CubanMustGo
07-08-2005, 09:04 AM
What is it with Larry Brown? Can't the dude ever stay anywhere more than a few years? He could have been one of the great coaches of all time if he ever stuck anywhere. His wanderlust has, fairly or no, tarnished his reputation.
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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/ian_thomsen/07/07/brown/index.html
Larry Brown will not be back in Detroit. Count on it. By saying that he wants to return as coach of the Pistons, pending his health concerns, Brown is essentially forcing the team to fire him so that he can continue to collect the three years and $15 million remaining on his contract. If Brown is fired he will be able to claim -- disingenuously -- that he didn't bail out on the Eastern champions. But Brown demonstrated earlier that he doesn't want to come back, and the Pistons need reliable leadership in order to win another championship while their team is still at peak form.
Brown turned the Pistons against him when he spent this past spring counseling the Cleveland Cavaliers, a division rival, on their front-office hires. (His health concerns are no small matter, but neither are they any excuse for his behavior.)
On the team bus to a shootaround the morning of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals last month in Miami, Brown was heard complaining that the Cavaliers were having second thoughts about the inexperience of Wizards player personnel director Milt Newton, who at the time was Brown's hand-picked choice to become Cleveland's GM. In order to demonstrate that Newton was worthy of the Cavs' job, Brown asked Joe Dumars how much front-office experience he had before the Pistons elevated him to his current post as president of basketball operations. You can imagine that Dumars would have preferred Brown to be focused solely on that night's game, which the Pistons lost 88-76 despite an injury to Dwyane Wade.
The next day during an optional workout in Auburn Hills, Mich., Brown spent 20 minutes on the sideline of the practice court berating Liz Robbins of The New York Times, who a week earlier had broken the news that Brown was close to joining the Cavaliers as team president. Several of Brown's players were on the court, putting in extra work in hope of overcoming their 3-2 deficit to the Miami, while point guard Chauncey Billups was in Dumars' office plotting a strategy to adapt the Pistons' pick-and-roll against Shaquille O'Neal. Everyone was focused on trying to beat the Heat except for Brown, who -- in full view of his players -- was acting as if he cared more about his next job than about leading the Pistons to a successful title defense. "It would be nice if he was in here with us," said Billups, glancing at Brown from the window of Dumars' office.
Brown has been in damage control mode ever since. His reputation has taken a beating because he isn't toying merely with UCLA or the New Jersey Nets; the Pistons are close to a sacred entity in the NBA, the only franchise in the past 25 years to win a title without a first-team All-NBA player. They are the closest thing we've seen to a true team in this league [Ahem - not paying attention to SA too well, are we?] , and Brown's actions influenced their loss to San Antonio in the NBA Finals.
Was he a primary reason the Pistons lost? Of course not. Nor was he a distraction -- Detroit has the most professional group of players in the league. But when the defending champs needed the last bit of motivation, when they were seeking the extra push of self-belief to see them through the final half of Game 7, they couldn't get it from their coach because when they looked in his eyes they saw someone halfway out the door. An unimpeachable source within the Pistons maintains that Brown's shenanigans cost him his ability to motivate his players on a personal level. They simply didn't believe in him any longer. San Antonio's Gregg Popovich was able to connect with his players far better than Brown.
In the next two weeks news will break that Brown is leaving the Pistons. The divorce is undoubtedly being held up in part because owner Bill Davidson is personally offended by the idea of paying Brown to leave, essentially rewarding him for his bad behavior, and setting him free to land with the Knicks. It will be interesting to see what Davidson has to say about Brown on his way out the door.
But the Pistons won't have to say anything. The fact that they will cut ties with a coach who has been to the NBA Finals the past two years will say everything about his destructive behavior. The Pistons will then quickly introduce Flip Saunders as their new coach while emphasizing his character and personal reliability. As for Ben Wallace and his teammates, they will be focused on proving that Brown received too much credit for their 2003-04 championship. Brown's absence next year will motivate them more than his presence did this season.
