Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 9, 1994 TAG: 9401090049
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON GREEN JR. KNIGHT/RIDDER TRIBUNE
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Long
That notion apparently makes some other stomachs queasy.
Just listen to the radio talk shows, especially when Shinn's team has lost a game or two in a row. Check out an NBA notes column in any number of major newspapers around the country.
They all say essentially the same thing - that Bristow isn't the right guy and that, if he's not on the verge of being fired, he should be.
On ESPN's "Sports Reporters," New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica said the Hornets would be intriguing if they had a coach. NBA columnist Sam Smith wrote in the Chicago Tribune that the Hornets "look like they're one man away being a championship contender."
Smith was talking about former Bulls coach Doug Collins, who has been mentioned more than once as a possible replacement for Bristow. He pointed out that Pat Riley, Lenny Wilkens, Rudy Tomjanovich and George Karl turned their respective teams into heavyweights.
Rush Limbaugh may be controversial, but if you want to get people talking in Charlotte, mention Bristow's name.
"The reason Allan is a lightning rod is our players are so lovable. [People] love Zo's drive, Larry's charisma and Muggsy," said Hornets President Spencer Stolpen, speaking of Alonzo Mourning, Larry Johnson and Muggsy Bogues. "It's hard to get mad at them. The easy thing is to get mad at the coach. . . .
"I don't know if Allan is a lovable personality. I don't know if he's the type. If you don't know him, you're probably not going to gravitate to him like he's a cuddly guy. I don't know if that will ever happen, but that's probably OK. He's got enough self-confidence that he doesn't need to win a popularity contest."
As the Hornets play their way toward adulthood in the NBA, Bristow has a job most coaches only dream about. Six coaches in the league have been with their current teams longer than Bristow, who is in his third season with Charlotte.
Based in large part on his evaluation of talent, Bristow has been given the opportunity to coach Johnson and Mourning. That keen eye (the former Virginia Tech star was the driving force in choosing Johnson and Kendall Gill in the draft) put the Hornets where they are.
In one sense, that invites criticism. "Who couldn't win with Johnson and Mourning as a starting point?" critics say.
The critics variously say Bristow is too young (41), that his passing-game offense won't win a championship, that he's immature and hardheaded, that he's too easy on the players and that he isn't enough of a tactician.
Bristow has been ripped for the way he uses timeouts, for the way he rotates his players and for letting his temper get the best of him.
"There's nothing wrong with his style. There's no exact science to coaching," said Charlotte's Eddie Johnson, who has played for Cotton Fitzsimmons, Karl and K.C. Jones during his 13 NBA seasons.
Collins, who found himself in a similar situation to Bristow when he coached Chicago, offered this perspective in the Chicago Tribune on young coaches:
"What happens - and I know from experience - is you go by trial and error and hope you're doing things right. But there's a real skill, especially today, in handling all the publicity and the team, a delicate balance that experience helps you deal with."
Bristow has tried to distance himself from the attacks. He doesn't listen to call-in shows during the season, and he stopped reading North Carolina newspapers last spring. He still simmers about having to answer questions about his coaching ability the morning after the Hornets beat the Knicks in a second-round playoff game.
"The only way we're going to dispel all of those things is to win," Bristow said. "I think back to [former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback] Terry Bradshaw and what people said about him. It was ridiculous. People tore him apart. Now he's one of the all-time greats. But people said, `How are you going to win with a dummy quarterback?'
"The only way to dispel those things is to win.
"Most people want to look at a track record. They want to know: `What has he won?' People want a label. Everybody wants it. It's human nature. Once you can sort of put someone in a file, you can feel comfortable with them. . . .
"But that's not the way sports is. It's up and down. There are learning curves and things like that. But some people just want to say: `This is it. He's been a loser all his life.' That's how they label players."
In Bristow's first season on the bench, the Hornets won 31 games. Last season, when it was hoped the Hornets could make their first playoff appearance, they won 44 regular-season games, then defeated the Boston Celtics in the first round before being eliminated in a grinding playoff series against the New York Knicks.
