The Batman
07-14-2010, 05:58 PM
yesterday the new orleans hornets came to a "mutual" agreement to part ways with gm jeff bower. While some are saying the decision was made several days ago, sources close to the situation say the decision was not reached yesterday, but it wasn't reached last week either.
bower's demise was ultimately his own.according to sources, bower's stance on not trading star guard chris paul - a hardline stance on the subject - ultimately cost him his job. that stance combined with what some have labeled as a "sour" relationship with chris paul ultimately ended bowers' tenure with the team.
paul has been extremely vocal about his unhappiness with where new orleans is in terms of competing for a championship and bower has done little in the eyes of ownership to defuse the situation; in fact, some say he's fanned the flames. The inability to get paul on board was a huge issue with ownership.
the team has begun a search for a new general manager. there was a strong sentiment in las vegas yesterday that chris paul is now clearly on the trading block with some executives saying they expected him to be traded in the coming weeks.hornets' sources warned not to read too much into the decision to remove bower, with one hornets' insider saying that the hope was a new gm might be able to bridge the divide with paul and start to repair what's clearly become a broken relationship. However, if that divide can't be closed it seems far more likely that the new gm will be faced with a tough decision: Trade paul now or wait for him to walk away in 2012.
former blazers' gm kevin pritchard has been mentioned as a possible replacement. Sources close to pritchard said that he had not been contacted yet, but that he was likely a prime candidate mainly because he fits the described criteria perfectly. He is an established credible executive with a strong leadership style. He is an aggressive trader, and he has proven that he can extract good assets in deals.
the fact that pritchard has a solid relationship with new hornets' coach monty williams surely doesn't hurt his candidacy. And as one western conference executive joked "if monty has any pull, pritch should be the next guy…"
the hornets have set no time table on replacing bower, but it's expected to happen fairly quickly.from there we'll see how chris paul responds, and that might be the most telling sign of his future. If paul tosses his unwavering support behind a gm, the hornets may not have to consider the next option and that's trading away their star player.
read more nba news and insight: http://www.hoopsworld.com/story.asp?story_id=16808#ixzz0tbdbzx81
bower's demise was ultimately his own.according to sources, bower's stance on not trading star guard chris paul - a hardline stance on the subject - ultimately cost him his job. that stance combined with what some have labeled as a "sour" relationship with chris paul ultimately ended bowers' tenure with the team.
paul has been extremely vocal about his unhappiness with where new orleans is in terms of competing for a championship and bower has done little in the eyes of ownership to defuse the situation; in fact, some say he's fanned the flames. The inability to get paul on board was a huge issue with ownership.
the team has begun a search for a new general manager. there was a strong sentiment in las vegas yesterday that chris paul is now clearly on the trading block with some executives saying they expected him to be traded in the coming weeks.hornets' sources warned not to read too much into the decision to remove bower, with one hornets' insider saying that the hope was a new gm might be able to bridge the divide with paul and start to repair what's clearly become a broken relationship. However, if that divide can't be closed it seems far more likely that the new gm will be faced with a tough decision: Trade paul now or wait for him to walk away in 2012.
former blazers' gm kevin pritchard has been mentioned as a possible replacement. Sources close to pritchard said that he had not been contacted yet, but that he was likely a prime candidate mainly because he fits the described criteria perfectly. He is an established credible executive with a strong leadership style. He is an aggressive trader, and he has proven that he can extract good assets in deals.
the fact that pritchard has a solid relationship with new hornets' coach monty williams surely doesn't hurt his candidacy. And as one western conference executive joked "if monty has any pull, pritch should be the next guy…"
the hornets have set no time table on replacing bower, but it's expected to happen fairly quickly.from there we'll see how chris paul responds, and that might be the most telling sign of his future. If paul tosses his unwavering support behind a gm, the hornets may not have to consider the next option and that's trading away their star player.
read more nba news and insight: http://www.hoopsworld.com/story.asp?story_id=16808#ixzz0tbdbzx81