Pooh
09-09-2003, 08:34 PM
By Conrad Brunner
Sept. 5, 2003
Gregg Popovich was taking a long walk on the beach during the Tournament of the Americas last week in San Juan, PR, with fellow U.S. national team coaches Larry Brown, Roy Williams and Oliver Purnell, when the idea came to him.
“We had heard about Indiana talking about hiring Rick Carlisle, and somebody said, ‘Who do you think he’s going to bring on his staff?’” Popovich said. “And I said, ‘Dammit, I can tell you right now. That son-of-a-gun is going to call me if he takes that job.’ And a couple of days later, he called and asked permission to talk to Mike (Brown).”
Popovich knew what Brown himself did not: that the Pacers’ new head coach had targeted the Spurs assistant for the top job on his staff.
Brown’s addition as Associate Head Coach was nearly lost amid the hubbub of Carlisle’s hiring earlier this week, but it was a significant development in the construction of the staff. Brown, 33, will serve as Carlisle’s right-hand man.
Veteran coach Ron Rothstein, hired before Isiah Thomas was fired, will be retained, as will Dan Burke, who has been with the Pacers six seasons.
Popovich might not have been surprised when Carlisle called, but Brown was. In fact, he was so certain of a long stay in San Antonio he had just closed on a house on Aug. 15 and was in the process of moving in when the phone rang.
“Back when Rick got the Detroit job (in 2001), he talked to Pop about me and spoke highly of me to Pop at the time. But that was two years ago, so it never entered my mind that anything like this would happen,” Brown said.
“I’m excited about the confidence Rick has shown in me in such a short time. It’s a new challenge that I’m looking forward to. Coming here obviously was a step up from San Antonio, career-wise, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Brown, 33, may be a relative unknown to casual fans, but Popovich is convinced Carlisle has unearthed a gem.
“He’s just a multi-talented individual,” Popovich said. “As far as the on-court Xs and Os, reading teams and looking at mismatches, he’s excellent. He’s got a great feel for the game. More importantly, he really commands a lot of respect from players because he really has an honesty and an openness where players feel comfortable in his presence. They know he has firm beliefs in how things should be done but they always feel like they’re participating in a gameplan because of the way he approaches them. His communication skills combined with his knack for the game itself really make him a valuable individual.
“On top of that, he’s fun to be around. He’s got a great sense of humor, he’s a fun-loving guy, he’s fun to travel with for 82 games, so we’re going to miss him a great, great deal. We could’ve gone ahead and changed the money situation but this is a really big step up for him as far as all the confidence Rick has placed in him in that position on the staff. I couldn’t be more thrilled for him and more sad for myself.”
Brown has traveled an atypical route for a top NBA assistant. He wasn’t a star player in college, though he was a team captain at San Diego. “The last time I was a star player,” he said, “was in the eighth grade.
And he didn’t develop a network of connections while working his way up the ladder. Upon graduation (with a business degree) in 1992, he planned to go to law school. But the Denver Nuggets offered an unpaid internship in the video department, and a new career was born. He was the Nuggets’ Video Coordinator, then a scout, before joining Bernie Bickerstaff’s staff in Washington. After two seasons as an assistant coach and one as Professional Scout, he headed to San Antonio.
“It’s a lot like me,” said Popovich. “I didn’t do any of that other stuff. I’m just some guy off the street who Larry (Brown) gave a chance to 15 years ago.”
With the Spurs, he shared game preparation responsibilities with Mike Budenholzer, with each assistant taking 14 teams. The job entailed preparing scouting reports and tendencies that would be shared with the players and coaches on the morning of the game-day shootaround.
“He always wanted to be a coach but, as you might guess, in the league, getting your foot in the door is more important than anything,” said Popovich. “When we hired him, he was in the background in Washington but we had seen him in camps and those kinds of settings, actually out on the floor with the players, and I just always thought he was a sleeper – a guy who got passed over because he wasn’t a player. The league tends to pigeonhole players, coaches, all that kind of thing. We just observed him over that period of time and it became obvious he was somebody who just needed an opportunity.
