duncan228
08-21-2009, 12:50 PM
Brown feels right at home with the Boomers (http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/basketball/brown-feels-right-at-home-with-the-boomers/2009/08/21/1250362213460.html)
Michael Cowley
It Wouldn't matter how many people you tried to sardine into the Sports Centre at Homebush Bay tomorrow night, nor how loud a ruckus they made, it's really never going to be quite like the Staples Center in Los Angeles during NBA play-offs.
Brett Brown's been there, courtside, just across from Jack Nicholson and celebrity row, though somewhat painfully watching the Lakers dismantle his San Antonio Spurs to win the Western Conference in 2008.
He'll be at the Sports Centre tomorrow night, too, again courtside - without the Hollywood types - this time hoping for a different outcome to LA, but again, with just as much excitement and enthusiasm he takes to the bench in any NBA game.
Brown's main gig is as an assistant coach with the Spurs. But tomorrow night, it's all about the Boomers, in his role as Australian basketball coach, and his focus is on beating the old enemy, New Zealand.
''They each have their own thrill and level of expectation and each have their own responsibility,'' he explained of the differences between LA and HA (Homebush Arena). ''And this one for me is a very different one because I am now the head coach and I've got a responsibility to put an organised team on the court, one that is prepared and ready to play the Kiwis.
''I'll tell you this, I sleep a lot better and lot more as an assistant coach than what I do as a head coach. You move two feet down on the bench to a different role and a different position, and the rules change. It's just the way it is.''
Brown has been part of the Spurs organisation since 2002 when he accepted the job in the game's biggest league, passing on his head coaching role at the Sydney Kings to Brian Goorjian. That season with the team Brown built, Goorjian went on to win Sydney's first NBL title. Now seven years on, Brown takes the Boomers role from Goorjian, who took the latest generation of Australian players to the Olympic quarter-finals last year.
''It's a real honour to be able to come back and have this position, but you feel a huge responsibility to do the best you can and hopefully bring us to a high level,'' he said. ''I feel responsibility on a number of levels, to the coaches here, the game here, the players, the fans … it is a significant task ahead to achieve the goal we're talking about.
''If we can get it right … we have the chance to do something special, and that's my mission to do that. I know the lay of the land with the rest of the world, it's very competitive and the game keeps getting better. But I don't feel like I can accept this position or say anything else to my players other than our aim is to find Australia's first [Olympic] medal, and I say that responsibly.''
The American revealed that when he was first offered the job, he declined. The reason? He didn't feel he would be able to do it properly. But after two days of contemplating the prospect, he approached his head coach at San Antonio, Gregg Popovich, and discussed the matter. Popovich told Brown if he was able to do the job during the NBA off-season, they would support the move, and he was free to put up his hand.
The significance of his new position and what it would mean to finally take Australia's men to an Olympic medal are not lost on Brown. As he says, a large part of him is Aussie.
He spent more than a decade in Australia coaching in the NBL, as assistant to Lindsay Gaze at Melbourne Tigers, then leading North Melbourne to the title in 1994, then three years with the Kings before the Spurs called in 2002, and he has an Australian wife, and children who were born here.
''That all played a big role on my accepting the job,'' Brown said. ''I feel a great affinity to Australian culture and Australian basketball. Not so long ago I lived a big chunk of my life here and the opportunity to come back and coach the national team is just an incredible honour.
''I get to work in the NBA and then come back and be head coach with the Australian Olympic team … for me you couldn't construct a better job situation. I feel like I've got the best of everything … I recognise how fortunate I am and that makes you dig in even harder to not lose it, to value this experience and the position.''
Michael Cowley
It Wouldn't matter how many people you tried to sardine into the Sports Centre at Homebush Bay tomorrow night, nor how loud a ruckus they made, it's really never going to be quite like the Staples Center in Los Angeles during NBA play-offs.
Brett Brown's been there, courtside, just across from Jack Nicholson and celebrity row, though somewhat painfully watching the Lakers dismantle his San Antonio Spurs to win the Western Conference in 2008.
He'll be at the Sports Centre tomorrow night, too, again courtside - without the Hollywood types - this time hoping for a different outcome to LA, but again, with just as much excitement and enthusiasm he takes to the bench in any NBA game.
Brown's main gig is as an assistant coach with the Spurs. But tomorrow night, it's all about the Boomers, in his role as Australian basketball coach, and his focus is on beating the old enemy, New Zealand.
''They each have their own thrill and level of expectation and each have their own responsibility,'' he explained of the differences between LA and HA (Homebush Arena). ''And this one for me is a very different one because I am now the head coach and I've got a responsibility to put an organised team on the court, one that is prepared and ready to play the Kiwis.
''I'll tell you this, I sleep a lot better and lot more as an assistant coach than what I do as a head coach. You move two feet down on the bench to a different role and a different position, and the rules change. It's just the way it is.''
Brown has been part of the Spurs organisation since 2002 when he accepted the job in the game's biggest league, passing on his head coaching role at the Sydney Kings to Brian Goorjian. That season with the team Brown built, Goorjian went on to win Sydney's first NBL title. Now seven years on, Brown takes the Boomers role from Goorjian, who took the latest generation of Australian players to the Olympic quarter-finals last year.
''It's a real honour to be able to come back and have this position, but you feel a huge responsibility to do the best you can and hopefully bring us to a high level,'' he said. ''I feel responsibility on a number of levels, to the coaches here, the game here, the players, the fans … it is a significant task ahead to achieve the goal we're talking about.
''If we can get it right … we have the chance to do something special, and that's my mission to do that. I know the lay of the land with the rest of the world, it's very competitive and the game keeps getting better. But I don't feel like I can accept this position or say anything else to my players other than our aim is to find Australia's first [Olympic] medal, and I say that responsibly.''
The American revealed that when he was first offered the job, he declined. The reason? He didn't feel he would be able to do it properly. But after two days of contemplating the prospect, he approached his head coach at San Antonio, Gregg Popovich, and discussed the matter. Popovich told Brown if he was able to do the job during the NBA off-season, they would support the move, and he was free to put up his hand.
The significance of his new position and what it would mean to finally take Australia's men to an Olympic medal are not lost on Brown. As he says, a large part of him is Aussie.
He spent more than a decade in Australia coaching in the NBL, as assistant to Lindsay Gaze at Melbourne Tigers, then leading North Melbourne to the title in 1994, then three years with the Kings before the Spurs called in 2002, and he has an Australian wife, and children who were born here.
''That all played a big role on my accepting the job,'' Brown said. ''I feel a great affinity to Australian culture and Australian basketball. Not so long ago I lived a big chunk of my life here and the opportunity to come back and coach the national team is just an incredible honour.
''I get to work in the NBA and then come back and be head coach with the Australian Olympic team … for me you couldn't construct a better job situation. I feel like I've got the best of everything … I recognise how fortunate I am and that makes you dig in even harder to not lose it, to value this experience and the position.''