http://www.nola.com/hornets/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/1088582440127890.xml Bass' Hornets tenure officially ends GM brought in talent, didn't have a losing season while with team Wednesday, June 30, 2004 By John Reid Staff writer In his nine years with the Hornets, Bob Bass hired four head coaches and made nearly 200 transactions. But his days of negotiating trades and signing free agents end today. Bass will retire after a 54-year career in basketball that started at a small Baptist college in Oklahoma and ended in the Hornets' front office, where he was general manager and executive vice president of basketball operations. Under Bass, the Hornets qualified for the playoffs seven times and never had a losing season. "It was a great ride and a lot of fun," Bass said. "It was all basketball. I liked to go to work every day, and I really enjoyed what I was doing." Bass hasn't had a job outside of basketball since 1952, when he became head coach at Oklahoma Baptist. He stayed at the school for 15 years before moving to the professional ranks as the head coach of the Denver Nuggets in the American Basketball Association in 1967. Bass coached seven years in the ABA with four teams. He became a front-office executive with the San Antonio Spurs in 1976 and spent the next 18 years with the franchise before accepting the vice president of basketball operations job with the Charlotte Hornets in 1995. Hornets owner George Shinn was so impressed with Bass' experience that he allowed him to have the final say on all trades, coaching hires and personnel moves. "Bob is the main reason we've gone 10 or 11 years without having a losing season," Shinn said. "I've been the brunt of a lot of criticism because I let this player or that player go, but you know we've always gotten better, and Bob is the reason for that. "I have tried to keep Bob under control about not going spending crazy. So he tried to use good judgment, and he's done an incredible job. His fingerprints are all over this team." With Bass' retirement, duties in the Hornets' basketball operations department will be divided between General Manager Allan Bristow, director of player personnel Jeff Bower and vice president of basketball operations Willis Reed, who was hired Monday. Bristow, who worked last season under Bass as assistant general manager, will have the final say on all trades, personnel decisions and draft selections. "I've seen him in the locker room, on a field behind a hunting dog and I've seen him on a boat fishing, so I've seen different sides of him," Bristow said of Bass. "I just have a tremendous amount of respect. I always feel you're lucky if you have four or five people in your life who are that special to you, and Bob is one of those." One of the best draft decisions Bass made was using the third pick in the first round of the 1999 draft to select point guard Baron Davis. He is one of the top point guards in the league and is a two-time All-Star. In the 2000 draft, Bass selected center Jamaal Magloire with the 19th pick in the first round. Magloire has been a starter the past two seasons and was an All-Star for the first time last February. In last year's draft, Bass selected forward David West with the 18th pick in the first round. As a rookie, West developed into one of the team's best rebounders off the bench. Bass also can take credit for a 2000 trade that brought P.J. Brown, Jamal Mashburn and three others to the Hornets from Miami in exchange for Eddie Jones, Anthony Mason, Ricky Davis and Dale Ellis. Although Mashburn struggled with injuries the past year, he was a 2003 All-Star. Brown has been a solid contributor as a starter every season he's been with the Hornets. "I thought some of the trades we made were exciting and helped the team a lot," Bass said. "What was most difficult for me was having to scout European players. It's so difficult to scout them because of the travel. "And eight or nine years ago, nobody was even thinking about high-school players until Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant had been in the league a few seasons. They both were really good, and now eight (high school) guys were drafted in the first round (this year)." Earlier this week, Bass supported the move to select high-school player J.R. Smith with the 18th pick in the first round. Not all of Bass' decisions have gone the way he hoped. Bass drafted forward Kirk Haston in 2001 with the 16th pick, ahead of such players as Tony Parker, Zach Randolph, Jamaal Tinsley and Jason Collins, who are all starters. Haston, from Indiana, never developed into a key contributor and was waived last season. Last summer, Bass took a gamble and hired Tim Floyd as the Hornets' coach, even though Floyd had struggled previously as an NBA coach with the Chicago Bulls. The Hornets finished with a 41-41 record and were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Miami Heat. Bass still declines to comment specifically about the Floyd situation. "I've seen a lot of changes, and a lot of different things happened," Bass said. "Most of them were pretty good." Bass said he plans to spend the majority of his time at his home in San Antonio, fishing and relaxing. Last week he finished cleaning out his office at the Alario Center. "It hasn't hit me yet that the time has come," he said, "but everything must come to an end." . . . . . . . John Reid can be reached at [email protected] or (504) 826-3405. --

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