want to speak for the future. I'm speaking for the moment."

But just after Jordan hit the title-clinching jumper in Game 6 against the Jazz on June 14, Jackson advised his star player that now would be a perfect time to retire.

That scenario would be a nightmare for Reinsdorf and Krause, already two of the least popular sports executives in Chicago despite their success with the Bulls. Both would be blamed for pushing Jackson and Jordan out.

That's why Floyd, the former Iowa State coach and a longtime friend of Kranse's, couldn't simply be introduced as Jackson's successor. Reinsdorf, Krause and Floyd huddled and came up with the unique scenario that would impress even Michael J. Fox's character on Spin City. Floyd alluded to the spin control going on when he joked he might fill the team's vacant assistant coaching job with James Carville, President Clinton's loyal defender.

Floyd was addressing the media but could have been talking to Bulls fans when he asked for an opportunity to prove himself.

"Give me a chance," he said. "If you give me a chance, I'm going to give you time, I'm going to give you respect and I'm going to give you context.

"But don't call me Jerry Krause's boy. OK?"

One reason Jordan has vowed not to play for any coach other than Jackson is he doesn't want to start a relationship from scratch. As part of his recruiting speech to Jordan, Floyd said one of his priorities is to try and make the transition from Jackson as seamless as possible.

The Bulls still will run the triple-post offense and Floyd said he hopes to convince assistant Tex Winter, 76, to stick around and help mentor him on the NBA game--one in which he has no experience. Floyd also indicated assistants Frank Hamblen and Bill Cartwright will be retained.

"My goal is to have it look exactly the same," said Floyd, 44. "That's how much respect I have for what's gone on here."

Despite his words to the contrary, if Jordan regains the itch to play, and he feels the Bulls can be title contenders, he'll be back--regardless of the coach. After all, the burden is on Floyd to adjust to Jordan, not the other way around.

Convincing Jordan to return is just the first step--albeit a giant one--in a series of off-season moves necessary to allow the core of last season's team to defend the title next season. Of the 12 players on the playoff roster, nine are free agents.

The key component figures to be Scottie Pippen, who just completed an under-valued, long-term contract and has said several times he plans to make a fresh start elsewhere, even if it means accepting less money.

Of course, Pippen vowed last fall never to play for the Bulls again and has backtracked from previous rigid statements several times. The feeling is that if the Bulls make Pippen the big-money offer he desires, he'll have a change of heart and resign.

Dennis Rodman, also a free agent, said he wants to return. Rodman, though, may have hurt his chances when he said that hiring Floyd would be "a joke."

"Dennis doesn't know me," Floyd said. "I took his statement as loyalty to Phil Jackson. I'd love to have Dennis play for me. I like his energy, his effort on the court."

Dwight Manley, Rodman's agent, said, "Dennis is not going to get involved in the politics. He is just going to let his actions speak for themselves. If he doesn't play for the Bulls, that will show what he thinks. We'll leave it at that."

Other free agents the Bulls probably will attempt to re-sign are center Luc Longley, guard Steve Kerr and forwards Scott Burrell and Jud Buechler The Bulls also have use of the $1 million salary exception--provided that provision stays the same under a new collective bargaining agreement--to sign another free agent.

But the priority, the focus, now is convincing Jordan to return.

"It's very important to us that Michael comes back," Krause said. "It's important that we give him that opportunity to do the things he'd tike to do and finish his career out.

"Anybody that would ever say that Jerry Krause doesn't want Michael Jordan back has got to be crazy."

The theme of last week's news conference was saying all the right things to on Jordan's good side.

"What I'm trying to do right now is stay consistent with what I heard were Jordan's wishes at that golf tournament," Floyd said. "He wanted Phil to return. If that can happen, I'm fine with it, because chances are, it'll mean a seventh world championship for the city of Chicago.

If Phil doesn't return, I hope he'll come back and play for me. I really do." Floyd also addressed a skeptical public that views his arrival as the end of an era.

"All I can tell our fans is that I'm going to do my best. That's all I can do," he said. "I have one chance to talk to the players because the lockout's in place, and I'm going to use it now. I want our players to expect from Tim Floyd honesty, forthrightness, respect, individual attention, direction and expectations of greatness. I'm going to expect the same things in return.

"I don't think we're going to have any problem. I think we're going to be on the same page, because when I watch the Chicago Bulls, I see a team that plays with energy, is competitive and has always been about winning despite whatever distraction there might be."

Even if everyone does return, a major rebuilding campaign for the Bulls is not too far off.

"We have an older team. Right now, the Chicago Bulls are the oldest team in the NBA," Krause said. "We will be younger in the next few years. It's a matter of physical necessity that we get younger, and I firmly believe that Tim Floyd is a person who can handle the youth of today."

But for now, Floyd's mission is to handle the veterans who have led the Bulls to six rifles.

John Jackson covers the Bulls for the Chicago Sun-Times and THE SPORTING NEWS.

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