Kevin Lee Pritchard (born July 17, 1967 in Bloomington, Indiana) is a retired American professional basketball player and former general manager of the Portland Trail Blazers.
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Playing career
Pritchard played college basketball for the University of Kansas Jayhawks, where he was the starting point guard on the Jayhawks team that defeated the Oklahoma Sooners for the 1988 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship. While at KU, he played under head men's basketball coach Larry Brown, assistants R.C. Buford and Alvin Gentry, and one year under then-volunteer assistant coach Gregg Popovich, now the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs.
He was drafted by the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association in 1990. He had a six-year NBA career spanning five teams—the Warriors, the Boston Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Miami Heat, and the Washington Bullets. He also holds the distinction of being the first player signed in the history of the Vancouver Grizzlies in 1995, although he was released before ever getting an opportunity to play a game for them. Pritchard's playing career also included a stint with Caceres C.B. in Spain, Pfizer Reggio Calabria in Italy in 1993-1994 and Bayer Leverkusen in Germany 1996-1997. He retired from playing in 1998.
Early coaching and management career
After a year working outside of basketball, Pritchard became the coach and general manager of the Kansas City Knights of the ABA, which he led to a championship in 2001. Later, he was hired by San Antonio Spurs general manager R. C. Buford to be a scout in the Spurs' organization, and two years later was hired by the Portland Trail Blazers as director of player personnel.
Pritchard would return to public prominence in 2005, when the Trail Blazers fired then head coach Maurice Cheeks and named Pritchard as his interim replacement. Pritchard, who made it clear at the outset that he had little intent of being the team's coach on a long-term basis, used the remainder of the season to evaluate talent.
Assistant general manager
In the 2006 off-season, the team fired Nash, giving Patterson the dual role of GM and president; Pritchard was promoted to assistant general manager where he was involved in the decision making for four significant trades which have been held to be favorable to the Blazers:
- A deal prior to the 2006 NBA Draft which sent Sebastian Telfair and Theo Ratliff to the Boston Celtics in exchange for the #7 pick in that year's draft and Raef LaFrentz.
- A draft-day deal which sent Tyrus Thomas (the team's draft choice at #4) and Viktor Khryapa to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for the #2 pick, LaMarcus Aldridge
- A second draft-day deal which sent the #7 pick in the draft, Randy Foye, along with cash considerations, to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for the #6 pick, Brandon Roy. Roy would end up being named Rookie of the Year, and would be selected as an All-Star the following three seasons (2008, 2009, 2010).
- A third draft-day deal in which the team acquired the rights to the #27 pick in the draft, Sergio Rodriguez, from the Phoenix Suns in exchange for cash.
Promotion to general manager
In 2007, Steve Patterson resigned, and on March 29, Pritchard was named as the team's general manager. In addition to the selection of Greg Oden with the #1 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, Pritchard orchestrated two more draft-day trades of significance:
- The Blazers sent forward Zach Randolph to the New York Knicks, along with guards Fred Jones and Dan Dickau, in exchange for Steve Francis, Channing Frye, and a trade exception.
- The team subsequently used the trade exception to acquire forward James Jones and the rights to the #24 pick in the draft, Rudy Fernández from the Suns, in exchange for cash.
Due to his track record of one-sided trades benefiting the Trail Blazers, some sports commentators have coined the phrase "pritch-slap" in honor of Pritchard's alleged managerial acumen.[1]
In December 2008, the Blazers attempted to block other NBA teams from signing Darius Miles solely for the purpose of negatively impacting the Blazers' salary cap situation. Miles ended up signing with the Memphis Grizzlies, and Pritchard was criticized as over-reaching and arrogant.[2]
Leaving the Portland Trail Blazers
Kevin Pritchard was relieved of his general manager duties on June 24, 2010. The way in which this was done by Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen was peculiar. About one hour before the 2010 NBA Draft, Kevin Pritchard was notified by Paul Allen that he had been fired, but wanted to make it clear that he needed to stay for the draft. Pritchard did stay through the draft, making a trade and two draft picks that Trail Blazer team officials were satisfied with[3].
Many people expected the release of Pritchard to take place, as they felt the firing of Tom Penn, who was the assistant general manager, was a "drive-by" warning for Pritchard.[4]
Joe Freeman, of The Oregonian newspaper, broke this story early in the four o'clock hour of draft day to "Trail Blazers Courtside"[5], an official Trail Blazer show offering live draft day coverage. After the hosts initial shock and analysis, the whole fiasco went unmentioned the rest of the show's coverage. It was reported that the Trail Blazers officials told the show's hosts to stop talking about Kevin Pritchard immediately.[6] Paul Allen's plan was thought to be to announce the firing the next day, as the team was not ready to deal with the news being released prior to the draft.
In a press conference after, Paul Allen was nowhere in sight and Trail Blazer's President Larry Miller was left to take all the tough questions. No reasons were given as to why Pritchard was fired.
References
- ^ Blazers "Pritch-slap" the NBA Draft...Again
- ^ "Miles separated Blazers GM from greatness". http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-milespritchard011709&prov=yhoo&type=lgns.
- ^ http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2010/06/live_video_the_blazers_discuss.html
- ^ http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2010/03/tom_penn_fired_by_trail_blazer.html
- ^ http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2010/06/kevin_pritchard_fired_as_trail.html
- ^ http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2010/06/canzano_firing_kevin_pritchard.html
External links
- NBA stats @ basketballreference.com
- Kevin Pritchard's Kansas Jayhawks 1988 NCAA Champions Basketball Pennant
Preceded by Maurice Cheeks |
Portland Trail Blazers head coach 2005 (interim) |
Succeeded by Nate McMillan |
Preceded by Tod Leiweke (interim) |
Portland Trail Blazers general manager 2007-present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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