“When he came with us, he just blossomed because I threw him right in, let him do scouting reports, address the team, coach on the floor, so he got a lot of good experience.”
During his one season away from coaching (2000-01), Carlisle spent part of training camp and the preseason as an observer with the Spurs. There, he got to know Brown, and the relationship extended to summer camp work.
Brown said Carlisle has asked him to oversee the team’s defensive preparation, with the head coach focusing primarily on the offense. His background has him well prepared for the assignment.
“Our emphasis here was defense and rebounding,” said Popovich. “If you don’t have that, you don’t compete for championships. You might win a lot of games, but you don’t get championships. So he believes in it, philosophically, and understands how important defense is. Secondly, he’s got good ideas about the possibilities in each area and he can teach it a lot of different ways.
“But his real skill is understanding. Once he looks at that team, he realizes what the strengths are. He’ll be able to look at the Indiana guys, figure out what suits them and adjust that according to who they’re playing on a given night. His ability to adjust according to matchups and the abilities of the players he has is really excellent.”
So he wasn’t a basketball star, wanted to go to law school, got into the NBA as an unpaid intern in the Nuggets’ video department and now, 11 years later, he’ll sit at the right hand of one of the NBA’s brightest young coaches with a team expected to contend for the Eastern Conference championship.
How would Brown describe his career path?
“If I could think of one word, it would be surprise,” Brown said. “Every time a new opportunity came along, I was kind of like this – kind of shocked and just getting comfortable and getting ready to settle in for the long haul wherever I’d been. But they’ve been pleasant surprises. I’ve definitely enjoyed the course I’ve taken to get to where I am. It’s been an invaluable experience to go this route because when I entered the league, I didn’t know anybody. I came in as an unpaid intern in Denver.
“From there, I guess I rose rather quickly but it was because the only thing I know how to do is work. I know I’m not smarter than the next guy, so I figure if I put time into what I’m doing, I’ll at least be able to compete with others.”
Popovich knows there’s much more to him than that.
“He’s a special guy,” he said. “You guys are really going to love him.”
Sept. 5, 2003
Gregg Popovich was taking a long walk on the beach during the Tournament of the Americas last week in San Juan, PR, with fellow U.S. national team coaches Larry Brown, Roy Williams and Oliver Purnell, when the idea came to him.
“We had heard about Indiana talking about hiring Rick Carlisle, and somebody said, ‘Who do you think he’s going to bring on his staff?’” Popovich said. “And I said, ‘Dammit, I can tell you right now. That son-of-a-gun is going to call me if he takes that job.’ And a couple of days later, he called and asked permission to talk to Mike (Brown).”
Popovich knew what Brown himself did not: that the Pacers’ new head coach had targeted the Spurs assistant for the top job on his staff.
Brown’s addition as Associate Head Coach was nearly lost amid the hubbub of Carlisle’s hiring earlier this week, but it was a significant development in the construction of the staff. Brown, 33, will serve as Carlisle’s right-hand man.
Veteran coach Ron Rothstein, hired before Isiah Thomas was fired, will be retained, as will Dan Burke, who has been with the Pacers six seasons.
Popovich might not have been surprised when Carlisle called, but Brown was. In fact, he was so certain of a long stay in San Antonio he had just closed on a house on Aug. 15 and was in the process of moving in when the phone rang.
“Back when Rick got the Detroit job (in 2001), he talked to Pop about me and spoke highly of me to Pop at the time. But that was two years ago, so it never entered my mind that anything like this would happen,” Brown said.
“I’m excited about the confidence Rick has shown in me in such a short time. It’s a new challenge that I’m looking forward to. Coming here obviously was a step up from San Antonio, career-wise, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Brown, 33, may be a relative unknown to casual fans, but Popovich is convinced Carlisle has unearthed a gem.
“He’s just a multi-talented individual,” Popovich said. “As far as the on-court Xs and Os, reading teams and looking at mismatches, he’s excellent. He’s got a great feel for the game. More importantly, he really commands a lot of respect from players because he really has an honesty and an openness where players feel comfortable in his presence. They know he has firm beliefs in how things should be done but they always feel like they’re participating in a gameplan because of the way he approaches them. His communication skills combined with his knack for the game itself really make him a valuable individual.
