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Bernie Bickerstaff's eyes lit up as he recounted the magic moment when he was asked to run the Charlotte Bobcats.
He and Bobcats vice president Ed Tapscott were dining Sunday at one of the city's nicest restaurants. At the same time, a fashion show was going on, with models strutting back and forth.
Tapscott turned to Bickerstaff and popped the question.
Would Bickerstaff become the expansion team's first general manager and coach?
``I think Ed got caught up in the moment and I started to look good,'' Bickerstaff joked Thursday, as the team publicly announced his hiring a day after The Associated Press reported it. Ticketmaster
Tapscott believes Bickerstaff, an NBA coaching veteran who oversaw turnarounds in Washington, Denver and Seattle, is the right man to get the Bobcats off to a strong start when they begin play in 2004-05.
``He has always been a type of person who has moved teams who are in worse shape, and improved them dramatically in a few years' time,'' Tapscott said.
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The 58-yuear-old Bickerstaff spent most of the last season as general manager
of the WNBA's Charlotte Sting.
He previously served as an NBA head coach in parts of 10 seasons with the Seattle SuperSonics (1985-90), Denver Nuggets (1994-96) and Washington Wizards (1996-99), compiling a record of 338-348 (.493).
Before becoming a head coach, he served as an assistant on a staff that led the then-Washington Bullets to the playoffs 10 times, including the 1978 NBA championship.
He was NBA Coach of the Year for the 1986-87 season after leading Seattle to the Western Conference finals, where the SuperSonics lost to the Los Angeles Lakers.
With Bickerstaff, Tapscott said, he hopes to break the tradition of expansion teams having one head coach for the first few seasons of losing, then another to take them into the playoffs and beyond.
``It is my sincere hope that we will break out of that paradigm that says you move an expansion coach after 'X' time,'' Tapscott said. ``I put playoff bonuses in his contract, so I know.'' Ticketmaster
With the Bobcats entering the league alone, rather than with another expansion team, and making the fourth pick in next year's entry draft, Tapscott hopes the building process will not take as long as with previous new franchises.
``The whole idea
is, we would love to see this staff here for the long term,'' he said.
Bickerstaff wants to coach ``as long as it's fun,'' but said he and Tapscott
have an understanding that he could step down as coach and retain the general
manager's title.
``We're going to do what's best for the organization,'' Bickerstaff said. ``If I feel I can no longer contribute to the operation of the basketball team, I will step away.''
Bickerstaff was one of five candidates to interview for the general manager job. The Bobcats also talked to Chris Wallace of the Boston Celtics, Walt Perrin of the Utah Jazz, Maurizio Gherardini of an Italian club team and Gary Brokaw, former director of player personnel for the Orlando Magic.
Brokaw will be director of player personnel for the Bobcats.
The team also hired Karl Hicks as assistant general manager. He was already a member of Charlotte's front office and former executive director of the National Basketball Developmental League. Ticketmaster
Tapscott said hiring Bickerstaff as both coach and general manager helps ensure the Bobcats have unity of purpose.
``Here's a way I can make sure the coach and the GM get along, unless Bernie's schizophrenic -- which he has shown no signs of,'' Tapscott said.
With the Bobcats following closely on the heels of the Hornets, who played 14 seasons in Charlotte before moving last season to New Orleans, Bickerstaff's experience gave him an edge over a more unconventional choice like Gherardini, Tapscott said.
``We are the only NBA franchise that's been asked to follow another franchise so closely into a market,'' Tapscott said. ``Missteps by us could prove more costly, and a veteran presence is less likely to make those missteps.''