Preseason left a fairly clear contradiction: Jordan could still produce big nights, but Washington did not yet know very well what to do when he left the floor. The comeback worked as a spectacle; as a team, the Wizards were still under construction.
On October 18, Detroit won an exhibition game comfortably and Jordan finished with 24 points. Two nights later came the louder answer: 41 points against New Jersey. The result was still a loss, but the debate over whether he could still compete at the highest level began losing quite a bit of momentum.
Doug Collins was trying to keep the rest of the roster from simply watching. That was probably the most important question of the comeback: how much could Jordan contribute, and how much could Washington grow without depending on him to play as if he were still 28.
The regular season was only days away. The original archive saw optimism and alarm almost at the same time. Looking back now, the diagnosis was not that bad.