CubanMustGo
06-03-2007, 03:21 PM
Some interesting stuff in here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/sports/basketball/03cavs.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin
By LIZ ROBBINS
Published: June 3, 2007
CLEVELAND, June 2 — Earlier in the playoffs, Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown got a telephone call before a game.
It was a San Antonio game, not a Cleveland game, and Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich was calling to check in with his protégé, Brown. Such is the N.B.A. fraternity.
“We have a great relationship,” Brown said, referring to Popovich, for whom he spent three years as an assistant, earning a championship ring in 2003. “We talk from time to time. He’ll call and check up on me, I’ll call and ask for advice. He’ll call to say ‘good win,’ and I’ll do the same.
“I learned a lot from him, and I grew a lot while working for him, and I continue to look at him as a mentor and a guy that can help me out.”
As the Western Conference champion Spurs waited at home to see whether they would reprise the 2005 N.B.A. finals against the Detroit Pistons or play the Cavaliers, the team with the blooming superstar in LeBron James, Popovich’s crew knew the team from Ohio would be more familiar.
Hank Egan, now Brown’s assistant, was an assistant for eight years in San Antonio, winning a title with the team in 1999.
Danny Ferry, the Cavaliers’ general manager, was San Antonio’s director for basketball operations from 2003 to 2005. The Cavaliers’ assistant general manager, Lance Blanks, worked for five years in the Spurs’ front office.
To become the northern version of the Spurs, winners of three N.B.A. titles in eight seasons, Brown knows the Cavaliers have a ways to go.
In their third appearance in the Eastern Conference finals, and the first in 15 years, the Cavaliers defeated Detroit, 98-82, on Saturday night to win the best-of-seven series by 4-2. This season marked the first time the Cleveland franchise had led a conference finals.
Brown said: “We got to be put in situations like this, where there is something we have to go take, not just go play, but we have to go take it and earn it. We have to succeed in situations like this.
“We have to continue to have a core, identify a core and keep that core together and just add winning pieces to the core.”
It does not hurt to have the No. 1 draft pick to anchor that core. Brown realized quickly in San Antonio how lottery fortune can change a franchise — whether the selection is David Robinson, Tim Duncan or James.
Brown, 37, makes no secret of deferring to James, saying during this series how he lets James take over the huddle, suggest when to practice and even what plays to run. It is hard to argue when James scores 48 points, including 29 of his team’s final 30 points, as he did in Game 5’s 109-107 victory in double overtime.
At the beginning of Duncan’s career, Brown said, he had Robinson to guide him. James is learning mostly on his own.
“With LeBron coming of age and helping this organization grow, this team grow, to the level it’s at now,” Brown said, “you can see the maturity year after year after year, in terms of not only his play, but his demeanor on the floor, off the floor, and his play at a high level.”
Brown only hoped James would take him as far as San Antonio.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/sports/basketball/03cavs.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin
By LIZ ROBBINS
Published: June 3, 2007
CLEVELAND, June 2 — Earlier in the playoffs, Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown got a telephone call before a game.
It was a San Antonio game, not a Cleveland game, and Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich was calling to check in with his protégé, Brown. Such is the N.B.A. fraternity.
“We have a great relationship,” Brown said, referring to Popovich, for whom he spent three years as an assistant, earning a championship ring in 2003. “We talk from time to time. He’ll call and check up on me, I’ll call and ask for advice. He’ll call to say ‘good win,’ and I’ll do the same.
“I learned a lot from him, and I grew a lot while working for him, and I continue to look at him as a mentor and a guy that can help me out.”
As the Western Conference champion Spurs waited at home to see whether they would reprise the 2005 N.B.A. finals against the Detroit Pistons or play the Cavaliers, the team with the blooming superstar in LeBron James, Popovich’s crew knew the team from Ohio would be more familiar.
Hank Egan, now Brown’s assistant, was an assistant for eight years in San Antonio, winning a title with the team in 1999.
Danny Ferry, the Cavaliers’ general manager, was San Antonio’s director for basketball operations from 2003 to 2005. The Cavaliers’ assistant general manager, Lance Blanks, worked for five years in the Spurs’ front office.
To become the northern version of the Spurs, winners of three N.B.A. titles in eight seasons, Brown knows the Cavaliers have a ways to go.
In their third appearance in the Eastern Conference finals, and the first in 15 years, the Cavaliers defeated Detroit, 98-82, on Saturday night to win the best-of-seven series by 4-2. This season marked the first time the Cleveland franchise had led a conference finals.
Brown said: “We got to be put in situations like this, where there is something we have to go take, not just go play, but we have to go take it and earn it. We have to succeed in situations like this.
“We have to continue to have a core, identify a core and keep that core together and just add winning pieces to the core.”
It does not hurt to have the No. 1 draft pick to anchor that core. Brown realized quickly in San Antonio how lottery fortune can change a franchise — whether the selection is David Robinson, Tim Duncan or James.
Brown, 37, makes no secret of deferring to James, saying during this series how he lets James take over the huddle, suggest when to practice and even what plays to run. It is hard to argue when James scores 48 points, including 29 of his team’s final 30 points, as he did in Game 5’s 109-107 victory in double overtime.
At the beginning of Duncan’s career, Brown said, he had Robinson to guide him. James is learning mostly on his own.
“With LeBron coming of age and helping this organization grow, this team grow, to the level it’s at now,” Brown said, “you can see the maturity year after year after year, in terms of not only his play, but his demeanor on the floor, off the floor, and his play at a high level.”
Brown only hoped James would take him as far as San Antonio.