The Bobcats yesterday fired coach Mike Dunlap after one season, and they now will "conduct their fourth head-coach hire in six years" on Owner Michael Jordan’s watch, according to Rick Bonnell of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. Dunlap has "one season remaining on his contract, for which he’ll be paid by the Bobcats." It is "unknown how much Dunlap’s contract with the team was worth." The Bobcats have "abundant assets that could make the coaching job more appealing this time around." They can "create up to" $21M in "room under the salary cap this summer to recruit free agents and make trades." They will have "a top-five pick in the 2013 draft and might have three first-rounders in 2014" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 4/24). In Charlotte, Scott Fowler writes the Bobcats have "been a mess for much of their existence, and they are still a mess." This move "raises the question as to whether the people responsible for hiring Dunlap in the first place really should be the ones in charge of hiring the next guy, too" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 4/24). Also in Charlotte, Tom Sorensen writes Dunlap was a "terrible hire." Sorensen: "But that's not his fault. That's his employer's" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 4/24). ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser said, “I don’t know why they had to axe the guy. I think it’s a bad roster. You can blame the owner every bit as much as you can blame the coach” (“PTI,” ESPN, 4/23).
