| | Associated Press
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Rod Thorn was close to accepting a
job with the New Jersey Nets last fall, but decided at the last
minute the timing wasn't right.
On Friday, the timing was perfect for the NBA's head of
basketball operations to start running a team. Thorn was hired as
team president, acknowledging that the Nets' winning the draft
lottery and getting the No. 1 draft pick helped him to change his
mind.
|  | | Rod Thorn first turned the Nets down, then called back to see if he could be considered again. |
"This franchise is not bereft of talent," Thorn said. "There
is a tremendous opportunity here to get better in a very, very
quick amount of time."
Nets owners and players were thrilled that Thorn, best known for
setting rules and administering fines, had brought his reputation
and influence to the team.
"This gives us credibility," owner Lewis Katz said. "This is
really not going to be a lowly organization for too terribly
long."
Thorn, a former assistant coach with the New York Nets of the
ABA, was the Chicago Bulls' general manager when they drafted
Michael Jordan. He inherits a woeful franchise that has missed the
playoffs the last two years and only made it 10 times since joining
the NBA in 1976-77.
The team is also without a coach. Don Casey was fired a week
after the Nets finished the regular season at 31-51. Thorn said he
had no leading candidates, but was searching for "someone who's a
teacher, with tremendous energy."
Possible candidates include Isiah Thomas, Lenny Wilkens and
current assistant Eddie Jordan.
Thorn replaces Michael Rowe, who had run the team since October
1995 and resigned at the end of this season. The team also has
begun a search for a director of basketball operations.
General manager John Nash's status has been uncertain, although
Thorn and Nash reportedly are friendly.
There have been reports in the past week that former Georgetown
coach John Thompson and Pacers general manager David Kahn were
being seriously considered for the job as director of basketball
operations. Michael Jackson, one of Thompson's former players and a
former TNT executive, would become president.
"I can't tell you how energetic I feel about this," said
Thorn, 59.
Eight months ago, he spurned Katz's offer for the same job. The
talks started in August and culminated last October with Thorn
accepting a five-year, $7 million contract, a source told The
Associated Press. A week later he backed out.
Last Monday, Katz said, Thorn called and asked if the job was
still available.
Katz said a dozen NBA teams have approached Thorn, who has spent
the past 15 years in the league office. With the Nets, Thorn won't
have to move from his Rye, N.Y., home and will have the power to
choose both a coach and a No. 1 draft choice.
"The respect level is totally different," said star point
guard Stephon Marbury. He said Thorn has the clout to attract
players and personnel to a team with a lot of vacancies.
Besides, Marbury joked, "I don't have to get worried about
getting fined for my shorts anymore." Thorn once fined Marbury
$2,500 for wearing his shorts too long.
Thorn has run the league's on-court operations, including
scheduling, officiating, game conduct and discipline. He oversaw
the NBA's new rules that were meant to curb physical play.
"Rod Thorn is one of the premier executives in the NBA," NBA
commissioner David Stern said. "For the past 15 years, Rod's
tremendous knowledge of the game has been invaluable to the league.
I congratulate the New Jersey Nets on the selection of one of the
best people in our business."
A guard at West Virginia, Thorn was the second pick in the 1963
NBA draft by the Baltimore Bullets. He later played for Detroit,
St. Louis and Seattle, averaging 10.8 points in his career.
Thorn joined the coaching ranks in 1971 as an assistant to
Wilkens in Seattle and moved to the Nets in 1973-75. After a year
as coach of the ABA's St. Louis Spirits, he returned for two more
seasons in New Jersey. He left to become the Bulls general manager
from 1978 through 1984.
He coached the Bulls for 30 games in 1982. | |
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 Rod Thorn thinks the timing is right for the Nets to succeed.
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Rod Thorn speaks of his new position as the New Jersey Nets' president.
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Rod Thorn is uncertain who the Nets will pick first overall in the NBA draft.
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