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The Pistons will then quickly introduce Flip Saunders as their new coach while emphasizing his character and personal reliability
:lmao Guess they can't emphasize that he's ever won anything!
--------------
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/ian_thomsen/07/07/brown/index.html
Larry Brown will not be back in Detroit. Count on it. By saying that he wants to return as coach of the Pistons, pending his health concerns, Brown is essentially forcing the team to fire him so that he can continue to collect the three years and $15 million remaining on his contract. If Brown is fired he will be able to claim -- disingenuously -- that he didn't bail out on the Eastern champions. But Brown demonstrated earlier that he doesn't want to come back, and the Pistons need reliable leadership in order to win another championship while their team is still at peak form.
Brown turned the Pistons against him when he spent this past spring counseling the Cleveland Cavaliers, a division rival, on their front-office hires. (His health concerns are no small matter, but neither are they any excuse for his behavior.)
On the team bus to a shootaround the morning of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals last month in Miami, Brown was heard complaining that the Cavaliers were having second thoughts about the inexperience of Wizards player personnel director Milt Newton, who at the time was Brown's hand-picked choice to become Cleveland's GM. In order to demonstrate that Newton was worthy of the Cavs' job, Brown asked Joe Dumars how much front-office experience he had before the Pistons elevated him to his current post as president of basketball operations. You can imagine that Dumars would have preferred Brown to be focused solely on that night's game, which the Pistons lost 88-76 despite an injury to Dwyane Wade.
The next day during an optional workout in Auburn Hills, Mich., Brown spent 20 minutes on the sideline of the practice court berating Liz Robbins of The New York Times, who a week earlier had broken the news that Brown was close to joining the Cavaliers as team president. Several of Brown's players were on the court, putting in extra work in hope of overcoming their 3-2 deficit to the Miami, while point guard Chauncey Billups was in Dumars' office plotting a strategy to adapt the Pistons' pick-and-roll against Shaquille O'Neal. Everyone was focused on trying to beat the Heat except for Brown, who -- in full view of his players -- was acting as if he cared more about his next job than about leading the Pistons to a successful title defense. "It would be nice if he was in here with us," said Billups, glancing at Brown from the window of Dumars' office.
Brown has been in damage control mode ever since. His reputation has taken a beating because he isn't toying merely with UCLA or the New Jersey Nets; the Pistons are close to a sacred entity in the NBA, the only franchise in the past 25 years to win a title without a first-team All-NBA player. They are the closest thing we've seen to a true team in this league [Ahem - not paying attention to SA too well, are we?] , and Brown's actions influenced their loss to San Antonio in the NBA Finals.
Was he a primary reason the Pistons lost? Of course not. Nor was he a distraction -- Detroit has the most professional group of players in the league. But when the defending champs needed the last bit of motivation, when they were seeking the extra push of self-belief to see them through the final half of Game 7, they couldn't get it from their coach because when they looked in his eyes they saw someone halfway out the door. An unimpeachable source within the Pistons maintains that Brown's shenanigans cost him his ability to motivate his players on a personal level. They simply didn't believe in him any longer. San Antonio's Gregg Popovich was able to connect with his players far better than Brown.
In the next two weeks news will break that Brown is leaving the Pistons. The divorce is undoubtedly being held up in part because owner Bill Davidson is personally offended by the idea of paying Brown to leave, essentially rewarding him for his bad behavior, and setting him free to land with the Knicks. It will be interesting to see what Davidson has to say about Brown on his way out the door.
But the Pistons won't have to say anything. The fact that they will cut ties with a coach who has been to the NBA Finals the past two years will say everything about his destructive behavior. The Pistons will then quickly introduce Flip Saunders as their new coach while emphasizing his character and personal reliability. As for Ben Wallace and his teammates, they will be focused on proving that Brown received too much credit for their 2003-04 championship. Brown's absence next year will motivate them more than his presence did this season.
----------------------------------
The Pistons will then quickly introduce Flip Saunders as their new coach while emphasizing his character and personal reliability
:lmao Guess they can't emphasize that he's ever won anything!