The Milwaukee Bucks have hired long-time NBA executive Rod Thorn as a special consultant, the team announced Monday morning in advance of its annual Media Day.
Thorn most recently served as the NBA’s president of basketball operations, where he oversaw the league’s daily operations under commissioner Adam Silver.
Thorn had three stops as an NBA general manager – with the Chicago Bulls, New Jersey Nets and Philadelphia 76ers. He is responsible for drafting Michael Jordan to the Chicago Bulls with the third overall pick in the 1984 NBA draft. He also traded for Jason Kidd and was the NBA’s Executive of the Year in 2001-02 for orchestrating the Nets’ dramatic turnaround that led to consecutive trips to the NBA Finals (2002, 2003).
Prior to joining the Nets in 2000, Thorn had run the league’s basketball operations under former commissioner David Stern for 14 years.
Thorn was an All-American at West Virginia, and the No. 2 overall pick in the 1963 NBA Draft by the Baltimore Bullets. He enjoyed an eight-year playing career with Baltimore, the Detroit Pistons, the St. Louis Hawks and Seattle SuperSonics. He had two head coaching stints with the ABA’s St. Louis Spirit and the Chicago Bulls before moving full time into basketball administration.