Jordan prepares for his final game

WASHINGTON -- Michael Jordan surely expected a different ending, not a finale amid the turmoil of his self-assembled, crumbling team.\nJordan finishes his NBA playing career -- part three -- in Philadelphia on Wednesday night. His Washington Wizards teammates will probably try to send him out a winner, but there's no telling what to expect after the tongue-lashing some players got from coach Doug Collins at Jordan's last home game.\nAfter Monday night's 93-79 loss to the New York Knicks, Collins criticized some players for showing "insidious" disrespect to the coach. He implied it could lead to a roster purge in the offseason.\n"It doesn't matter how much money you make or what you do, you still respect the people who are trying to bring the best out in you," Collins said. "Somewhere along the line, that's been lost. And I sure hope we can get it back, not just here, but in all cities in the NBA."\nCaught off guard by Collins' remarks, Jordan supported the coach but said the timing or the method might not have been the best.\n"These are things you have to deal with," said Jordan, who plans to return to the Wizards' front office. "I'd rather for them not to be out for everyone's opinion. Those are things I'd like to field internally, but I think Doug felt very disrespected."\nAt least this is helping the 40-year-old Jordan with one wish: He didn't want a big, somber fuss over his retirement. Instead, he's got a big mess.\nHis next job probably will be to fix it and continue his quest to turn around a franchise that hasn't won a playoff game in 15 years. Even with Jordan on the court, the Wizards have had back-to-back losing seasons marred by bad chemistry.\nHe'll sit down with team owner Abe Pollin after the season.\n"My ending is going to be when this team is successful," Jordan said. "I am sure everybody would love to see me hit the game-winning shot in the finals. Sometimes not being able to be as successful is a great signal because it lets you know that it is the right time to move on and do other things."\nJordan said he would give himself just an average grade for his three years as the Wizards de facto general manager. In the future, he said he'll concentrate more on finding players with desire, passion and a willingness to be learn and be coached -- even if they are considered marginal by the NBA's talent standards.\n"I would take 12 guys who have a strong passion to play this game over 12 stars who don't respect the game," Jordan said.\nBut that's Jordan the personnel man. What about Jordan the player, who wanted so badly to get to the playoffs one last time? He signed some promising names this season for that final run -- Jerry Stackhouse, Bryon Russell, Larry Hughes, Charles Oakley -- but the playing styles and personalities were a bad mix from the start.\nThen again, according to Collins, even making the playoffs might have been enough to satisfy Jordan, his critics or even his fans.\n"Is there any way Michael could win coming back to play?" Collins said. "Is the only scenario that we win a championship? It's perception. If we were to win four more games and get swept in the first round, would Michael have been successful?\n"What is success? If we don't win the championship, for him coming back is a failure. He's judged at a standard no one else even comes close to."\nAs for whether Jordan will retire for good -- he's come back twice already -- he pointed out that this was the first time he announced it in advance. He wasn't really ready to quit last time, but he didn't want to play for another coach other than Phil Jackson in Chicago, where they won six championships together.\n"With the Bulls, it wasn't my option," Jordan said. "If Phil would have stayed, I would have still played. That wasn't the end, it was because I didn't want to play for a rebuilding project. This is my choice. I'm looking to walk into this because I know there won't be another chance of me being in the league."\nDespite his team's losing ways -- they dropped their last five in a row at home -- Jordan has tried to savor his last few days in uniform. He will do so again Wednesday, and he wouldn't mind if the tributes were toned down.\n"Play the game and walk away. Look back on the game with my own memories and my own reminisces," Jordan said. "I think you guys have seen what I have meant to the game. I don't need someone to recap it for me. I would quietly love to walk away and still have my own little piece. I'm not dead. I'm still alive"