Ben Pepper is badder than Bill Russell's mom!

[peter delevett <pdelevett@amcity.com>]

Looks like Big Red is the latest to snap in Charlotte. 


WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) -- Dave Cowens says he
                        would be surprised if he returned as coach of the Charlotte
                        Hornets next season because he doesn't think he'll
receive a
                        significant raise from owner George Shinn. 

                        Cowens, whose teams have won more than 50 games in
                        each of his two seasons with Charlotte, is the lowest-paid
                        head coach in the NBA, making $675,000 this year. 

                        "I'd love to stay in Charlotte," Cowens said in an interview
                        in Tuesday's Winston-Salem Journal. "But under present
                        management, it doesn't look like I'll be working there after
                        this season. I just don't think they're prepared to
pay what I
                        want. ... So I'm just a lame duck. There's nothing to feel
                        about it, that's just the way it is." 

                        Cowens is in the final year of a three-year contract,
with the
                        team holding an option to bring him back next season.
                        Cowens said he believed he could get out of the option year
                        next year even if the Hornets do pick it up, as he
expects. 

                        "What if they pick up the option and I say, 'I don't
want to come back. I don't want to coach
                        here anymore,' " Cowens said Monday from Inglewood,
Calif., where the Hornets play the Los
                        Angeles Lakers tonight. "They'd have to get another
coach, and then that would get me out of my
                        obligation to them, right?" 

                        Cowens said he loves living in Charlotte and didn't
want to leave and move his two daughters to
                        another city. Cowens said he wants only to be paid the
average of all the league's 29 head
                        coaches. 

                        "I don't need millions and millions of dollars,"
Cowens said. "I just want to get paid fairly." 

                        A Hornets spokesman in Charlotte did not immediately
return a message seeking comment this
                        morning. 

                        Cowens' dissatisfaction comes right after news of Glen
Rice's displeasure over not receiving a
                        contract extension. Cowens is also frustrated with
what he considers a lack of direction for the
                        franchise, which is 1-4 for the season. 

                        "To me, you've got to have a long-range plan," he
said. "You can't just live year by year, taking
                        your shots and trying to figure out how to win half
your games. You need some kind of vision.
                        It all kind of starts from there."