T Park
06-11-2005, 02:23 AM
Buck Harvey: The suit who changed the Spurs? The rise of Brown's valet
Larry Brown's health issue isn't life threatening, but it's also more than a nuisance. His bladder has shut down.
So the man always looking to leave has an excuse this time. If the Mayo Clinic can't fix him this summer — and if Pistons management is cool to him anyway — then moving to a more comfortable position behind a desk as the Cleveland Cavaliers' president makes some sense.
But if Brown has his reasons, do the Cavs? Why do they want to pay millions for a famous flake always ready to trade someone he traded for the day before?
If the Cavaliers want a personnel guy to find players to put around LeBron James, just as the Spurs once found players to put around Tim Duncan, they shouldn't look to Brown.
They should instead look to the Spurs' exec who was once Vice President in Charge of Larry Brown's Dry Cleaning.
Brown might figure the same eventually. He's a coach at heart, not a suit, and these Finals have likely reminded him of that. He will find nothing in a front office that compares to the rush of this weekend, when he tries to repair the Pistons.
The Spurs figure he will. They remember him as a genius when he was here, able to stop a scrimmage and pinpoint every wrong step of every player.
That doesn't mean he always relates well to his stars. Brown might have been David Robinson's least favorite coach. But Brown has always been the best at taking confused groups and pushing them into something better, which is why the Lakers are going after the wrong coach.
Wouldn't Brown do for Kobe Bryant what he did for Allen Iverson before?
Brown would last only a few years, because he always has. He's quitting every day he's on the job, and he did in San Antonio. Just two days into his Spurs' contract, he wondered if he could work for Red McCombs.
That's Larry, and it goes back to his first coaching job. Then he accepted an offer from Davidson but resigned without coaching a game because, well, the school wouldn't replace the carpet in his office.
His personnel opinions have been as unstable. One in the business calls him an "emotional judge of talent," and his old friend, Donnie Walsh, once half-joked that Larry will someday trade all his players, only to wind up getting them all back.
The Cavs want him?
Mike Brown, the former Spurs assistant, probably wonders. He became the Cleveland coach at age 35, and drawing James for a first assignment is a dream. But if Larry becomes Mike's boss, don't be surprised if one Brown replaces the other on the bench by Christmas next season.
The Cavs seem to understand as much, the reason they are looking to hire a front-office buffer to work between Brown and the staff. Among the candidates is Danny Ferry, who played in Cleveland and gets high marks from the Spurs now.
But Ferry has been working in the front office for just two years, and he wasn't part of the major moves the Spurs made. Most of that credit, instead, goes to the Spurs' general manager, R.C. Buford.
His career says a lot about Brown, too. When Brown arrived in San Antonio, he came with a posse of green assistants named Gregg Popovich, Alvin Gentry and Buford.
It was as if Brown was announcing he could win with anyone.
Brown wasn't an emotional judge of talent then. He was a good one. Popovich and Gentry rose to become NBA head coaches.
But Buford's rise might have surprised Brown, too. Buford worked for years basically for free, first at Kansas for Brown, acting like an intern.
Yes, at times he was not above dry-cleaning duty. But along the way he listened and learned, and he applied hyper energy. When Buford rejoined Popovich a decade ago, the combination meshed.
Buford's titles changed as he grew, but his attention to detail didn't. He works the salary cap as he does Europe, applying Billy Beane's "Moneyball" to the NBA.
He isn't always right. But when the Spurs needed to rebuild on the run — critical to keeping Duncan — Buford came up with draft picks that changed the franchise and the league.
Tony Parker was a steal. But Manu Ginobili has become something else entirely, a star drafted where stars are never drafted, a triumph of foresight and luck and homework.
And the Cavaliers are looking elsewhere?
Larry Brown's health issue isn't life threatening, but it's also more than a nuisance. His bladder has shut down.
So the man always looking to leave has an excuse this time. If the Mayo Clinic can't fix him this summer — and if Pistons management is cool to him anyway — then moving to a more comfortable position behind a desk as the Cleveland Cavaliers' president makes some sense.
But if Brown has his reasons, do the Cavs? Why do they want to pay millions for a famous flake always ready to trade someone he traded for the day before?
If the Cavaliers want a personnel guy to find players to put around LeBron James, just as the Spurs once found players to put around Tim Duncan, they shouldn't look to Brown.
They should instead look to the Spurs' exec who was once Vice President in Charge of Larry Brown's Dry Cleaning.
Brown might figure the same eventually. He's a coach at heart, not a suit, and these Finals have likely reminded him of that. He will find nothing in a front office that compares to the rush of this weekend, when he tries to repair the Pistons.
The Spurs figure he will. They remember him as a genius when he was here, able to stop a scrimmage and pinpoint every wrong step of every player.
That doesn't mean he always relates well to his stars. Brown might have been David Robinson's least favorite coach. But Brown has always been the best at taking confused groups and pushing them into something better, which is why the Lakers are going after the wrong coach.
Wouldn't Brown do for Kobe Bryant what he did for Allen Iverson before?
Brown would last only a few years, because he always has. He's quitting every day he's on the job, and he did in San Antonio. Just two days into his Spurs' contract, he wondered if he could work for Red McCombs.
That's Larry, and it goes back to his first coaching job. Then he accepted an offer from Davidson but resigned without coaching a game because, well, the school wouldn't replace the carpet in his office.
His personnel opinions have been as unstable. One in the business calls him an "emotional judge of talent," and his old friend, Donnie Walsh, once half-joked that Larry will someday trade all his players, only to wind up getting them all back.
The Cavs want him?
Mike Brown, the former Spurs assistant, probably wonders. He became the Cleveland coach at age 35, and drawing James for a first assignment is a dream. But if Larry becomes Mike's boss, don't be surprised if one Brown replaces the other on the bench by Christmas next season.
The Cavs seem to understand as much, the reason they are looking to hire a front-office buffer to work between Brown and the staff. Among the candidates is Danny Ferry, who played in Cleveland and gets high marks from the Spurs now.
But Ferry has been working in the front office for just two years, and he wasn't part of the major moves the Spurs made. Most of that credit, instead, goes to the Spurs' general manager, R.C. Buford.
His career says a lot about Brown, too. When Brown arrived in San Antonio, he came with a posse of green assistants named Gregg Popovich, Alvin Gentry and Buford.
It was as if Brown was announcing he could win with anyone.
Brown wasn't an emotional judge of talent then. He was a good one. Popovich and Gentry rose to become NBA head coaches.
But Buford's rise might have surprised Brown, too. Buford worked for years basically for free, first at Kansas for Brown, acting like an intern.
Yes, at times he was not above dry-cleaning duty. But along the way he listened and learned, and he applied hyper energy. When Buford rejoined Popovich a decade ago, the combination meshed.
Buford's titles changed as he grew, but his attention to detail didn't. He works the salary cap as he does Europe, applying Billy Beane's "Moneyball" to the NBA.
He isn't always right. But when the Spurs needed to rebuild on the run — critical to keeping Duncan — Buford came up with draft picks that changed the franchise and the league.
Tony Parker was a steal. But Manu Ginobili has become something else entirely, a star drafted where stars are never drafted, a triumph of foresight and luck and homework.
And the Cavaliers are looking elsewhere?