Bickerstaff Will Not Return as Head Coach of Bobcats

Michael Jordan, part owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, said Tuesday that head coach Bernie Bickerstaff will not be coaching the team after this season.

This parting will not be too painful though for Bickerstaff, as he will be allowed to stay with the team management at some level if he chooses.

Bickerstaff has not been very successful with the Bobcats. This is only the third season that the expansion team Bobcats have been in existence and it is usually hard to lead a brand new team to any kind of immediate success. His record with the Bobcats is 67-161. Charlotte's record through Tuesday is 23-41 with the Bobcats being 6.5 games out of the eighth and final playoff spot. Playoffs are certainly out of the question for the team.

Jordan did not seem disappointed with Bickerstaff, he talked as if his job was done and he had taken the franchise as far as he was supposed to.

Bickerstaff has also coached in Seattle, Denver, and Washington. He has worked with a few very promising young players in the NBA who he has also been responsible for getting in Charlotte. The three main players under his watch have been Gerald Wallace, Emeka Okafor, and the 2006 number three pick in the draft, Adam Morrison; all three rising talents. Okafor has been especially flourishing under the watch of Bickerstaff averaging 14.9 points to go along with 11.70 rebounds per game. Okafor is especially strong on the defensive end of the floor.

Michael Jordan makes all of the final decisions on hiring and firing of coaches for the Bobcats. Though nobody would ever question his talent on the court, Jordan has faced some criticism on his ability to run a basketball team. His last job with the Washington Wizards turned out to be quite a failure. Jordan was president of basketball operations for the team for three years. Fans and other management were not happy about the job he was doing so he was fired after this short time. He is known for making the mistake using the Washington Wizards number one pick in the 2001 NBA draft to select Kwame Brown. Brown never contributed much to the Wizards and was eventually traded.

Jordan has some work to do in addition to hiring a new head coach for the Bobcats. Okafor is due for a contract extension and Wallace also could become a free agent if he chooses.

Cited:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2797095

http://www.nba.com/bobcats/jordan_media_070313.html