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**mizenkay** · 10-09-2005, 09:18 AM

Sam Smith from the Chicago Tribune has been covering the Knicks training camp. Thought this article might be of interest to you guys. And apparently he will play the rookies, which is kind of a switch for him, no?

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune....ulls-headlines

Quote:

Brown has taken over bad teams before, the Nets and the Clippers. He has coached losers, a 31-win season in Philadelphia, a 21-win season in San Antonio. But nothing like this. OK, maybe the Knicks were not atrocious at 33-48 last season, and they did trade for Curry from the Bulls and Quentin Richardson from the Suns. But there rarely has been an NBA payroll like this, about $120 million, some three times more than the Bulls', a team filled with scorers and strangers.

This may be as far as Brown has ever been from having the right stuff to do it the right way.

So asked about his team, Brown said: "I love the fact I can coach rookies who have had basically four years of college from great programs."

Huh?

"They're much better prepared to make the adjustment," Brown said. "Kids who played for great coaches and are inclined to want to play and respect the minutes they get."

If Stephon Marbury didn't understand, here's the Brown translation: "I'm making $10 million a year. I'm Larry Brown and you aren't. I play who I want to play. And I may trade for George Lynch or Eric Snow, anyway."

Said Jamal Crawford, "I'm really going to buckle down on defense."

Or he'll be on the bench.

"With coach Brown here, the sky's the limit," Curry said Saturday after his first full practice with the Knicks after being cleared medically Friday night to join the Knicks. "I'm definitely going to be a lot better player than last season, a lot better defensive player, a lot more offensive minded, an even better team player."

Brown is good. That good?

Despite the attention focused on Curry's trade and the medical questions and issues, the story for the Knicks this season is Brown.

Can the Lone Ranger of coaching, the man who comes to save the day and then leaves without much explanation—though last time with a $7 million buyout in Detroit—bring some relief to the big city basketball public. And whom will be driven crazy first? Players, management, the media or George Steinbrenner?

His hiring is perhaps the most curious experiment in the NBA this season. There is the expected clash by many of the strong personalities of Brown and team President Isiah Thomas, though the two are better friends than most believe. There is the return of Brown to his native city. And there is the miracle-man reputation that follows Brown, 65 and still needing a catheter to get through the day, the screaming focus of succeeding in New York and whether it is even possible with the current roster.

"There's no place like New York," agrees Brown, "especially for somebody who grew up a huge Knicks fan. If you do a good job with the Knicks and the team plays the right way, as I always say, it helps our sport more than coaching in any other market."

And Brown would know, having seemingly coached in all of them. Of course, with the large number of annual coaching changes in the NBA, Brown's peripatetic ways are no longer unusual.

"Maybe people say, 'He's always looking for something perfect,'" acknowledges Brown. "I don't see anything wrong with that. I realize it doesn't always happen. But I haven't been in too many situations as a coach that haven't been pretty special."

Brown usually made them so, especially in Detroit with a championship and a second appearance in the NBA Finals in two seasons and then …

"I thought Detroit would be the last stop," Brown insists. "They gave me a team any coach would be fortunate to be associated with. I loved that experience. But I was fired. I was on ESPN the other day and the guy asks me how I could leave a job like that to come to the Knicks with this team, and I said, 'Wait a second. It wasn't my choosing.' That Cleveland stuff was a bunch of baloney. Distractions! My team didn't play like there were distractions. I don't hear anything now, anybody apologizing about this 'done deal' in Cleveland. I haven't heard one person say that, write that."

And so, as usual, no matter the facts or feelings, Brown moves on, a cat landing on his feet again with a team to teach. Brown looks fit, though his health isn't great. He says that's what led to the Pistons' decision to push him out. He admits he's still a suitable subject for the psychoanalysis that regularly appears in stories about him.

"I don't like the games as much anymore," Brown says. "I have all this fear we'll see a zone trap and the team is not prepared or some inbounds play and we don't have it right. I find my honesty gets me in trouble, but I am concerned with how people feel about me, my players. I worry every time a player leaves the practice court if he wonders if I care about him. I thought maybe after Detroit it was time to move on, but Isiah made such an impression on my family and, well, I said, 'Let's get back in the saddle.'"

**USSKittyHawk** · 10-09-2005, 09:25 AM

Thanks Miz for the article, hopefully he plays Nate and I would love to see General Lee get some minutes from time to time. A lot of folks think he does not play rookies, but I believe the Darko situation was an isolated incident that led people to believe that he will do the same in NY.

**Da Grinch** · 10-09-2005, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kitty

Thanks Miz for the article, hopefully he plays Nate and I would love to see General Lee get some minutes from time to time. A lot of folks think he does not play rookies, but I believe the Darko situation was an isolated incident that led people to believe that he will do the same in NY.

i agree , i look past detriot and look at how he was in philly and indiana and he played rooks quite a bit ...including a guy named antonio davis, its just that you have to do what he says , and darko despite his talent is not that kind of big man , he isn't a banger/rebounder/defender 1st...so a guy like AD played alot as a rook, and darko didn't.

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