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» Monday, May 21 2012 |
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Rod Thorn says there’s nothing to a published report Sunday that claimed there are “whispers that Rod Thorn may have had enough.” “(I have) no plans on retiring at this time,” said Thorn in an email response Monday. “I’m (getting) ready for the draft.” Thorn, who turns 71 on Wednesday, became the team’s president and general manager Aug. 12, 2010, after 10 seasons as president of the Nets. The previous ownership regime of Ed Snider and Peter Luukko hired Thorn to replace Ed Stefanski. The new owners, led by managing owner Josh Harris and CEO Adam Aron, assumed control of the team Oct. 17, 2011. phillyburbs.com |
» Thursday, March 22 2012 |
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Tom Moore: Asked #Sixers Rod Thorn if he's thinking about signing a player to the 13-man roster. "Don’t know right now. We’ll see. Probably not.” Twitter |
» Thursday, March 15 2012 |
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Tom Moore: #Sixers president Rod Thorn denies report that he talked to #Bobcats about G-F Reggie Williams before trading for Sam Young. Twitter |
» Tuesday, March 13 2012 |
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As for the trade front, president Rod Thorn didn't say the Sixers wouldn't do anything, but it sure sounds as though nothing will happen. "There's always a lot of talk going on at this time of the year; we've talked with most of the teams throughout the league," Thorn said. "Right now, to say if anything is going to transpire or not, you just don't know. I couldn't say one way or the other. You listen to everything and try to see if there's something that could help your team without breaking it up." Philadelphia Inquirer |
» Saturday, February 25 2012 |
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Thorn appears committed to the grow-together route, and he doesn’t appear to be ready to let a few losses by a team that is playing without its starting center and power forward, Brand, color his opinion. This doesn’t mean that he won’t listen. "Conversation always heats up right before the deadline," Thorn said. "There will be more talking and more phone calls made. And I will listen to anyone and anybody who mentions anything that might possibly help our team." Has that tempting call come yet? "Nope," Thorn said. Philadelphia Inquirer One Eastern Conference general manager reached earlier in the week said that he didn’t think the 76ers would make a move at the deadline. "You never know, but they are having some success with their younger players," said the GM, speaking under condition of anonymity. "If you can land the great player, and you are in position to do it and not gut your roster, you do it. But how many guys are there out there? And how often do they get moved at the trade deadline?" Philadelphia Inquirer |
» Wednesday, February 15 2012 |
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The Sixers lead the Atlantic Division with a surprising 20-9 record. Is this a time that the organization should go "all-in" (sorry, Eagles) and try to get as far as it can in the playoffs, or stand pat and let this team evolve? Team president Rod Thorn will ultimately answer that question. "As you have heard me say a lot, I don't ever feel a pressing need to do something, because I feel we have a good team. Plus you can only do something if you can do something," he said. "There is a lot of conjecture of, why don't you get this guy, why don't you get that guy. But you might not be able to get a guy unless you get rid of most of your team. You work the phones, talk to people and try to identify exactly what you would like to have and see how it works out." Philadelphia Inquirer Much of the conversation probably will take place during the All-Star weekend, a little more than 2 weeks before the March 15 trading deadline. "Normally, around the All-Star break and trade deadline is when talks sort of heat up among teams in the league," Thorn said. "I don't think this year will be any different along those lines. There are a lot of injuries around the league. Certainly, we've been hurt, but some teams have been devastated. The tough thing is it's so hard to recover [from injuries] when you never get to practice. With us, from the time we played New Orleans [Jan. 4] until, I think, March 11, we never have more than 1 day between games. We're playing virtually every day, so bodies are tired. I think teams that can stay relatively healthy have a huge advantage." Philadelphia Inquirer |
» Thursday, February 2 2012 |
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I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about the Marbury-for-Kidd trade, even if you’ve been asked thousands of times. Would you have made that trade today, with all the advanced analytics and stats we have now? Thorn: Marbury was 22 and he was a great young player — an All-Star. Kidd was 28 and had a lot of problems. I had been around Kidd with the [2000] Olympic team in Puerto Rico. Every player wanted to play with Jason Kidd. Nobody on that team wanted to play with Stephon. Nobody wanted to play with the guy. Kidd had every intangible you could possibly have. He guarded. He rebounded. He was great chemistry-wise because he passed the ball. Even though at the time there was a lot of criticism because of the difference in ages, I knew it was a good trade, because I had been around both guys, and I knew who was a better player. Kidd made our team twice as good right away. SI.com |
» Tuesday, January 31 2012 |
![]() A csnphilly.com story Sunday, citing an unnamed source, claimed the 76ers have inquired about the Knicks' Amar'e Stoudemire and characterized the interest as "due diligence." Asked about the report Monday, team president Rod Thorn said there was no truth to it "whatsoever. Neither team made an inquiry." Stoudemire, 29, is averaging 17.7 points (7.6 fewer than a year ago) and 8.2 rebounds for the 7-13 Knicks. The 10th-year pro doesn't appear to be meshing well with Carmelo Anthony in New York. phillyburbs.com |
» Monday, January 30 2012 |
