Jordan contacted Collins, who coached Jordan in Chicago for three years before being fired after the 1988-89 season. The Wizards, with little salary cap space until 2002, are a young, sometimes undisciplined, team searching for an identity. That description could also have applied 15 years ago to Collins, when he was a rookie coach trying to handle an emerging superstar. I was 35, had never been a head coach before, was going to roll up my sleeves to show everybody that I could get the job done. I wanted to do things my way.
Passion is still there.
In a situation like this, it's going to take a lot of patience. Michael and I have another similar quality, we're probably not the most patient of people. Jordan also admitted the two didn't get off to a great start, but he said they patched things up quickly. He said the widely perceived notion that he was responsible for getting Collins fired in 1989 was not correct. Collins was succeeded in Chicago by Phil Jackson, who led the Bulls to six NBA titles.