Press Release | Video: bobcats.com Interview | Press Conference Part 1 | Press Conference Part 2 | President of Basketball Operations Rod Higgins Bio | General Manager Rich Cho Bio

Opening statements

President of Basketball Operations Rod Higgins
First of all, I’d like to say welcome to this afternoon. I’d like to thank Michael [Jordan] and the Bobcats organization for this great opportunity. I look forward to working with Rich and continue to work with Paul [Silas] and his staff on improving this basketball team and getting us to that perennial playoff level, ultimately getting to a championship level. Thanks for coming out.

General Manager Rich Cho
I want to thank Michael, Rod, Fred Whitfield, [Vice Chairman] Curtis Polk for reaching out to me just a few weeks ago. I’m really looking forward to this opportunity and putting down some roots in Charlotte. I’ve heard some great things about this city and a couple guys that I worked with in Portland starting working here when the Hornets started initially as an expansion team. I’ve heard great things about the city and what a great family town it is. I’m just excited to be here and working with the organization and setting up some roots here.

Q&A

(On how this all came together)
Rich: Rod was kind enough to call me the day after I got released from Portland. He called me just to send me his best wishes my way. We had always had a good relationship on the phone and in person, just in our dealings. The day after that, he called again and he said, “Hey, would it make sense if you came out to Charlotte and met with me and Michael and Fred and Curtis?” And I said, “Sure.” The following week, I flew out on a Wednesday and got here Wednesday night, met with the four of them on Thursday. I met with them for quite a few hours, and then we had dinner and we hit it off. I went back to Portland on Friday and we continued to talk and we came to an agreement. Again, I’m really looking forward to the opportunity and I’m excited to be here.

(On his basketball philosophy and what sets him apart from others)
Rich: Well, I look for a number of things. As far as my basketball philosophy and decision-making and working together, you form your team through the draft, and free agency and trades. I’m a big proponent of accumulating assets. That’s what we did in Oklahoma City and that’s what we tried to do in Portland. After we made the trade with Rod, I talked to him the day after and I said, “Rod, I really think this is a good trade for you,” because you guys are now in a little different situation than we were in Portland. I thought it was really smart to go get some assets – a couple picks, and get some cap room. I’m a big proponent of accumulating assets and turning them into other assets so you can improve your team. I like players that are competitive, that love to play the game. They have to play both ends of the floor. So, I think the nice thing is Rod and I have a lot of the same philosophy, but at the same time, we’re going to have some healthy debates. One of my mantras is “Agree, disagree, align.” So, you’re going to agree sometimes, you’re going to disagree, and then at the end of the day, you’re going to align and come out of the war room or any meetings that you have as one.

(On the timing of the hire)
Rod: Well, I think for us it was interesting to have a highly competitive, qualified executive to us to add to our mix. Rich has already gone through the draft process with his existing staff in Portland. So, he’s seen a lot of players. He has an opinion on a lot of players and I think that’s only a benefit to us as a whole. I think the timing, to be honest, couldn’t be any better, because now we get a coup, so to speak, going into the draft. It’s like making a trade and when you’re already a championship caliber team and you’re able to get a superstar. I think that’s an equation that I’ll put on that. The draft is next week. We have a huge asset in Rich coming into the mix, so I think the timing couldn’t be any better.

(On transitioning to a new team with the draft next week)
Rich: I’m not the type of person who’s going to come in here and say, “Hey, this is what we need to do. Let’s change this, here.” I want to come in, ask a lot of questions – pick Rod’s brain, pick Michael’s brain, and our scout – Scott Howard, the director of scouting – his brain. I want to get all their thoughts and I want to give them my thoughts. Like I said, it’s going to be a collaborative effort.

(On possibly getting a big and three-point shooting in the draft)
Rich: Those are certainly two things we need. We also need some athleticism. Sometimes you can’t address everything in the same draft. It might be via trade. It might be the draft. It might be free agency. Those are all things we’re looking at and we’re going to get a good player at those picks.

(On how much work is in store and how quickly he can help make this roster better)
Rich: It’s not going to happen overnight. Oklahoma City is one of the best up-and-coming teams in the league. It didn’t happen overnight there. It’s going to be a process. The good thing is we do have some flexibility, cap-wise, coming up in the next few years; got some good young players in D.J. Augustin, D.J. White, Gerald Henderson and Tyrus [Thomas]. And we got three picks in the top 39 this year. So, we’ve got some flexibility and assets and we’re look to capitalize on those.

(On how this compares to other GM jobs he’s had with Oklahoma City and Portland)
Rich: I think there’s some parallels a little bit from when I was in Seattle. At that time, Seattle was kind of a middle-of-the-road team. We wound up trading our best player, Ray Allen, and what we wanted to do there was have some sustained success, not just make the playoffs one year and go out the next. One of the worst things you can do in this league, I think is be a middle-of-the-road team. After the team traded Gerald Wallace, I think there’s a lot of parallels. We got some cap room coming up, some assets and picks. From that standpoint, I think it’s similar.

