boutons_
03-14-2006, 01:57 PM
March 14, 2006
Sports of The Times
The Browns and Coaching's Brotherhood
By HARVEY ARATON (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/columns/harveyaraton/?inline=nyt-per)
BIG BROTHER is watching, and he can't help but wonder.
Could he have made a difference last season, contributed to a more stable work environment and had an impact on what now can irrefutably be called a series of unfortunate events? Could Herb Brown have mentored Larry Brown (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/larry_brown/index.html?inline=nyt-per) through the minefield in Detroit, helped him hang on to the best pro job he ever had and to avoid the nightmare that has become his once celebrated return to his native New York?
"I look back, and even though I really like being in Atlanta, I say to myself, 'Maybe I should have stayed in Detroit and helped him go through all the problems he had with his health and everything else,' " Herb Brown said in a recent telephone interview.
But after Larry won his first N.B.A. championship two years ago in his first season coaching the Pistons (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/detroitpistons/index.html?inline=nyt-org), with Herb by his side, Herb left for Atlanta to assist the rookie coach, Mike Woodson, in a rebuilding effort that at least looks more workable than the wreckage at Madison Square Garden. But then, so does New Orleans.
Larry returned to the finals last spring with the Pistons, losing in seven games to the Spurs (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/sanantoniospurs/index.html?inline=nyt-org), but endured a grueling, tumultuous season without his brother to lean on, without the assistant who, from age 12, inherited the job of Surrogate Dad.
Herb was 12 when their father, Milton, died of a heart attack. Larry was 8. Change has been constant in the lives of the Brown brothers, except for that inalterable family dynamic.
"He's family, my younger brother, no matter how successful he's been," Herb said. "I understand him better than anyone in the coaching profession. I'd like to believe I could have helped last year and now, with all that's happened in New York."
When asked last season why Herb would leave him at the height of their success, Larry said: "I've always told him, 'As long as I'm working, you'll have a job.' But it's much better this way, because it's not family, it's because of who he is and all the coaching he's done."
Of course, any suggestion that bloodlines sustained Herb in the business could be countered with the fact that Larry's most acclaimed N.B.A. coaching happened with Herb close by — Detroit in 2003-4 and Philadelphia's run to the 2000-1 finals (ending in a five-game defeat to the Lakers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/losangeleslakers/index.html?inline=nyt-org)).
If Philadelphia and Detroit don't qualify as a clear pattern, let's suppose they are more than coincidence. On both occasions, Herb was gone by the next season.
"Our relationship is complicated," he said. Pause. "Boy, is it complicated."
He has always acknowledged Larry as the family superstar, going back to Larry's days as an all-American guard at North Carolina. "I know what a great coach he is, what he's done in this game," Herb said. But could it be that Larry also needs — more than he's willing to admit — someone from outside the Carolina family and from inside the Brown family who, while grateful to be in Larry's employ, has also had decades of practice in telling him the truth?
Even with a virtual army of assistant coaches and assorted yes-men squeezing onto and around the Knicks' (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newyorkknicks/index.html?inline=nyt-org) bench for last night's 108-96 defeat to Carmelo Antony and the Nuggets (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/denvernuggets/index.html?inline=nyt-org), Larry has this season looked like a man in serious need of fatherly advice, or a brotherly hug.
Granted, I have more recently watched from a distance, but even from remote areas of the Italian Alps during the Olympics, a daily online peek was enough to tap into the Knicks' volatility, the careening from one coaching methodology to another.
Tough love one night, platitudes the next. Ever-changing lineups. Declared youth movements (yielding moderate success with Channing Frye and David Lee) abandoned at the first sign of adversity.
Stephon Marbury (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/stephon_marbury/index.html?inline=nyt-per), Larry's season-long sparring partner, both of them at it again yesterday, dueling narcissists. I'm Starbury, says the point guard. You're Crybury, says the coach. Somebody has to be the adult here. Somebody has to whisper in Larry's ear to stop.
"Sometimes you come into a situation where the players are not receptive to your message or they focus on how the message is sent, rather than what it is," Herb Brown said. "Larry's been very successful, but he's a very sensitive human being."
Just not to the fact that his players have not enjoyed any significant measure of N.B.A. success and have become ultrasensitive to his nightly critiques in the crucible of New York.
They aren't very good (though they shouldn't be this bad), they are far more Isiah Thomas's (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/isiah_thomas/index.html?inline=nyt-per) team than Larry Brown's, but when the Garden's chairman, James L. Dolan, has to go all the way to Memphis to demand effort, and gets it, that's on the coach. At least that's what people told Byron Scott (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/byron_scott/index.html?inline=nyt-per) before he was escorted to the border of East Rutherford by the Nets (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newjerseynets/index.html?inline=nyt-org) a couple of years ago after making the finals in consecutive years.
Given his contract, Larry isn't going anywhere unless it's his choice. But by next season, whether Thomas remains or not, whether Marbury is the point guard or the shooting guard or there are impact talent upgrades, Larry is going to need a more evident coaching blueprint, and someone to remind him of the need to stick to it.
Three reasons why Herb would readily volunteer: "One, he's family," he said. "Two, I could be the sounding board. Three, it is New York."
Herb Brown, who will be at the Garden with the Hawks tomorrow, who will join Larry in the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame when he is inducted on April 30 in Commack, N.Y., would relish coming home, too.
"That's something for Larry to decide," he said, sounding like he's watching, wondering and waiting. Complicated as his relationship with Larry gets, "There has never been a doubt that I have his best interests at heart."
And after this season, how many people inside the forbidden fortress known as Madison Square Garden can Larry count on for that?
