Source: SI.com

For all we know, Bobcats owner Michael Jordan may have finally gotten it right with the surprising hiring of St. John's assistant Mike Dunlap as coach on Monday.

Maybe this isn't Leonard Hamilton Part II, a repeat of Jordan's reach of a hire in 2000 when he hand-picked the then-University of Miami coach to run his Wizards and saw him resign after leading them to a franchise-low 19 wins. Maybe Jordan will ultimately look like a visionary for plucking Steve Lavin's right-hand man away from the Big East school.

But this wasn't about the pick so much as it was about the process. And the path that led to Dunlap's taking over a team that set a league record for worst winning percentage this season (.106) was very puzzling.

If the Bobcats management team -- which, along with Jordan, features general manager Rich Cho and president Rod Higgins -- was so in love with Dunlap, it could have offered him the job not long after he became one of 10 candidates to replace Paul Silas in May. Instead, the Bobcats narrowed their list to three finalists who were widely known -- Pacers assistant Brian Shaw, Lakers assistant Quin Snyder and Hall of Fame coach Jerry Sloan, who would withdraw from consideration late last week -- before proceeding to pull Dunlap out of the recycling bin at the last minute.

Sources who were involved in the search were left chuckling at the discombobulated feel of the whole affair, and the widely held belief was that Jordan reached for the cheapest option as opposed to the best. Dunlap's contract terms are not yet known, but he won't make nearly as much as the higher-profile candidates who were considered.

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