CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ I get asked all the time what Michael Jordan brings to the table that can distinguish him from other NBA owners.
The applicable term from the last couple of years is "translator."
I'd heard snippets of how Jordan uses his history as an iconic player to improve communication between the players association and the league. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver singled out Jordan's value, as chairman of the owners' labor-relations committee, at a news conference last summer in Las Vegas.
I understand if a Charlotte Hornets fan's reaction is, "So what? How does that help the team?"
I don't know whether that will someday close a free-agent signing or make it easier to retain talent. I do know that when Jordan playfully bopped Malik Monk on the back of the head, after Monk ran onto the court in celebration before a game was decided, Monk defended Jordan's reaction as a player thing, not an owner overstepping his bounds.
That's the respect Jordan still has 15 years removed from the last time he played. His credibility is capital in a management-labor dynamic that is alternately collaborative and tense.
I got a chance Tuesday, when Jordan did an interview with Charlotte media attached to All-Star Weekend, to ask about this connector role Silver described. Jordan said it works because both Silver and the leaders of the players association _ president Chris Paul and executive director Michele Roberts _ are authentically interested in his perspective.
The word "unique" is way overused. It doesn't mean distinctive or rare, it means "one of a kind." Jordan, as a former NBA player with controlling ownership of an NBA franchise, is unique.
That's powerful, and Jordan has embraced this role.
"I pull on both sides to try to communicate to both sides," Jordan said. "Those are tough conversations to have because emotions get involved sometimes."
From what Jordan described, he's as likely to check-up tone in how the owners address the players as he is conveying owners' positions.
"There's a certain way to say it (to players) so they understand it," Jordan said. "And then, on the players' side (it's explaining), 'Hey, this is how the business operates. This is the goal, this is the piece of pie that we need to understand, that we need to show and grow.' "
