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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Charlotte Bobcats owner Bob Johnson believes first-year coach Sam Vincent is the right man for the job.
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But Johnson said Tuesday the final decision on whether Vincent will return next season rests with part-owner and basketball operations chief Michael Jordan.
"The definitive answer will come from Michael, but my position is, I think Sam did a credible job," Johnson said.
The Bobcats are 28-46 and are all but certain to miss the playoffs in Vincent's first season as an NBA head coach.
Johnson said he believes Vincent has overcome early growing pains to do a "credible job."
But Jordan has the final say on all basketball decisions, and Johnson said the former Chicago Bulls great will decide Vincent's future. Jordan rarely grants interviews, and a team spokesman said he was not immediately available for comment.
Johnson made it clear he believes Vincent has earned another season.
"Did Sam do something that was just obviously so blatant that you said, 'This guy could never get you there?'" Johnson said. "I don't see that at all."
The Bobcats took a chance on Vincent last spring when he was picked to replace Bernie Bickerstaff, who took a job in the team's front office. Vincent had never been an NBA head coach and spent just one season as an NBA assistant in Dallas.
Vincent also raised eyebrows when he told reporters the day he was hired that he'd be "incredibly discouraged and disappointed" if the Bobcats didn't make the playoffs for the first time in his first season. The fourth-year Bobcats then significantly increased their payroll. They traded for Jason Richardson and re-signed Gerald Wallace and Matt Carroll.
The Bobcats (28-46) have played better of late. They recently had a five-game winning streak and then won three straight on a West Coast road trip before losing at home to Toronto on Monday. But despite playing in a weakened Eastern Conference, the Bobcats are six games out of the final playoff spot with eight games left.