Some critics see Riley on the New York bench and Bristow on the Charlotte bench as the ultimate illustration of what separates the Hornets from the top. Former Hornet Sidney Green said Riley was the biggest difference in the Knicks' victory.
Entering this season, Riley had 108 playoff victories. Bristow had 79 total victories.
Against sometimes unrealistic expectations this season, Bristow has been forced to coach a team that has been bruised by injuries and shaken by personnel moves geared toward the future.
The Hornets started quickly, then went into a tailspin. They lost five games in a row at one point and lost their edge offensively.
Through their struggles, Bristow preached patience. He didn't make drastic changes, emphasizing instead the need to stick with what worked. Bristow based his approach on the idea that the Hornets would play their way out of their problems.
Despite the expectations, the Hornets' management does not see winning the NBA championship as a realistic goal this season. Instead, the brass says, the objective is to make progress. The grand prize is a couple of seasons away.
"It will be a positive year if we continue to position ourselves to get better and we don't take a step backward," Stolpen said.
Bristow ultimately will be judged by the club's progress, the players' respect for him and other factors, tangible and intangible.
"Bristow is going to be here," said Shinn, the team's owner.
If any one person holds Bristow's fate in his hands, it's Shinn. He knows what people say about Bristow. He's had other owners call him suggesting coaches he might hire. Some coaches have called Shinn, even one with a high-profile job.
But Shinn is determined to stick with Bristow.
"So much of my life has been controlled by my gut," Shinn said. "Something inside tells me to go with it. It's going to work. I've done it 90 percent of the time in my business. When people roll with their hunches, they're probably going to win."
When Shinn talks about Bristow, he points to a conversation he had with Gary Bettman, a former high-ranking NBA official who is now the commissioner of the NHL. Shinn told Bettman he was considering hiring Bristow, who had never been a head coach. Bettman endorsed the selection, but cautioned Shinn about overreacting when people began to holler for Bristow's hide.
"He [Bettman] told me to be patient and make sure I was hiring someone I liked and trusted and had confidence in," Shinn said. "And he told me to stick with them because they're going to lose."
Bristow is under contract through the 1996-97 season, and Shinn is committed to getting Bristow the players he wants. That means chasing a big-ticket free agent (Danny Manning? Horace Grant?) after this season.
That doesn't mean, however, Bristow can't be moved to the front office.
"If we don't win based on what we feel we should win, we'll sit down and talk and decide what we should do," Shinn said. "But it has never come up to replace our coach."
Shinn listens to the players and said none of them has voiced a concern about what Bristow and Shinn his staff are doing. Johnny Newman, who was traded to the New Jersey Nets in December, ripped Bristow for his failure to communicate, but other players defend him.
"His decisions are great sometimes," Mourning said. "He keeps us together as a unit and he does it with his intensity. We can relate to him because he's young, too. We can grow together.
"Allan is going to continue to do what's best for us. When push comes to shove, he'll take the blame. I respect him for that."
Hersey Hawkins said Bristow's strength is his willingness to listen.
"Players respect him because they know he's in it for them," Hawkins said. "Of course, he's in it for his job, too. But most coaches shut you out; it's their way or the highway.
"People always mention Allan when something is going wrong. That's a little unfair. Until we get to doing the things the way he wants them done, we have to take some of the blame."
Bristow continues to make adjustments. When players suggested more structure to their game-day shoot-arounds, Bristow and his staff agreed, though they're still easygoing sessions.
The passing game, perhaps the biggest complaint about Bristow's approach, has taken on reduced significance this season. It's still the heart of what the Hornets do, but they have gone to more set plays this season. Bristow is never going to coach grind-it-out, Knicks-style basketball, but he has added structure to the offense.
"I don't even know if you'd call us a passing-game team anymore," Bristow said. "We're running a lot more plays and pro sets like 95 percent of the other teams run."
Still, Bristow remains in the cross hairs of many sights. But the people ultimately making the decisions say he can rest easy.
"We always said we're a young team with a young staff that was going to get better," Stolpen said. "It's best to grow together rather than keep messing it up along the way."
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by CNB