Interview with New Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Jeff Peterson

Interview with New Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Jeff Peterson

I’m Matt rinsky for hornets.com being joined by Hornets Executive Vice President of basketball operations Jeff Peterson Jeff thrilled to have you here in Charlotte as are all of our fans everybody on staff first off just talk to me about how you’re feeling how excited you are and why you think this

Was a perfect fit for you well first of all I’m just I’m thrilled to be here I’m so excited this is uh it’s a truly a dream come true um just to be sitting in this seat you know have this opportunity it’s a special franchise the fans are

Amazing um not just in this beautiful city of Charlotte but the Carolinas and I can’t wait to to continue to build something special here with Rick and Gabe with their partnership and and their Vision um just going through the interview process to see how aligned we

Are in our vision and values and what we’re going to bring to this uh to this city I I just cannot wait what is that vision and those values for you if you would would want to let Hornets fans know absolutely you know I think Rick

And Gabe have been pretty uh clear that they want to turn this into the premier franchise and when I heard them first say that it it was music to my ears because I you know I don’t think we want to turn this into something that’s um a

Short shortterm fix you know we want sustainable success we want this to be a consistent winner um and you know more importantly it’s it’s something that we’re going to do with the right people character um and and just have a a blast doing it for you you know they had over

12 candidates that they interviewed for this position reported by the news what does that mean to you that you were the guy that stood out and what do you think it was that caused you to stand out and Rick and gab’s eyes it means a lot you

Know again I wouldn’t be here uh I’ve had so many people help me in my life uh family friends so I’m I’m very thankful for for that opportunity um there’s a lot of really really qualified candidates and and good um people that that could have done the job as well but

I’m just thankful for the opportunity I think again I’ll go back to just the three of us our our visions and values they just align so well and um you know I think it’s something that we’ll always be able to lean on uh and and go back to

When obviously things will get hard at times and we have a lot of success but um we’ll we’ll be able to disagree at times and and have those thorough conversations and always you know do what’s best for the franchise long term for you you know with Gabe and Rick

Obviously you had that relationship with them in Atlanta but what are some of the those key factors looking back in Atlanta because you were looked at somebody as who was making a meteoric rise I think is what they had called it when you went from being an intern to

Being an assistant general manager in four years what did that take for you what was the key for you in order to advance that quickly first and foremost man I just want to give credit to the staff that was around me at the time um and that’s and players quite frankly

Coaches players front office performance they helped me tremendously I made a ton of mistakes um but because of that I was able to learn um going through it so they uh I I again I can’t give them enough credit where I started my career and just kind

Of matur throughout it um at the same time I you know I put the time in I put the you know put the work and you know study the game and try to get better in uh areas of weaknesses for myself and um I think that you know the biggest thing

At the end of the day I just try to show up every day treat people with respect and and keep my head down and 12 years later I’m sitting here so you know you are only 35 years old and they talk about being the youngest lead executive

In the NBA but you’ve got experience of a veteran even though you’re only 35 years old does that put any more pressure on you in that regard as well knowing that hey I’m taking a role where I’m a little bit younger than most of the guys in it even though I might be

More experienced in some ways no I I don’t see any added pressure at all you know again I look at that as benefit spending those seven seasons in Atlanta and now the you know this past five seasons in Brooklyn I’ve seen a lot rebuilding teams 60 win team in

Atlanta you know uh putting a team together full of stars with Kevin Kai James um just the ups and downs over the years so I’ve seen a lot and you know I’m confident that with myself and my experience of course lending into Rick and Gabe their expertise and the staff

That I’ll be able to assemble around me that we’ll we’ll do an amazing job yeah I want to go back to that Atlanta kind of Brooklyn kind of comparison because You’ built in different ways too you built that Atlanta team help build that Atlanta Team without a star really on

That team then you help build the Brooklyn team which was loaded with stars how much does having both of those experiences benefit you for this position I mean again I can’t I can’t even quantify how valuable that is because I’ve seen it both ways right and

You know I’m able to say look we need that’s that’s a dead end we need to stay away from that you know that road and I think this path may be a little bit more uh beneficial to us um but there there’s pros and cons to each each one you know

