Column: Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan plays it cool, ready to take heat for ‘total fiasco’

He was the biggest guy on a stage filled with giants, yet he sat in the front, his crisp suit and big smile casting a purposeful shadow, the NBA’s most controversial off-season figure making himself the easiest of targets.

“I feel like giving your word and being a man is important, that’s really all we have,” said DeAndre Jordan. “At the same time, also part of being a man is admitting when you’ve made a wrong decision and owning up to it.”

A dozen days after backing out of a verbal commitment to the Dallas Mavericks and rejoining the Clippers, Jordan owned up to it. In his first meeting with the media since the crazy night that delighted Clippers fans and enraged pretty much everyone else, Jordan calmly and thoughtfully explained and owned his decision.

It was his 27th birthday Tuesday, yet it was Jordan who gave a present to the Clippers, showing up at a Staples Center news conference behaving not like a helpless, whimpering child portrayed in recent Twitter wars, but a reasoned adult professionally explaining a tough choice.

Yes, he acknowledged, it was, “this total fiasco.”

Yes, he admitted, he initially left the Clippers because “I thought I wanted change and I needed change in my career. I wanted a bigger role and more responsibility. And I was ready to embrace it and accept that challenge.”

Yes, he said he changed his mind because, among other things, Coach Doc Rivers finally made those same sorts of promises and will use him more in the offense — “I believe so … we talked about it,” Jordan said.

No, contrary to Twitter reports, the Clippers didn’t forcibly lock him in his Houston home until he signed the contract — “It wasn’t a hostage situation,” Jordan said with a laugh. “I feel like I’m a pretty big guy and I don’t think they can lock me inside my own house.”

And, no, he didn’t call Mavericks owner Mark Cuban about his change of heart because agents usually make those calls, but he reiterated earlier tweets that he’s really sorry for how it all turned out — “When we make decisions in life and then we go back and change our minds on them, I feel like the only thing you can do is man-up and apologize for it ... and that’s what I did.”

But, yes, yes, yes, he knows what’s coming next.

“I’m definitely going to take some heat, I’m definitely going to get booed even more, and I’m ready for it,” Jordan said later in a hallway. “But hopefully over time and games and seasons, hopefully the city of Dallas and the Mavs organization and the players will understand I made a decision for me and my family.”

On an afternoon when the Clippers gathered together most of their impressive free-agent haul to mark the beginning of what they hope will be a championship journey, it was Jordan’s coolness that dominated an already nutty scene.

In one chair sat “The Truth,” Paul Pierce, sprawling out over what had long been enemy territory, one of the greatest Lakers baiters ever prepared to run some serious hallway smack.

“Always wanted to play in my hometown for an opportunity to win a championship,” said the former Boston Celtic with a grin.

In another chair sat “J-Smoove,” Josh Smith, the moody occasional star who already seems to be brooding after signing a minimum deal of $1.5 million with the Clippers, even though he will make $6.9 million total when annual payments from a previous contract with the Detroit Pistons are included.

“At the end of the day, you know, I do have a family, so it is going to be a little harder on me this year, but I’m going to push through it and you know, try to do something long-term after this year,” he said.

A little harder? Push through it? For nearly 7 million bucks? Good heavens, man.

In the middle of it all sat Rivers, who knows that guiding this thrill ride into June will be his responsibility, and it won’t be easy. He has long been criticized in this space for his failings as head of basketball operations, yet now that he’s brilliantly put together a championship caliber team, he’ll feel even more heat to coach them there.

“It’s going to take a group that wants to play together, wants to get together and wants to win together,” said Rivers, noting three things that didn’t always seem to be in sync last year.

Regarding the part about wanting to play together, Jordan openly addressed the tiny elephant in the room, the talk that he initially left the Clippers because of an on-court feud with controlling Chris Paul.

“I know maybe it looked that way on the floor because we were both emotional and vocal players…and I think that we let facial expressions and outside stories dictate what we believe,” Jordan said. “But Chris is like a big brother to me and other guys on this team.… love Chris.”

We’ll see. The basketball world will be watching. There is so much potential greatness here, yet so much potential for implosion.

Will Jordan, who is far more valuable to the Clippers as a defender, really become a bigger part of the offense? Even if Rivers orders it, will Paul direct it? And if Paul refuses to direct it, how will Jordan handle it? And if Jordan gets upset, how will his buddy Blake Griffin react?

On a day when DeAndre Jordan gracefully returned to his basketball home, the only thing certain is that, after all the fussing and fighting, he is right where he belongs.

For now, anyway.

Follow Bill Plaschke on Twitter @billplaschke