WASHINGTON, 21 June 2003 — After turning their back on Michael Jordan, the Washington Wizards have turned to another Jordan to revive their floundering National Basketball Association team.

The Wizards announced Thursday that New Jersey Nets assistant coach Eddie Jordan, who is no relation to Michael, has signed a four-year contract to be the club’s new coach, replacing Doug Collins, Michael Jordan’s handpicked man.

“My plan was to hire a president or a general manager first, but I revised that plan because I wanted to make sure that Eddie was our coach,” Wizards owner Abe Pollin said.

Former Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan, who played for the Wizards the past two seasons, built the club that Eddie Jordan will guide.

“Air” Jordan, 40, gave up his post as president of basketball operations for the Wizards and an ownership stake in the club to make a comeback the past two seasons but Washington’s streak of missing the playoffs stretched to six years.

When Jordan went to owner Abe Pollin about resuming his executive duties, he was told he was no longer needed. On May 30 the club fired Doug Collins, Michael Jordan’s handpicked coach and his first NBA coach from his Bulls era.

Trying to repair the damage from the split and a lackluster roster will be Eddie Jordan, who has helped guide the Nets into the NBA finals the past two years. This Jordan, 48, graduated from a local high school 30 years ago. “I’m coming home to Washington and I am proud to be the head coach of the Washington Wizards,” Jordan said. “We have a lot of young talent on this roster and I look forward to working with these guys and developing this team into a contender.”

Jordan had also interviewed with Philadelphia about a coaching vacancy. His only prior experience as a head coach came in 1997-98, when he went 33-64 with Sacramento after having served the Kings as an assistant the prior five years.

Report Says Ayers

to Coach 76ers

The Philadelphia 76ers reportedly have settled on Randy Ayers as their new coach.

ESPN reported Thursday that the National Basketball Association team has promoted one of its assistants after losing out on Eddie Jordan, who chose to take the coaching job with the Washington Wizards.

The club was scheduled to announce its choice the next day.

Ayers would take over for Larry Brown, who resigned shortly after the team was eliminated in the Eastern Conference semifinals and took over as coach at Detroit. Ironically, the 76ers were eliminated by the Pistons. With the organization since 1997, Ayers has been an assistant coach since 1998.

Ayers’ most recent head-coaching job was at Ohio State, where he went 124-108, led the team to four postseason appearances and earned national Coach of the Year honors in 1991.

Podkolzine Opts

Out of NBA Draft

In New York, Pavel Podkolzine, 18, a projected top-10 selection, surprisingly withdrew his name on Thursday from next week’s NBA draft in New York.

The 7-foot-5, 300-pound Russian said he had decided to stay another year in Italy, where he plays for a team in Varese.

Podkolzine, though, has health worries. Last week he was diagnosed with acromegaly, a disease characterized by enlargement of the bones of the head, hands and feet.

Minor surgery should correct the problem but the fact no NBA team would commit to drafting him was enough to prompt the Russian to opt out next Thursday.

Podkolzine impressed more than 100 NBA scouts in a workout June 6.