Bulls Name Paxson General Manager

Former player John Paxson is leaving the broadcast booth to become the Chicago Bulls’ general manager.

Paxson was introduced as Chicago’s executive vice president of basketball operations at a news conference Monday. He replaces Jerry Krause, who resigned unexpectedly a week ago, citing health reasons.

“I’m tremendously excited about this opportunity,” Paxson said. “To me, the only goal is to win. I don’t have any expectations other than that.”

Paxson emerged as the front-runner for the job after Krause quit, and Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf wasted little time filling the vacancy.

Reinsdorf said hiring Paxson was an easy decision. When Krause told him three years ago that he wanted to retire after the 2004 season, Reinsdorf said he began informally interviewing possible replacements.

So when Krause resigned early, Reinsdorf said he already had his short list of candidates.

“It was just a matter of refreshing my memory and having one or two conversations to come to the conclusion I came to,” Reinsdorf said. “And it was a very easy conclusion.”

Paxson spent nine of his 11 NBA seasons with the Bulls, and was an integral part of the first three championship teams. His three-point basket with 3.9 seconds left clinched the 1993 title in Game 6 against Phoenix.

After retiring in 1994, he was an assistant coach with the Bulls during the 1995-96 season. He has spent the past seven years as part of Chicago’s broadcast team, both on radio and television.

Though he doesn’t have management experience, he has gotten a firsthand look at running a team. His brother, Jim, is the Cleveland Cavaliers’ general manager.

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Philadelphia 76er star Allen Iverson was nearby when a friend was shot outside a Philadelphia nightclub early Monday, police said.

Larry Robinson, 46, of Smithfield, Va., drove himself to a hospital in Iverson’s car after he was shot in the leg about 2:30 a.m. outside the Glam nightclub in the Old City section of Philadelphia, police said.

At the time, Iverson was on sidewalk “in the vicinity of that nightclub,” police spokesman Cpl. Jim Pauley said.

Police interviewed Iverson, who was excused from Monday’s practice by 76er Coach Larry Brown. The team wasn’t certain if Iverson would make the trip to Chicago for tonight’s game against the Bulls.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Iverson witnessed the shooting, or why he didn’t drive his friend to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. The hospital declined to release details of Robinson’s condition.

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Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz and Mike Bibby of the Sacramento Kings were added to the national team that will compete in the Olympic qualifying tournament in August.

Malone and Bibby are the fifth and sixth members of the team, which will be coached by the 76ers’ Brown. They join Ray Allen of Seattle, Tim Duncan of San Antonio, Jason Kidd of New Jersey and Tracy McGrady of Orlando.

USA Basketball will select the rest of the 12-man team this spring, adding two or three more NBA players and three or four role players from other pro leagues or college.

The qualifying tournament involves 10 teams from North, South and Central America and is set for Aug. 20-31 at San Juan, Puerto Rico.