Rod Higgins has resigned!

[BeesWax]

Completely off topic, but Thomas being off of the original dream team was a travesty, ridiculous, and I dont even like the guy.

That's how powerful Jordan was.

Maybe if Thomas and some of the Piston players in general weren't such a bitch and walked off the court when the Bulls finally beat them in a series Jordan would have stuck up for him. In my opinion you had a choice between Stockton and Thomas as the last two spots. Laettner was going to make it regardless. College golden boy, and back then it was always good to have a collegiate on the team.

From the way it was explained it came down to Jordan or Thomas. Jordan would not play with the whiner so it was a him or me thing and everyone sided with Jordan, and rightfully so.

[fatlever]

perhaps rick should review rod's entire body of work and consider his anger again. frankly, its a miracle he was ever given a job again after his days with the warriors and another miracle he kept his job after the disaster left behind by larry brown.

here is a post i made last year in the fire higgins thread.

http://www.nba.com/bobcats/bio_rod_higgins.html

timeline

asst coach of warriors 1994-2000

asst general manager of wizards 2000-2004
- drafted kwame brown (1st)
- trade juwon howard (and others) for christian laettner (and others)
- drafted jared jefferies (11th)
- drafted juan dixon (17th)
- traded future 1st for brendan haywood
- traded countney alexander for future 1st (juan dixon)
- signed michael jordan
- signed larry hughes
- signed byron russell
- traded richard hamilton for jerry stackhouse
- signed bobby simmons
- signed charles oakley
- drafted jarvis hayes (10th)
- signed gilbert arenas

general manager of warriors 2004-2007
- drafted andres biedrins (11th)
- signed derek fisher
- traded nick van exel for dale davis
- traded cliff robinson for two 2nd round picks
- traded speedy claxton and dale davis for baron davis
- traded eduardo najera and a 2007 1st round pick for nikoloz tskitishvili and rodney white
- drafted ike diogu (9th)
- drafted monta ellis (40th)
- drafted patrick obryant (9th)
- traded mike dunleavy, troy murphy and ike diogu for stephen jackson and al harrington

general manager of bobcats 2007-2011
- traded #8 pick brandan wright for jason richardson
- drafted jared dudley (17th)
- hired sam vincent
- traded primoz brezec and walter herrmann for nazr mohammed
- signed earl boykins
- trade 2010 1st round pick (16th) for 2008 1st round pick (20th)
- drafted dj augustin (9th)
- drafted alexis ajnica (20th)
- hired larry brown
- signed shannon brown
- resigned emeka okafor
- traded jared dudley and jason richardson for boris diaw and raja bell
- traded matt carroll for gana diop
- traded shannon brown and adam morrison for vlad radmanovic
- drafted gerald henderson (14th)
- traded emeka okafor for tyson chandler
- signed flip murry
- traded raja bell and vlad radmanovic for stephen jackson
- traded future 1st round pick for tyrus thomas
- traded tyson chandler for erick dampier
- signed shaun livingston
- signed kwame brown
- fired larry brown
- hired paul silas
- traded gerald wallace for two future 1st round picks
- hired rich cho

president of basketball operations of bobcats 2011-present


i didnt bother to list the transactions since rich cho was hired since it is (and we pray) believed that rich cho is running the show, not higgins, although, higgins still has his messy handprints on the team from time to time.

i tried to remove all the noise, such as 2nd round picks and 10 day contracts and meaningless trades and signings.

i knew his track record was bad, but until i listed it all out, i really didnt realize just how bad it was.

here are his first round draft picks again + monta ellis
- kwame brown (1st)
- jared jefferies (11th)
- juan dixon (17th)
- jarvis hayes (10th)
- andres biedrins (11th)
- ike diogu (9th)
- monta ellis (40th)
- patrick obryant (9th)
- jared dudley (17th)
- dj augustin (9th)
- alexis ajinca (20th)
- gerald henderson (14th)

how is it possible to blow that many first round picks and still have a job? he had 11 first round picks and 8 lottery picks and not a single all-star among them. his best pick ever was monta ellis in the 2nd round.

his claim to fame as a general manager is bringing together baron davis, stephen jackson, and al harrington and turning them into an 8th seed that pulled an amazing upset. his second best claim to fame as a general manager was building a capped out 7th seed team that was swept out of the playoffs and blown up a year later with consequences on the cap that lasted 3 years and caused the team to bottom into the worst team in NBA history.

in his 10+ years in the front office his teams have made the playoffs a total of 2 times and only twice have had winning records.

you can also add hiring mike dunlap and signing his son to that list of ridiculous moves.

[Cheeze]

Higgins was a cog in the wheelworks, nothing more. His main role, as Jordan explained in Bonnell's article, was to act as buffer between the owner and all underlings. Need a softer voice to the press? Rod Higgins was your man. Need a man to occasionally take the public heat? Rod was the bod. Higgins was the franchise figurehead when Jordan wasn't around, which was often. The fact that he lasted as long as he did, in the middle between a hothead, bull-headed owner and a fickle public+business sector, is a testament to Higgins' smarts and internal fortitude. He also survived Larry Brown, though he let Brown walk over him too much. Such was the role of peacemaker.

Early in his non-playing years, Jordan's ultra-competitive nature stood squarely in the way of his success as a businessman. But Jordan was smart enough to put people in his circle that could offer a rebuttal and not get too worked up about it. Curtis Polk became that man on the business side, of course, but Higgins was the man on the basketball side. Higgins was no "yes" man, he was a "no" man. It was Higgins' job to take Jordan's crap and then sanitize it for the rest of the organization. I tell you, with Jordan around Higgins was a valuable piece of the franchise. I'm sad to see him go, if nothing more than for peace in the valley.

I have my eye on Cho. There's no longer a buffer between him and Jordan. If Cho can't handle the Jordan heat, then he'll be the next to go. I suspect Cho has some Vulcan in him, green blood and all, and he'll be just fine. But without Rod Higgins to keep Jordan away from the littles, Cho will need to take on some of the Higgins bridge-building duties. If Cho fails in that, Jordan could ruin some pretty good chemistry going on in the franchise right now.

[fatlever]

nice post cheeze.

is this where buzz peterson might come into play?

[Cheeze]

nice post cheeze.

is this where buzz peterson might come into play?

I knew Buzz for when he coached at App. He and Jordan roomed together and worked together previously. Buzz might consult but I doubt he's Assistant GM material. The problem is that Peterson has a previous direct connection to Jordan. I don't see how he could work under Cho and not be tempted to go straight to Jordan for stuff. Just not a good working structure. I think they're all smart enough to know it won't work.

But then cronyism is a hallmark in the league. I'm not convinced Jordan has totally separated himself from his player days, despite his owner-oriented stance in the last CBA negotiations. It'd be a bad idea, but I wouldn't be totally shocked (or really care all that much) if Peterson came on board. Likely it's a temporary thing.

[TheKingofSting2]

The yes man got fired, I don't see how anyone could be mad.

[therebirth]

Is his son gone too? The truth is there was a power struggle between cho and Higgins and Higgins lost. He didn't deserve to be president.

[-Ian-]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/477809266246840320[/tweet]

Some writers think this was a good move by MJ. While our beat writer thinks the team screwed up. SMFH.

[TheKingofSting2]

Higgins has no honor.

[Liver_Pooty]

Didn't know where to put this.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/rick_bonnell/status/479017393453531137[/tweet]

[TheKingofSting2]

I don't know a lot about him but reading the tea leaves it seems like a good hire.