Seasoned basketball man Rod Thorn becomes Sixers president

LONG AGO and far away, way down in West Virginia and another era, Rod Thorn was a good basketball player. A very good player with an unusual two-handed jump shot. Daily News columnist Stan Hochman called it a "Thornderbolt."

Since then, Thorn has played in the NBA, been a general manager, been an executive in the league office, teamed with Ed Stefanski to help the New Jersey Nets go to the Finals twice. In 46 years, there probably isn't anything, Eddie Jordan's coaching job here last season notwithstanding, that he hasn't seen or done.

That brings us to yesterday, which was something of a lightning bolt. Just after Ed Stefanski had re-established himself by drafting Evan Turner, hiring Doug Collins as coach and trading Samuel Dalembert, the Sixers organization crackled with the news that Thorn, 69, was the new president. Stefanski, who had been president and general manager, will remain as the GM.

Go through the sequence: Stefanski came to the Sixers in 2007 from the Nets to replace Billy King. King surfaced in New Jersey in July as Thorn's successor. Thorn is here now, splitting duties with Stefanski. They were a successful team with the Nets and, Thorn insisted, they will be again. Never mind that Thorn's contract, said to be more than 3 years, is longer than the 2 years left on Stefanski's deal. Never mind that Thorn already agreed to remain as a consultant when his reign is finished.

"There was a lot of speculation that I was retired," Thorn said. "I wasn't retired. I was retired from the Nets. I was never retired."

Thorn said that, after 10 seasons, he knew it was time to move on.

"No nefarious reasons, no smoking guns," he said. "Just a personal decision to do that."

He was gone from the Nets, but not from the game.

Thorn laughed heartily at a story that, when King replaced him in New Jersey, King laughingly suggested that Thorn should go to the Sixers.

"I don't specifically remember that," Thorn said after yesterday's news conference in the Hall of Fame Room in the Wells Fargo Center. "But life is funny. Avenues open up that you never thought about, that you didn't consider. All of a sudden, things happen."

All of a sudden, Thorn was leaving the Nets, despite what he termed a lucrative offer to remain under their dramatic, new ownership of Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. Just like that, Peter Luukko, chief operating officer of Comcast-Spectacor, suggested that it might be a good idea to call Thorn, just to see.

A meeting between Thorn and chairman Ed Snider ensued, then a session with Luukko. There was a 2-hour meeting Tuesday in New York that included Stefanski. Just like that, there was a deal.

Of his meeting with Snider, Thorn said: "The thing that impressed me was the passion he had. He cared. He wanted to win, which is very much like my personality. You read and hear a lot of things, but that's the thing that really, really stood out to me.

"I've done a lot of different things in professional basketball over the course of too many years . . . 46 years. I've seen many different organizations. You've got to have, throughout your organization, a passion for wanting to win. You have to have good players, obviously, but you have to have people working together, joined at the hip. It's not about anybody's ego. It's about a team.

"When they hired Doug Collins, I called [Snider] and said, 'You just made a great hire.' He's as knowledgeable a basketball guy that I have known. He brings that passion, that commitment this organization needs. He came from San Diego overnight to be here [today]. He didn't have to do that."

Thorn acknowledged being as baffled as anybody about last season's 27-55 nightmare with Eddie Jordan. The Sixers went from 41 wins and a playoff berth to being virtually irrelevant in one of the most passionate sports cities.

"The team is obviously better than it ended up last year," Thorn said. "Eddie Jordan was a terrific assistant for us [with the Nets], an asset to the organization. I thought he did a good job in Washington. I have no idea what transpired [with the Sixers]. They went from being a playoff team to 27 wins. Which is reality?"

Thorn thinks the team is closer to its 2008-09 performance, but he is too wise and experienced to say immediately what the team needs to climb back.

"It would be a little naïve on my part," he said. "I just got on board Tuesday. Today is my first day. I'm not one to make precipitous decisions. You may have some idea [about a team] when you're with another team, but until you're there, you don't really know."

Thorn said that as he drove yesterday from his Westchester County, N.Y., home, "I got more excited as I got closer to Philadelphia."

And then, he said, "For me, it starts today." *

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