Anyone need a head coach? Sacramento? Maybe Golden State? Look no further because it appears Larry Brown just might be available.
The embattled coach, viewed in some circles as a genius, and in others as a drama queen, always grabs attention as he moves from one NBA team to the next.
When Brown took over the New York Knicks and Phil Jackson returned to the Los Angeles Lakers, both appeared set to join teams years away from contending.
Brown had a better track record than Jackson of making franchises playoff worthy. The Philadelphia 76ers, Indiana Pacers and Los Angeles Clippers (briefly) became contenders under his watch. Jackson has always had a star talent, whether it was Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant or Shaquille O’Neal.
The 2005-06 regular season has passed and this diehard Laker fan clearly saw who got the better return on this deal. Jackson helped restore Bryant to his superstar status and coached the team to 11 more wins than last season. The Lakers returned to the playoffs after a one-year hiatus and subsequently pushed Phoenix to a seventh game before being eliminated.
New York sunk to 23-59 – 10 wins less than the season before. The Knicks season, marked by mismatched talent and chemistry problems, would have made a quality reality show on the Warner Brothers network.
Now, it appears Brown’s stay in New York might be over, with reports that Knicks owner James Dolan is considering buying out Brown’s deal and inserting Isiah Thomas.
Hmm, Thomas already bankrupted the Continental Basketball Association when he was owner, lost in the first round three straight years as Indiana’s head coach and amassed a large collection of overpriced talent as Knicks team president. Sounds like a good idea to me.
Back to the main point regarding Brown. I’ll admit he does know his X’s and O’s – he won a title with the Detroit Pistons – but he has never been able to put the team first. His little idiosyncrasies always create media distractions and he leaves teams shortly after arriving.
He talks about playing the right way – a team game – but does what good teams don’t do: draw attention to an individual. Teams can’t focus on success if they are constantly answering questions about the man in charge. Look at Detroit, where Brown drew the ire of Pistons management shortly after the Piston’s 2004 title run with his personal quirks.
The 65-year-old’s next logical move should be retirement. He does have two young children after all.
It won’t surprise me, though, if Brown fills the vacancy in Sacramento. Brown and Ron Artest, known for the brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills, is a match made in heaven – two attention grabbers in a small media market.