Bob Bass
Bob Bass is a former basketball coach and executive who worked in the NCAA, American Basketball Association, and the National Basketball Association.
His professional coaching career started with the ABA's Denver Rockets (now the Denver Nuggets) in 1967, which he coached for two years. He coached college basketball at Texas Tech for a season-and-a-half from 1969 to 1971.[1][2] He coached The Floridians of the ABA for two years before the team folded at the end of the 1972 season. The next season he coached the Memphis Tams; and, at the beginning of the 1974-75 season, Bass was hired by the ABA's San Antonio Spurs, which he coached for nearly two seasons, until the franchise moved into the NBA in 1976 as part of the NBA-ABA merger.
At that point, Bass moved into the Spurs' front office, assuming the role of general manager. He would, over the years with the team, assume coaching duties on an interim basis as needed—in 1980, 1984, and 1992. At the conclusion of the 1989-90 season, Bass won the NBA Executive of the Year Award. Bass would then take a general manager position with the Charlotte Hornets in 1995; in that capacity he would win the award again in 1997. Bass retired in 2004 (by which time the Hornets had relocated to New Orleans).