E-mail: [email protected]
Copyright 2006 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html)The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)
Sports of The Times
The Browns and Coaching's Brotherhood
By HARVEY ARATON (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/columns/harveyaraton/?inline=nyt-per)
BIG BROTHER is watching, and he can't help but wonder.
Could he have made a difference last season, contributed to a more stable work environment and had an impact on what now can irrefutably be called a series of unfortunate events? Could Herb Brown have mentored Larry Brown (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/larry_brown/index.html?inline=nyt-per) through the minefield in Detroit, helped him hang on to the best pro job he ever had and to avoid the nightmare that has become his once celebrated return to his native New York?
"I look back, and even though I really like being in Atlanta, I say to myself, 'Maybe I should have stayed in Detroit and helped him go through all the problems he had with his health and everything else,' " Herb Brown said in a recent telephone interview.
But after Larry won his first N.B.A. championship two years ago in his first season coaching the Pistons (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/detroitpistons/index.html?inline=nyt-org), with Herb by his side, Herb left for Atlanta to assist the rookie coach, Mike Woodson, in a rebuilding effort that at least looks more workable than the wreckage at Madison Square Garden. But then, so does New Orleans.
Larry returned to the finals last spring with the Pistons, losing in seven games to the Spurs (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/sanantoniospurs/index.html?inline=nyt-org), but endured a grueling, tumultuous season without his brother to lean on, without the assistant who, from age 12, inherited the job of Surrogate Dad.
Herb was 12 when their father, Milton, died of a heart attack. Larry was 8. Change has been constant in the lives of the Brown brothers, except for that inalterable family dynamic.
"He's family, my younger brother, no matter how successful he's been," Herb said. "I understand him better than anyone in the coaching profession. I'd like to believe I could have helped last year and now, with all that's happened in New York."
When asked last season why Herb would leave him at the height of their success, Larry said: "I've always told him, 'As long as I'm working, you'll have a job.' But it's much better this way, because it's not family, it's because of who he is and all the coaching he's done."
Of course, any suggestion that bloodlines sustained Herb in the business could be countered with the fact that Larry's most acclaimed N.B.A. coaching happened with Herb close by — Detroit in 2003-4 and Philadelphia's run to the 2000-1 finals (ending in a five-game defeat to the Lakers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/losangeleslakers/index.html?inline=nyt-org)).
If Philadelphia and Detroit don't qualify as a clear pattern, let's suppose they are more than coincidence. On both occasions, Herb was gone by the next season.
"Our relationship is complicated," he said. Pause. "Boy, is it complicated."
He has always acknowledged Larry as the family superstar, going back to Larry's days as an all-American guard at North Carolina. "I know what a great coach he is, what he's done in this game," Herb said. But could it be that Larry also needs — more than he's willing to admit — someone from outside the Carolina family and from inside the Brown family who, while grateful to be in Larry's employ, has also had decades of practice in telling him the truth?
Even with a virtual army of assistant coaches and assorted yes-men squeezing onto and around the Knicks' (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newyorkknicks/index.html?inline=nyt-org) bench for last night's 108-96 defeat to Carmelo Antony and the Nuggets (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/denvernuggets/index.html?inline=nyt-org), Larry has this season looked like a man in serious need of fatherly advice, or a brotherly hug.
Granted, I have more recently watched from a distance, but even from remote areas of the Italian Alps during the Olympics, a daily online peek was enough to tap into the Knicks' volatility, the careening from one coaching methodology to another.
Tough love one night, platitudes the next. Ever-changing lineups. Declared youth movements (yielding moderate success with Channing Frye and David Lee) abandoned at the first sign of adversity.
Stephon Marbury (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/stephon_marbury/index.html?inline=nyt-per), Larry's season-long sparring partner, both of them at it again yesterday, dueling narcissists. I'm Starbury, says the point guard. You're Crybury, says the coach. Somebody has to be the adult here. Somebody has to whisper in Larry's ear to stop.
"Sometimes you come into a situation where the players are not receptive to your message or they focus on how the message is sent, rather than what it is," Herb Brown said. "Larry's been very successful, but he's a very sensitive human being."
Just not to the fact that his players have not enjoyed any significant measure of N.B.A. success and have become ultrasensitive to his nightly critiques in the crucible of New York.
They aren't very good (though they shouldn't be this bad), they are far more Isiah Thomas's (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/isiah_thomas/index.html?inline=nyt-per) team than Larry Brown's, but when the Garden's chairman, James L. Dolan, has to go all the way to Memphis to demand effort, and gets it, that's on the coach. At least that's what people told Byron Scott (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/byron_scott/index.html?inline=nyt-per) before he was escorted to the border of East Rutherford by the Nets (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newjerseynets/index.html?inline=nyt-org) a couple of years ago after making the finals in consecutive years.
Given his contract, Larry isn't going anywhere unless it's his choice. But by next season, whether Thomas remains or not, whether Marbury is the point guard or the shooting guard or there are impact talent upgrades, Larry is going to need a more evident coaching blueprint, and someone to remind him of the need to stick to it.
Three reasons why Herb would readily volunteer: "One, he's family," he said. "Two, I could be the sounding board. Three, it is New York."
Herb Brown, who will be at the Garden with the Hawks tomorrow, who will join Larry in the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame when he is inducted on April 30 in Commack, N.Y., would relish coming home, too.
"That's something for Larry to decide," he said, sounding like he's watching, wondering and waiting. Complicated as his relationship with Larry gets, "There has never been a doubt that I have his best interests at heart."
And after this season, how many people inside the forbidden fortress known as Madison Square Garden can Larry count on for that?
E-mail: [email protected]
Copyright 2006 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html)The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)