“On top of that, he’s fun to be around. He’s got a great sense of humor, he’s a fun-loving guy, he’s fun to travel with for 82 games, so we’re going to miss him a great, great deal. We could’ve gone ahead and changed the money situation but this is a really big step up for him as far as all the confidence Rick has placed in him in that position on the staff. I couldn’t be more thrilled for him and more sad for myself.”
Brown has traveled an atypical route for a top NBA assistant. He wasn’t a star player in college, though he was a team captain at San Diego. “The last time I was a star player,” he said, “was in the eighth grade.
And he didn’t develop a network of connections while working his way up the ladder. Upon graduation (with a business degree) in 1992, he planned to go to law school. But the Denver Nuggets offered an unpaid internship in the video department, and a new career was born. He was the Nuggets’ Video Coordinator, then a scout, before joining Bernie Bickerstaff’s staff in Washington. After two seasons as an assistant coach and one as Professional Scout, he headed to San Antonio.
“It’s a lot like me,” said Popovich. “I didn’t do any of that other stuff. I’m just some guy off the street who Larry (Brown) gave a chance to 15 years ago.”
With the Spurs, he shared game preparation responsibilities with Mike Budenholzer, with each assistant taking 14 teams. The job entailed preparing scouting reports and tendencies that would be shared with the players and coaches on the morning of the game-day shootaround.
“He always wanted to be a coach but, as you might guess, in the league, getting your foot in the door is more important than anything,” said Popovich. “When we hired him, he was in the background in Washington but we had seen him in camps and those kinds of settings, actually out on the floor with the players, and I just always thought he was a sleeper – a guy who got passed over because he wasn’t a player. The league tends to pigeonhole players, coaches, all that kind of thing. We just observed him over that period of time and it became obvious he was somebody who just needed an opportunity.
“When he came with us, he just blossomed because I threw him right in, let him do scouting reports, address the team, coach on the floor, so he got a lot of good experience.”
During his one season away from coaching (2000-01), Carlisle spent part of training camp and the preseason as an observer with the Spurs. There, he got to know Brown, and the relationship extended to summer camp work.
Brown said Carlisle has asked him to oversee the team’s defensive preparation, with the head coach focusing primarily on the offense. His background has him well prepared for the assignment.
“Our emphasis here was defense and rebounding,” said Popovich. “If you don’t have that, you don’t compete for championships. You might win a lot of games, but you don’t get championships. So he believes in it, philosophically, and understands how important defense is. Secondly, he’s got good ideas about the possibilities in each area and he can teach it a lot of different ways.
“But his real skill is understanding. Once he looks at that team, he realizes what the strengths are. He’ll be able to look at the Indiana guys, figure out what suits them and adjust that according to who they’re playing on a given night. His ability to adjust according to matchups and the abilities of the players he has is really excellent.”
So he wasn’t a basketball star, wanted to go to law school, got into the NBA as an unpaid intern in the Nuggets’ video department and now, 11 years later, he’ll sit at the right hand of one of the NBA’s brightest young coaches with a team expected to contend for the Eastern Conference championship.
How would Brown describe his career path?
“If I could think of one word, it would be surprise,” Brown said. “Every time a new opportunity came along, I was kind of like this – kind of shocked and just getting comfortable and getting ready to settle in for the long haul wherever I’d been. But they’ve been pleasant surprises. I’ve definitely enjoyed the course I’ve taken to get to where I am. It’s been an invaluable experience to go this route because when I entered the league, I didn’t know anybody. I came in as an unpaid intern in Denver.
“From there, I guess I rose rather quickly but it was because the only thing I know how to do is work. I know I’m not smarter than the next guy, so I figure if I put time into what I’m doing, I’ll at least be able to compete with others.”
Popovich knows there’s much more to him than that.
“He’s a special guy,” he said. “You guys are really going to love him.”