With the possible exception of Mike Hampton going on the DL, this might be the most predictable news item of the week, courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Ashley Fox.
Larry Brown hasn’t officially coached a basketball game in nearly two years, but his head and heart remain in the game, and he said yesterday he hoped to land a head coaching job, either in the NBA or in college, for next season.
“I’ve got to figure out if I can get a coaching job,” Brown said. “I want to get back so bad. I’m so bored.”
In January 2007, the 76ers hired Brown as their executive vice president, and he has assisted head coach Maurice Cheeks in evaluating players. Brown also has been a mainstay at Villanova practices, offering Jay Wright support and suggestions on offensive sets.
Brown said he did not have a preference between the college and pro games. He just wants to coach again.
“Mo [Cheeks] has been great to me and allowed me to get involved,” the 67-year-old Brown said.
“I just miss it. I don’t miss the games so much, but I miss being around the coaches and the players. I still have something to offer. . . . After my last experience [in New York], I just want to go where I can do a better job and move forward.”
Though it’s hard to evision Brown staying jobless over the summer, it’s equally tough to imagine any club that’s rebuilding or close to it giving him a shot after the Knicks debacle. On the other hand regardless of what is or isn’t probable, Marc Ivaroni is said to be on thin ice in Memphis, and who amongst us wouldn’t love to see Larry reunited with Darko?
The New York Post’s Peter Vecsey claims he’s “supremely confident Donnie Walsh will do right by the fans and the franchise by banishing the False Prophet”, aka Isiah Thomas.
Other than George Steinbrenner, how many people can claim on their resume to have fired the same guy twice?
In the final analysis, Walsh will know what must be done, and with a little divine inspiration from Frank McGuire (and Buck Freeman, of course), he’ll deport every single member of Thomas’ faction, too. Only then will Walsh be able to clear his mind in order to begin solving the Knicks’ many significantly pressing problems. Only then will he be able to inch constructively forward toward excavating the team from its psychological, financial and commonality abyss.
In the meantime, I’d just like to say I think Dolan has been doing a great job lately.
I think there’s a decent chance the Hawks combine doing something uncharacteristically intelligent (hiring Larry Brown to be the head coach) with doing something that can’t possibly succeed (hiring Larry Brown to be the GM).
I think it’s much more fun to imagine him in say, Stillwater. Or Corvallis. Or perhaps an Ivy school. Brown’s ego might even think so too.
i do love the idea of Larry and his coaching staff telling the parents of a recruit, yeah, sure, we’ll be around for 4 years. Though presumably, a good number of the players can’t make the same promise, nor should they.