NBA notebook: Hornets fire GM Cho

[February 21, 2018]  Hornets owner Michael Jordan fired general manager Rich Cho and will seek a replacement in a restructure of the Charlotte front office immediately.

According to ESPN, the Hornets plan to pursue former Los Angeles Lakers' personnel boss Mitch Kupchak. Jordan hired Cho in 2011 after only one year as general manager of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Per ESPN, the vision of the front-office structure would be a combined effort between Kupchak and assistant general manager Buzz Peterson. Jordan, Kupchak and Peterson all attended the University of North Carolina, where Jordan and Peterson were roommates.

Cho entered the NBA as an intern with the Seattle SuperSonics in 1995.

--Giannis Antetokounmpo stressed rest during All-Star weekend in Los Angeles and repeated a desire for more of the same this week in Milwaukee.

Idle until Friday, the All-Star forward has a good reason for wanting to put his feet up: a right knee that continues to flare up. In an interview with Eurohoops TV, Antetokounmpo said doctors told him the issue is a lack of rest. Antetokounmpo is second in the NBA in minutes played at 37 per game.

"The problem is that I play too much," he said. "It's just that I have to rest more. This summer I had no time to rest. After the playoffs I went straight to the gym. I went to see (my younger brother) Kostas and practiced for about a week and a half with him. I didn't have any rest, and that's how, um ... the situation deteriorated. After this season I will have time to rest."

 

--Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said his team is tanking the 2017-18 season.

Cuban, appearing on the House Call with Dr. J podcast, said he sat down with several players to explain why the best option for this year was not winning. The Mavericks are 18-40 at the All-Star break, which stands as the third-worst record in the league.

"I'm probably not supposed to say this, but, like, I just had dinner with a bunch of our guys the other night, and here we are, you know, we weren't competing for the playoffs. I was like, 'Look, losing is our best option,'" Cuban said. "(Commissioner) Adam (Silver) would hate hearing that, but I at least sat down and I explained it to them. And I explained what our plans were going to be this summer, that we're not going to tank again. This was, like, a year-and-a-half tanking, and that was too brutal for me. But being transparent, I think that's the key to being kind of a players owner and having stability."

--Field Level Media

[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.