That 61 team was one of the best years of my life just being around the game of basketball um you saw guys just pull together wasn’t necessarily a superstar but everyone put their egos to the side and played for the team played for one another night in night out um so that

Was fun and then you know again spending time with uh those guys in Brooklyn whether again Kevin Kyrie James um all different types of players but it was a special um experience for me because I got to see you know what it takes for those guys to be elite um they’re all gifted

Uh but they put the work in to be that way and that was that was special to see I’m really excited to see what you’re going to do with this team as we kind of move forward for sure but you know when you look at it how important was it that the

Organization made the decision to move on to you relatively quickly after the trade deadline you know they come out and said that this is what we were going to do we’re going to start looking for a position this position how important was it to you that Rick and Gabe made the

Decision now yeah I mean obviously it’s not anything that I could control but I’m I’m thankful that they did make that decision because most most of the time you know these changes happen in the summer after the season but you know the ability to evaluate the team and the

Staff and everything over these next 20 games is huge and you know I I was fortunate to spend a little bit of time with the guys yesterday um and I just told him to said guys look let’s use these 20 games to get better um The Season’s not over let’s figure out what

We can do individually and collectively to get better is there a chance that you’ve had to look at this team you’ve seen you’ve obviously seen the Charlotte Hornets play but when you look at this roster what do you look at as some of the strengths and weaknesses that are on

This roster right now yeah I I’m so excited about this roster I mean I think we have some really young pieces that are going to be amazing going forward so obviously Brandon and lamelo Mark of course miles and then some really good vets uh you mix in with you know

Obviously I think they did a great job at the deadline bringing in meit and Berton Seth Grant Williams um and some more developmental pieces around the the peripheral Cody who’s who’s out right now um so just I I think again when you look step back and look at it I think

We’re trying to play the right way we’re trying to play unselfish and compete and that’s all we can ask for at this point um and I think you know the more time I get to evaluate we’ll probably get a little bit more detailed in terms of okay we need to address this

Um I feel like we’re good in this area I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you have a relationship with Coach Clifford how much does that help as well as you’re looking at this team and and seeing what you have here in absolutely Cliff is the

Best he’s um it’s funny our P didn’t cross until he you know he joined uh Brooklyn as a consultant on the coaching staff um before then I thought he was just this angry man and and never smiled and joked or anything but I was in this office this morning for 45 minutes we’ve

Spent so much time together um golf together go to dinners just he’s he’s an amazing human being he’s a damn good coach and he’s really really um a special person so I’m I’m excited to be reunited with him and at the end of the day everything about for you is about

Relationships and relationship building it seems like throughout your career isn’t that correct yes yes relationships to me are are the key um not just in basketball in life you know I think it’s important sometimes to step back and realize that you know you never know what someone’s going through personally

Professionally um we’ve all been ups and downs and we we all need each other you know in some capacity so um you know it’s pretty special to be able to develop some genuine authentic relationships along the way and some of my best friends that I’ve met uh to this

Day I I’ve met in the NBA uh Circle well we all look forward to establishing some relationships with you as well as Buzz City looks forward to learning out learning more about you as we get ready to wrap up here is there one last message that you’d like to deliver to

Buzz City to let them know about why they should be be as excited as you’re this excited right now I would just say it starts with them you know big part of the reason that I ultimately took this job because look I’m fortunate I get to

Go to every NBA uh City and Arena to to Scout and watch games this this fan base is special um you know basketball country the Carolinas they’re passionate they’re loyal um they have knowledge of the game uh and they deserve the best so I can’t wait it starts with them well we

Hope that you can deliver and we think that you’re going to for sure thanks for joining us thank you for Jeff Peterson I’m Matt rinsky with hornets.com

Exclusive interview with Jeff Peterson, our new Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations.

—

Limited 2024-25 Memberships Available Now: https://www.nba.com/hornets/tickets/hive-society

👀 SUBSCRIBE HERE 👀 https://www.youtube.com/hornets?sub_confirmation=1

📱 Follow us on social! 📱
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hornets
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hornets/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hornets/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hornets/

👕 Get Your Merch! 👕 http://www.hornetsfanshop.com/

#LetsFly35