The ranks of NBA executives are filled with former players: Rod Thorn in New Jersey, Jerry West in Memphis, Elgin Baylor in Los Angeles, Isiah Thomas in New York, Kevin McHale in Minnesota, and Danny Ainge in Boston, to name just a few.
But what about current players? Sounds silly. But the Nets Bostjan 'Boki' Nachbar is already a basketball executive. He is the president of a Slovenian team, Kosarkaski Klub Koper, which translates to Basketball Club of Koper. Koper is where Nachbar, a native of Slovenia, now spends his summers when not playing for the Slovenian national team. Koper team plays in the first division of the Slovenian Men's League.
Simon Licen, FIBA's correspondent for Slovenia, notes that even while Nachbar is playing in the NBA, the team is in good hands.
"Since he is in the USA most of the year, he named his father Vlado Nachbar director of the team," writes Licen in an email to NetsDaily. "Let's say Bostjan is the general manager while his father is the sports director."
Vlado Nachbar is a former basketball coach.
"Such functions are probably not very familiar to you, you're used to team owners and GMs etc. Well, in Europe, teams are not really 'owned', but rather ran by the club presidents."
That doesn't mean Nachbar owns the club. It's the city's team. Nachbar negotiated the deal last year just before leaving Slovenia for Hornets training camp and just after he had finished up its Eurobasket committments with the national team.
Under the deal, the city of Koper gave Nachbar the right to run the team for three years, providing the city with "a considerable amount of money", according to local press reports. Under the agreement, the "family Nachbar" is in charge of "all selections", meaning they choose the team's roster. And even though they have long-term plans for the team, if they and the city can't attract fan interest, "they will withdraw decently".
Nachbar's father runs the club's day-to-day operations when he is pounding away in the NBA, but the club's website says that Boki is heavily involved in the team's long-term planning, with the site adding, "we put forward long-term guidelines with him...we [all] decided on small steps."
Last year, the team finished 21-35 in Slovenian league play. KK Koper also has junior, cadet and "pioneer" teams with the youngest players being only 14 and 15.
The big question, of course, is why does Nachbar, who makes $2.5 million annually with the Nets, want to run a team in Slovenia...and pay for the privlege?
Nachbar told local media that his father is from Koper, he is building a house there himself and "every basketball player wants to assist his home country's development and success". Licen also notes that part of that development is close to home. "Bostjan's younger brother, Grega, plays for Koper, too, but is far from the older brother's talent." Grega is a 6'4"shooting guard who averaged 8.4 ppg last season and, like his brother on the Nets, wears No. 7.
And with his position with the club well known, the teams' website is a handy Nachbar fan site for those interested in Nachbar's career, with links, photos, videos, etc. of Nachar readily avialable on the home page.
Nachbar right now is the Nets forgotten man. It will be up to him to show the team what he can do or the once promising Euro will find himself at the end of the bench. A career as a basketball executive in Slovenia is a poor second choice.