Stein: Veteran NBA exec joins Nets in scouting role

The Nets have hired former Hornets and Pistons GM Jeff Bower in a “scouting role,” league sources tell Marc Stein.

No word on Bower’s specific scouting duties. With J.R. Holden going from director of player personnel to GM of the Long Island Nets, the Nets have an opening in the player personnel post, essentially the team’s scouting chief.

Bower, 61, joins Brooklyn after a recent stint in the Phoenix front office as senior vice president of basketball operations, a job he left after the Suns got to the NBA Finals in 2020-21. The Suns were 19-63 during the 2018-19 season, the year before Bower arrived. Two seasons later, the Suns went 51-21 and reached the Finals where they lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games. While in Phoenix, he was part of the front office that traded for Chris Paul, who he had drafted when with the Hornets in 2005.

Bower had a long career as a Hornets executive as well as a 73-game stint as head coach of the tteam in 2009-10. He spent 14 years as director of scouting, director of player personnel, as a scout, GM and assistant coach. Most notably, he rebuilt the team through Hurricane Katrina and temporary move to Oklahoma City

He was also interviewed for the Nets open GM job in 2010, losing out to Billy King.

In 2014, Bower was named the general manager of the Pistons. Under Bower, the Pistons reached the playoffs in his second season as the general manager. However, on June 1, 2018, Bower was fired from his position as general manager of the team part of a shake-up that included the departure of head coach/president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy.