Hawks principal owner Tony Ressler confirmed changes to the front office structure in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday.
In the significant moves, Mike Budenholzer will give up his title of president of basketball operations and remain as head coach only. Wes Wilcox will no longer serve as general manager but remain with the organization as a special advisor to ownership. Ressler said he will hire an outside person to run basketball operations as general manager. The AJC reported the upcoming moves on Thursday.
“I had and have an enthusiast view of where this team is going and where we need to be going,” Ressler told the AJC. “I do think both Bud and Wes are talented, good guys. By the way, we did have at the end of the end of the season, shall we call it, thorough, exhaustive discussions with each of them. In their defense, all recognized and recommended that we could be better and that these changes could help us be better.”
Ressler said he didn’t believe that Budenholzer and Wilcox could not work together.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “I think it was a matter of could we bring in a new GM a new body, a new advisor, a new professional who would make us better. The simple answer is I think we can. That is what we are going to try to do.”
RETURN LATER FOR A FULL ACCOUNT OF TONY RESSLER’S INTERVIEW WITH THE AJC.
