boutons
07-24-2005, 09:11 PM
The New York Times
July 24, 2005
Knicks Owner, President Meet With Brown
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:55 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- Knicks owner James Dolan of Cablevision met Sunday night with prospective coach Larry Brown, who had wanted to speak first with interim coach Herb Williams.
The visit to Brown's home in East Hampton, N.Y., by Dolan and team president Isiah Thomas represented the next step in the Knicks' wooing of Brown, a pursuit that figures to draw to a conclusion in the next few days.
The Knicks had not formally offered the job to Brown as of Saturday, but the implied message from Thomas was clear: The job is Brown's if he wants it.
Brown said Saturday he wanted to speak to Williams before speaking to Dolan. But Williams was out of town for the weekend, which may have been a factor in Dolan becoming the second Knicks official to get an exclusive audience with Brown.
''I told Isiah I wanted to talk to Herb,'' Brown said. ''He's impacted by this decision.''
Williams, who has been asked by the Knicks to stay publicly silent, did not return a call to his cell phone.
Williams has been accepting of his tenuous job status throughout the spring and summer, first when the Knicks made a pitch to Phil Jackson, and now during their serenading of Brown.
''I'm preparing for training camp, getting things finalized, getting playbooks ready. I don't ever, ever want to be unprepared,'' Williams told the New York Post.
The first time Brown spent any quality time with Williams was last summer at a clinic in Memphis that Brown conducts annually to help find assistant coaching jobs for his many friends in the business.
Williams spent 18 years in the NBA, including seven with the Knicks, and was one of New York's captains the last time the franchise reached the NBA Finals in 1999. He coached the Knicks for the final 43 games last season after Lenny Wilkens was forced to resign.
''Everybody I've ever talked to thinks the world of him,'' said Brown, who recalled first crossing paths with Williams in 1980 when Brown, coaching UCLA, defeated Williams' Ohio State team.
Brown met with Thomas on Thursday night, then spent parts of the next two days discussing the pros and cons of coaching the Knicks with his wife, Shelly, and his young children, T.J. and Madison.
Brown said health problems related to his bladder will not prohibit him from coaching, and he has tried to assure his wife that he'll get the rest his doctors have been ordering during the months of August and September before training camp opens.
First, of course, the Knicks would have to formally offer the job and then work out contract details with Brown's agent. And before Dolan offers a contract, he wanted a face-to-face reading with the nomadic coach who parted acrimoniously with his last two owners -- Detroit's Bill Davidson and Philadelphia's Ed Snider.
Dolan has signed the paychecks of Williams, Wilkens, Don Chaney and Jeff Van Gundy during his tenure as head of the team's ownership group.
Each of those coaches had varying levels of comfort or discomfort with Dolan, and Brown's lasting impression from their Sunday night meeting should go a long way toward determining whether the process of trying to hire him will continue moving forward.
''A lot will happen when I talk with Herb, then Mr. Dolan,'' Brown said Saturday.
Turns out it was Mr. Dolan, then Herb.
And there was no telling, at least right away, how much it mattered to Brown that he didn't get to speak to them in the order he would have preferred.
* Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
July 24, 2005
Knicks Owner, President Meet With Brown
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:55 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- Knicks owner James Dolan of Cablevision met Sunday night with prospective coach Larry Brown, who had wanted to speak first with interim coach Herb Williams.
The visit to Brown's home in East Hampton, N.Y., by Dolan and team president Isiah Thomas represented the next step in the Knicks' wooing of Brown, a pursuit that figures to draw to a conclusion in the next few days.
The Knicks had not formally offered the job to Brown as of Saturday, but the implied message from Thomas was clear: The job is Brown's if he wants it.
Brown said Saturday he wanted to speak to Williams before speaking to Dolan. But Williams was out of town for the weekend, which may have been a factor in Dolan becoming the second Knicks official to get an exclusive audience with Brown.
''I told Isiah I wanted to talk to Herb,'' Brown said. ''He's impacted by this decision.''
Williams, who has been asked by the Knicks to stay publicly silent, did not return a call to his cell phone.
Williams has been accepting of his tenuous job status throughout the spring and summer, first when the Knicks made a pitch to Phil Jackson, and now during their serenading of Brown.
''I'm preparing for training camp, getting things finalized, getting playbooks ready. I don't ever, ever want to be unprepared,'' Williams told the New York Post.
The first time Brown spent any quality time with Williams was last summer at a clinic in Memphis that Brown conducts annually to help find assistant coaching jobs for his many friends in the business.
Williams spent 18 years in the NBA, including seven with the Knicks, and was one of New York's captains the last time the franchise reached the NBA Finals in 1999. He coached the Knicks for the final 43 games last season after Lenny Wilkens was forced to resign.
''Everybody I've ever talked to thinks the world of him,'' said Brown, who recalled first crossing paths with Williams in 1980 when Brown, coaching UCLA, defeated Williams' Ohio State team.
Brown met with Thomas on Thursday night, then spent parts of the next two days discussing the pros and cons of coaching the Knicks with his wife, Shelly, and his young children, T.J. and Madison.
Brown said health problems related to his bladder will not prohibit him from coaching, and he has tried to assure his wife that he'll get the rest his doctors have been ordering during the months of August and September before training camp opens.
First, of course, the Knicks would have to formally offer the job and then work out contract details with Brown's agent. And before Dolan offers a contract, he wanted a face-to-face reading with the nomadic coach who parted acrimoniously with his last two owners -- Detroit's Bill Davidson and Philadelphia's Ed Snider.
Dolan has signed the paychecks of Williams, Wilkens, Don Chaney and Jeff Van Gundy during his tenure as head of the team's ownership group.
Each of those coaches had varying levels of comfort or discomfort with Dolan, and Brown's lasting impression from their Sunday night meeting should go a long way toward determining whether the process of trying to hire him will continue moving forward.
''A lot will happen when I talk with Herb, then Mr. Dolan,'' Brown said Saturday.
Turns out it was Mr. Dolan, then Herb.
And there was no telling, at least right away, how much it mattered to Brown that he didn't get to speak to them in the order he would have preferred.
* Copyright 2005 The Associated Press