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But most of the time, the interim head coach finishes the season as quietly as possible, is thanked for his work via the bump in salary that he got when he took over, and moves on to the next assistant coaching gig. Sometimes, though, a guy makes the most of his chance. "You pick the one you think is the best to keep the ship afloat in the interim and hire him," said 76ers president Rod Thorn, who stepped in as interim coach of the Bulls in 1982 while general manager, replacing Jerry Sloan. "Almost all the time the assistant is amenable," said Thorn, noting the exception of Phil Johnson in Utah -- who walked with Sloan last season, instead of taking over for him as the team offered, after Sloan resigned as coach of the Jazz. "If you've chosen the right one they will then execute whatever plan you have and go forward. (It's) never easy, but not as dicey as you might think unless you have picked one that does not have a clue that some things have to be changed. Most times there is an immediate uptick. But reality will soon rear its ugly head." NBA.com |
» Wednesday, November 30 2011 |
![]() What's the game plan on re-signing Thad? Rod Thorn: "As far as we're concerned, Thad is a key player for us. He's a player that I think really took advantage of the coaching he got from Doug and the other coaches and really came back to where he was two years ago and built on that. We love Thad. All things being [equal] ... let's say we don't sign him but somebody else does. As long as it's reasonable, we'll definitely match it. He's a key guy for us. We need him. And we definitely want to have him back." Philadelphia Inquirer The first question was about the players that went overseas to play during the lockout: Nikola Vucevic, Lavoy Allen, and Craig Brackins. Rod Thorn: "They are all coming back. Lavoy has a game Friday that he's going to play in in France and then he'll be back. Brackins is already back. And then with Nikola, we hope to have him here as quickly as possible. Obviously we have to get a visa in order in order to get him here and we have to have some sort of a contract in order to do that. But all of them will be here. Everybody will be on time -- we hope Nikola will be. It may be an extra day for him." Philadelphia Inquirer What goes into the thinking of using the amnesty? Rod Thorn: "I think most teams, you have plans, but you always have contingencies. You try to have as many contingencies as you can. Because it is so fluid many times. You don't know what's going to happen. And sometimes things happen that you never considered happening." Added Collins: "Sometimes what gets lost with that amnesty is that you're still spending the money ... give him $35 million just to go bye bye. You're still paying him the cash." Philadelphia Inquirer |
» Wednesday, October 19 2011 |
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The new owners were unable to address any issues about players because of the ongoing NBA lockout, although did announce that they had let go general manager Ed Stefanski and laid the brunt of the day-to-day basketball operations on president Rod Thorn and head coach Doug Collins. Aron said the management is "moving 100 miles an hour on all fronts and we will be ready with something fabulous" when the lockout ends. Philadelphia Inquirer "You can be assured that we are interested owners and focused," Harris said. "Behind the scenes, there will be lots of debate about what we do with players, but at the end of the day, Rod is the captain of the ship. We were lucky enough to buy the third most winning franchise, a storied franchise at a time when we think we were able to get an appropriate deal . . . "The team has been less connected with its fans and as a result wasn't generating revenue and selling tickets as we think it can do. It wasn't realizing its potential. There are lots of things we can do by improving the financial situation of the team, connecting with fans, making it a great experience and we have to win. We have a team and executives very capable of doing that." Philadelphia Inquirer |
» Tuesday, October 18 2011 |
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So maybe the new owners of the Philadelphia 76ers, a partnership group led by buyout financier Joshua Harris, are banking on the distressed economy and the ongoing N.B.A. lockout makes this a good time to buy distressed property. The deal, which started in April, with Comcast-Spectator, was approved by the N.B.A. Board of Governors and completed Monday. The terms of the sale were not disclosed. The new ownership group, which includes minority partners such as rapper/actor Will Smith and his wife, actress Jada Pinkett-Smith, is not wasting time making changes during their first day in charge: General Manager Ed Stefanski has been fired, ticket prices have been slashed, and a new team slogan was unveiled during a Tuesday press conference in Philadelphia. Harris announced Rod Thorn will be staying as team president, and Doug Collins remains as head coach. “We were lucky enough when we bought the team to have two fantastic people doing one job,” Harris said. “We are going to stay with Rod. There are no current plans to replace Ed.” New York Times ![]() General manager Ed Stefanski has been relieved on his duties, the new Sixers owners announced in their introductory press conference. Rod Thorn will remain as team president and will be the “captain of the ship,” according to majority owner Josh Harris. “We were lucky enough when we bought the team to have two fantastic people doing one job,” Harris said. “We are going to stay with Rod. There are no current plans to replace Ed.” Philadelphia Inquirer Speculation had been that Jason Levien, a former NBA player agent and executive with the Sacramento Kings, would be involved in player personnel. Levien is one of the minority owners. Asked about ownership’s involvement in player personnel, Harris said, “You can be assured that we are interested owners. We will be very focused, with lots of debate about what we do with players. At the end of the day, Rod is the captain of that ship. He will run that part of our organization. We will speak with you through one voice, Rod and Doug [Collins] voice when it comes to players.” Philadelphia Inquirer |
» Tuesday, June 28 2011 |
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Did the 76ers’ prospective new ownership group prevent a proposed trade involving Andre Iguodala from occurring? Team president Rod Thorn wasn’t saying Monday. Asked if that’s what happened with the group, led by leveraged-buyout specialist Joshua Harris, Thorn replied via email, “I’m not at liberty to comment on what the arrangements are between the perspective new owners and Mr. Snider (Sixers chairman Ed Snider).” Earlier in the day, Thorn answered an email question on the same subject with: “Nothing going on at this time on the trade front.” phillyburbs.com |
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