Allan Bristow doesn't have to wonder anymore about what the Charlotte Hornets' coach thinks of the team's draft picks. All he has to do is look in the mirror.
Bristow, the Hornets' vice president and player personnel director, replaced Gene Littles as coach on Tuesday in a realignment that moved Littles back into the front office.Bristow and Littles had what Littles described as a "misunderstanding" over who to take with the No. 1 overall pick in last month's NBA draft. Littles reportedly told two newspapers that he preferred Syracuse forward Billy Owens but that the team would select UNLV forward Larry Johnson.
Johnson was eventually selected by the Hornets. He remains unsigned.
Littles was promoted to vice president and will serve as a special assistant to club president Spencer Stolpen. Dave Twardzik, formerly Charlott's director of scouting, took Bristow's job as player personnel director.
Littles said it was his decision to move into the front office.
"I was not pressured into doing this," he said. "It was my choice. Right now I don't feel like I want to coach.If there was a problem they would have moved me out. They wouldn't have given me a management position."
Said Bristow: "When the call came over the last couple of days, I got real pumped up about coaching the Hornets. I felt I was young enough to take the challenge. There would have been a void in my life if I didn't try it."
Littles said media accounts of his differences with Bristow over the draft were "blown out of proportion" and Stolpen said the shifts were part of the building process.
"We're not moving people in or moving people out," Stolpen said. "We're realigning ourselves to help build our franchise."
Bristow, 41, was an assistant to former Denver Nuggets coach Doug Moe for six seasons but has no NBA head coaching experience. He becomes the third coach since the team began play in the NBA in 1988.
Littles, 48, who replaced Dick Harter in the middle of the 1989-90 season, posted a 37-87 record, including a team-best 26-56 mark last season.
Littles joined the team as director of player personnel when Charlotte was awarded an NBA franchise in 1987.