 | |
| Indiana Pacers | |
|---|---|
| Position | President of basketball operations |
| League | NBA |
| Personal information | |
| Born | (1967-07-18)July 18, 1967 (age 57) Bloomington, Indiana, U.S. |
| Listed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Listed weight | 180 lb (82 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Edison (Tulsa, Oklahoma) |
| College | Kansas (1986–1990) |
| NBA draft | 1990: 2nd round, 34th overall pick |
| Selected by theGolden State Warriors | |
| Playing career | 1990–1998 |
| Position | Point guard |
| Number | 2, 12, 11, 14 |
| Career history | |
| As player: | |
| 1990–1991 | Golden State Warriors |
| 1991–1992 | Boston Celtics |
| 1992–1993 | Cáceres CB |
| 1993–1994 | Pfizer Reggio Calabria |
| 1994–1995 | Quad City Thunder |
| 1995 | Philadelphia 76ers |
| 1995 | Miami Heat |
| 1995–1996 | Quad City Thunder |
| 1996 | Washington Bullets |
| 1996–1997 | Bayer Leverkusen |
| As coach: | |
| 2000–2002 | Kansas City Knights |
| 2005 | Portland Trail Blazers (interim) |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Stats at NBA.com  | |
| Stats atBasketball Reference | |
Medals | |
Kevin Lee Pritchard (born July 18, 1967[1]) is an Americanbasketball executive, and a former player and coach, who is currently the president of basketball operations for theIndiana Pacers.[2] Pritchard played 4 seasons in theNBA as a player, and was also the general manager of thePortland Trail Blazers, and the Indiana Pacers.
Pritchard played college basketball for theUniversity of Kansas, where, as asophomore, he was the startingpoint guard on the Jayhawks team that defeated theOklahoma Sooners for the 1988 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship.[3]
Pritchard was drafted by theGolden State Warriors of theNational Basketball Association as the 34th overall pick in 1990. He had a six-year NBA career spanning five teams: the Warriors, theBoston Celtics, thePhiladelphia 76ers, theMiami Heat, and theWashington Bullets. He was first player signed to theVancouver Grizzlies in 1995, although he was released before getting an opportunity to play a game for them.[4]
Pritchard played for theQuad City Thunder of theContinental Basketball Association (CBA) from 1994 to 1996.[5] He was selected to the All-CBA First Team in 1995.[5]
Pritchard's playing career also included a stint with Caceres C.B. in Spain,Pfizer Reggio Calabria in Italy in 1993–1994, andBayer Leverkusen in Germany 1996–1997. He retired from playing in 1998.
After a year working outside of basketball, Pritchard became the coach and general manager of theKansas City Knights of theABA, which he led to a championship in 2002. Later, he was hired bySan Antonio Spurs general manager R. C. Buford to be a scout in the Spurs' organization, and two years later was hired by thePortland Trail Blazers as director of player personnel.
In 2005, when the Trail Blazers fired head coachMaurice Cheeks, they named Pritchard as his interim replacement.
In the 2006 off-season, the team firedJohn Nash, givingSteve Patterson the dual role of general manager and president, while Pritchard was promoted to assistant general manager. In 2007, Patterson resigned, and on March 29, Pritchard was named as the team's general manager.
In December 2008, the Blazers attempted to block other NBA teams from signingDarius Miles solely for the purpose of negatively impacting the Blazers' salary cap situation. Miles ended up signing with theMemphis Grizzlies.[6]
In the summer of 2009, the Blazers added to their core of young talent by signing veteransAndre Miller andJuwan Howard to free agent contracts.[7][8] The 2009-10 Blazers suffered a historic level of injuries to key players, yet the team still won 50 games and returned to the playoffs.
Pritchard was relieved of his general manager duties on June 24, 2010. About one hour before the2010 NBA draft, Kevin Pritchard was notified byPaul Allen that he had been fired, but wanted to make it clear that he needed to stay for the draft. Pritchard made a trade and two draft selections, which satisfied Trail Blazer team officials.[9]
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.[10]
Joe Freeman, ofThe Oregonian newspaper, broke this story early in the four o'clock hour of draft day to "Trail Blazers Courtside",[11] an official Trail Blazer show offering live draft day coverage. It was reported that the Trail Blazers officials told the show's hosts to stop talking about Pritchard immediately.[12] Allen's plan was to announce the firing the next day, but word got to the media and the Blazers were forced to address the situation.[13]
In a press conference after, team PresidentLarry Miller fielded all questions. No reasons were given as to why Pritchard was fired.
Pritchard authored an open letter to Blazers' fans in which he thanked Paul Allen and the Blazers for the opportunity to help turn around the team.[14]
In July 2011, Pritchard joined theIndiana Pacers to become their director of player personnel.[15] Later on, he was promoted to general manager in June 2012 to replaceDavid Morway. On May 1, 2017, Pritchard took over the role of president of basketball operations, while retaining his general manager duties, whenLarry Bird resigned.[16]
| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | W–L % | Win–loss % |
| Playoffs | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PW–L % | Playoff win–loss % |
| Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portland | 2004–05 | 27 | 5 | 22 | .185 | 4th in Northwest | — | — | — | — | Missed Playoffs |
| Career | 27 | 5 | 22 | .185 | — | — | — | — |