(On the draft)
Rich: I don’t think there’s some really huge impact players at the top, like there have been in some of the past drafts. There will be some good players in the top 20 and luckily, we have a couple picks in that range.

(On how decision-making will work)
Rod: It’s kind of like how it’s worked in the past. What I do probably won’t change a lot. I think it’s only going to be enhanced by Rich’s qualities and what he does. The one thing about Michael is that he’s never made a decision in a vacuum. He encourages all of us, whether it’s Rich, myself, Fred Whitfield and his staff, to bring up ideas. He wants us to, as Rich stated, have that healthy debate and we’ll do that come draft time. Paul and his assistant coaches will have an opportunity to give their versions of what they like and what they don’t like and how they envision this team improving going forward. For us, our hierarchy is set. I’ll always filter up to Michael, Rich will filter up to me and Paul and his staff – we’ll use their input as well. And then we’ll go and collectively come out with a decision on what we’re going to do or who we’re going to pick. A lot of it hasn’t changed; we just have the fortunate ability to have Rich add into the mix.

(On what Rich adds)
Rod: We have a couple traditional basketball guys in our hierarchy. I think myself, as well as Michael – we’re called ‘basketball guys.’ It just so happens that our ‘basketball guy’ happens to be also the owner of the team, which is unique from any other organization in our league. And then you have Rich, who now brings in a skill set and a mindset that he’s an analytical, so to speak numbers guy. I think that’s a good fit for us because it gives us a whole different area that we can open up our minds to and he’ll bring in some concepts, stats and analytics that we hadn’t done in the past. And I think that’s the beauty of it – having a different guy with a different set of skills, but also has a competitive nature, knowing what he likes as a basketball player and a basketball team.

(On building a team in this market and balancing the business and basketball sides of operations)
Rich: One important aspect of it is having synergy between the business office and the basketball office. When I was assistant GM in Seattle, I was also VP of legal. I worked on all the sponsorship agreements and suite agreements. I worked with PR and CR, finance and sponsorship, all those groups. I think that for the organization to run at the highest level, there’s got to be a lot of synergy between the business office and the basketball office. I’m looking forward to working a lot with office here and having a lot of synergy there.

(On Portland releasing him)
Rich: I did not see it coming. At the same time, although it was disappointing, I owe a lot of gratitude to Mr. [Paul] Allen and Larry Miller. I’ve got nothing but positive things to say about the organization in Portland. The business office staff there is tremendous, as well as the basketball staff I had. I’m a glass half-full kind of person and I’m trying to take that situation and turn it into a positive and fortunately, the guys here reached out to me and I’m just really excited to be here and looking forward to the opportunity.

(On the irony of working both sides of the Gerald Wallace trade)
Rich: [Chuckling] It is ironic. As I mentioned before, it was one of those deals that I think was good for both teams. Any time you lose a star, it’s going to be hard for the team and the fans to stomach. But if you take a step back and really analyze it, it was a good deal for both teams. It gives the Bobcats a lot of flexibility moving forward, some assets and as I mentioned before, we want sustained success here, so I think it was good for both teams.

(On if the deal ended up being a good deal for everybody)
Rich: Right. And those are the best deals to make. That doesn’t always happen in this league. One thing that I think that resonated with Rod and vice versa was that I always try to put myself in the other team’s shoes, or if I’m negotiating with an agent, I put myself in the agent’s shoes and try to come out with a resolution that’s good for both sides.

(On buying into Michael’s serious interest in investing in talent)
Rich: Just from talking to Michael and the group here, I just sense that they have a strong commitment to winning. That’s how Michael was as a player and sitting down with him a couple weeks ago, I just got a strong sense that that’s where his vision lies, and I believe him. I’m just really excited to work with him and Rod and Fred and Curtis and we want to build a winner here.

(On the ability for Rich and Rod to collaborate with each having different contacts within the league)
Rod: I think it’s only smart. There are organizations who I probably feel more comfortable with a certain individual. Then maybe Rich can have an opportunity to talk to somebody in another organization that happens to be one, two, whatever – it doesn’t really matter. I think the more conversation you have, the better. I want Rich to feel he can do what he’s always done in the past. With me, I’ll do the same thing I’ve done in the past, continue to navigate and explore options to improve the team.

(On his excitement)
Rod: I’ve been beating Michael’s ear up a while. A couple years ago, Buzz Peterson was here as our Director of Player Personnel. Ever since Buzz left, we’ve been trying to fill a spot, so to speak, with someone that can be a positive and fill a role that we might not necessarily have. It’s taken time, but it’s well worth the wait. So yeah, I am excited. It’s an exciting time for our organization going into the draft. You see my coach over there, I know he’s excited with this time of the year; we’ve been having some good conversations. Now we’ll get ready for our owner to come in here so we can put it all out on his plate.