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View Full Version : Larry, how about doing some coaching?



KoriEllis
08-22-2004, 03:34 AM
www.nypost.com/sports/27309.htm (http://www.nypost.com/sports/27309.htm)

August 22, 2004 -- ATHENS — It is so easy for Larry Brown's army of apologists to sit on their couches thousands of miles way from Greece and hide their eyes from what everyone else can see so clearly. Through a television screen, Brown may seem like some tortured victim of circumstance, idling through a thankless job.

Up close, this is what it looks like:

A man with a big coach ing reputation who has thus far been supremely overwhelmed by the job at hand, who has set himself up with a litany of excuses as long as his coaching re sume in the event that this all ends badly for the United States.

Once again last night, the U.S. lost an Olympic bas ketball game. Once again, LeBron James played spar ingly, for reasons known only to Larry Brown. Once again, Brown filled his press conference with all manner of excuses, some subtle, some not so much. Which is fine. The ultimate basketball con man has al ready prepared the ulti mate con game for when this is all over.

With a theme as old as the job itself:

I coached great but, man, these guys sure played bad. You know what would be a nice change of pace? For Brown to stop proselytiz ing, stop preaching, and start remembering some of the skills that won him all those basketball games at all those many stops along the way. Great coaches are supposed to help their teams out once in a while, too. Pining for Brent Barry through media mouthpieces is a perfectly useless strategy right now.

Making adjustments would be a whole lot more helpful.

For weeks, there has been so much talk about how unlikeable this U.S. team is, how hard it is to root for it, how it doesn't seem to care. But you know something? Up close, it sure seems to be playing hard. It sure wants to win. Maybe Carmelo Anthony pouts too much, but you know what? No one else does. Not even James, whom Brown has treated like a walk-on in this tournament.

You know who has made this team unlikeable, and borderline unwatchable? The coach has. He hasn't covered himself in glory during these games, nor with grace afterward. Yesterday, while trying to hand Lithuania's magnificent Sarunas Jasikevicius a compliment, he paired that up with an inevitable shot at his own team:

"Jasikevicius is a great player," Brown said, "but I don't think he would make it in the NBA with the kind of screens set there."

Right. In case you forgot, our players aren't well-coached by anyone except those fortunate enough to work under the tutelage of L. Brown. You know something? It really is time for Brown to shut up. It's time for him to remember what it is that will ultimately land him in Springfield as one of the best coaches of his generation.

It's time for Coach Brown to do some coaching.

And save the whining for the media mouthpieces back home. They're the only ones who are buying now.

timvp
08-22-2004, 05:38 AM
LB is and has always been overrated. He was never able to win a championship until he took a team that Rick Carlisle and Joe Dumars built and just didn't fvck up when the Lakers limped into the Finals. The Lakers at full strength would have demolished the Pistons.

I've never been a Brown fan and think that he's just a nomad who skips town when the going gets tough. And what the hell were they thinking giving him a group of young players when he despises young players.

I say he's more of a problem than the group of players. Pop (and a number of other coaches including Phil Jackson) would have made this work.

Aggie Hoopsfan
08-22-2004, 01:50 PM
I'm not the biggest Pop fan in the world, but he'd be doing better than Larry Brown over there.

adidas11
08-22-2004, 05:54 PM
Quote: "LB is and has always been overrated. He was never able to win a championship until he took a team that Rick Carlisle and Joe Dumars built and just didn't fvck up when the Lakers limped into the Finals. The Lakers at full strength would have demolished the Pistons."

For once, I have to agree with you TimVP. Now, I'm not going to get into the debate of what the Lakers 'could' have done if they were at full strength, and I'll leave it at the better team won the title (the Pistons).

But I remember hearing some soundbites from Larry Brown during the finals. He was telling his team that they shouldn't even be there, and how great the Lakers are and everything. If I were a basketball player, I would be pissed as hell. What a lame ass moral boost, or pep speech. Your own coach telling you that you're not good enough, even during the damn game. Pathetic.

You would NEVER hear Phil Jackson, or Mike K, or even Pop tell his players that during the game, no matter how overmatched they are.

timvp
08-22-2004, 06:31 PM
LB can coach veteran teams well and he usually gets them to play better than expected, but he's a horrible coach of young players. He tortured Sean Elliott and David Robinson wasn't too fond of him.

At least when he won the championship, the first thing he did was thank Rick Carlisle.

Carlisle and Dumars had as much to do with that championship as he did.

ducks
01-24-2020, 11:40 PM
Larry can not do worse then pop!