Can you handle the truth?

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By Scoop Jackson
Page 2

"We're going to be back in Detroit next year. He's not going to coach the Knicks, and that's a fact. We wish the Knicks well. Isiah is a nice guy. Larry loves Isiah. But if Isiah is waiting for Larry, he's wasting his time. And you can quote me. We love the Knicks. He grew up here, but why would he leave Detroit? Larry loves his guys in Detroit. Everything's in place to win another championship. He's got all his guys there. He has his team."
-- Shelly Brown (wife), July 6, 2005


Why?


There are a whole lot of questions and not many answers when it comes to Larry's Detroit departure.
That is where we must begin this saga, this soap opera, this "Lost."


Why here? Why now? Why this? Why him?


Why?


Because this is the way Shakespearian dramas play out. Especially when the lead character has more "character" (or is "more of a character" or "is more characters," depending on which side of the I love/I hate Larry Brown fence you stand) than "Othello."


The ending won't be as tragic. No one will die. No true symbolism outside of a "trust no one" message will be attached to the outcome.


Still …


To be or not to be … that ain't even the question needing an answer.


"Why?" is the question.


* * * * *


"I take umbrage with the Pistons, or sources, saying it's a buyout. A buyout encompasses a mutual agreement, and that's not what is happening. Larry Brown is saying, 'I want to coach the Pistons,' and they want to pay him off for whatever reason."
-- Joe Glass (agent), July 19, 2005


The truth in this might never come out. That's what makes it so beautiful.


Why, after two years of taking the franchise to the NBA Finals, does the Pistons' organization want to get rid of the coach it brought (or bought, again depending on which side of the fence … ) in to do exactly what he did?


Yo, LB, we're getting rid of Rick Carlisle so we can bring you in to get us over the hump. We need to get to the Finals. We want a ring.


Done.


Twelve minutes away from doing it twice.


Now, he's wanted out.


Now, he's out.


On Tuesday, Larry Brown and the Detroit Pistons came to an agreement in which the team will buy out the remaining three years of Brown's five-year, $25 million (plus incentives) contract. Eighteen million paid out … and he can coach anywhere he wants next year.


Brown, according to the rumor mill, fought this. Up until the 25th hour, he "vowed" not to give in, to stay on as the Pistons coach. But other plans had been made, plans that did not include him.


Apparently, nearly everyone (including the owner and the players, but not the president of basketball operations/general manager) had grown tired of him. The "baggage" that comes along with him was no longer Tumi, it was fake Luis. Damn the genius that is Larry Brown; the Pistons had someone who could do the job "almost" as well, without the head- and earaches.


That whole "I love you guys" moment in the huddle during Game 6? Whatever. What's love got to do it? Any of it? Nothing. Except for the love that was lost during the 24-month period in which Brown drove Detroit to NBA elitism while he was driving himself out of Motown.


LB overstayed his welcome like Terrell Owens outplayed his contract.


Now, Act II of this saga is about to unfold. Lies will be told, secrets will unfold and everyone will be innocent in his own mind. Once the curtains rise, the performances will be brilliant. Everyone will play the victim. And by this time next year, one of the two -- Brown or the Pistons -- is going to regret the ending.


The other will be the subject of a book penned by Mitch Albom, titled: "Wednesdays With Larry: What Did Brown Do For You … Lately?"


* * * * *


Will the truth ever be told? Maybe, but you're not getting it from Joe's camp.
"Larry knows how I feel. I've made it very clear to him that we have a pretty good system here that you can get to the Finals two years in a row, win it one year and getting to a Game 7 the next with him as the head coach and the players we have here. It would be foolish to want to break that up. I'd love to see him come back, and love to see him make that phone call to me in a couple of days and say he's coming back."
-- Joe Dumars (Pistons president of basketball operations), July 1, 2005


Pretend for a second that you're a shareholder. Pretend that you own stock in the Detroit Pistons.


How does this get explained to you? How is this rationalized?


Does principle owner and managing partner Bill Davidson come out and say, "We couldn't take it anymore. We just had to get rid of him"?


Does Chief Operating Officer Alan Ostfield say, "He just got on our last nerve and we felt it was in the best interest of the organization that he not be here"?


Or will something deeper come out?


But he did what you asked.


That's what you'd say, isn't it?


You'd say, "You told me two years ago that you were bringing this man here to help this franchise win. Right?"


Then you'd go on.


"He did that. Damn all the other factors that might bother you. The bottom line is that the job you hired this man to do, he did. He did it very well! Are you trying to tell me that something other than winning is the new focus of the organization? Now you're telling me that winning rings is no longer the goal we're trying to achieve, no longer the direction we want to go in?"


You can hear yourself, can't you?


Then, just for the sake of clarity, you'd ask one more time, "Now explain to me again … why was Larry Brown fired?"


If everyone was honest, you'd find out that sometime between the All-Star Game and the playoffs, the decision was made that Larry Brown was no longer going to be the coach of the Detroit Pistons. If everyone was being honest, they'd tell you that former Minnesota coach Flip Saunders had been "informed" not to take any offers from any other team. If everyone was being honest, they'd tell you that a plan that included Saunders was in effect.


If everyone was being honest, you'd learn that regardless of physical illness, Brown needed a break from coaching. They'd tell you that between winning a championship, losing the Olympics and losing in the final game of the Finals, he broke down mentally. They'd say to you that for the first time in 25 years of coaching at this level, he needed a couple of months off. They'd tell you that, realistically, there's only so much a 64-year-old can take.


If given that time off, another ring would be "guaranSheed."


But how does an organization grant that to someone when it became apparent less than a month ago that the outcome of Game 7 would have been different if it had been played at home, in the Palace? Time off next season was not an option, because all 82 games matter in deciding home-court advantage. And neither Gar Heard nor Dave Hanners nor Phil Ford, who would have filled in during that time off, is Flip Saunders.


If they were being honest, would they admit that Larry Brown's "entertainment" of the Cleveland offer (even though the franchise honchos agreed to it) upset them? Ticked them off to the highest of ticked-off-tivity?


Would they admit that once he bit on that, they'd arrived at the last straw?


Would they be honest enough to tell you, a shareholder, that both parties had reached the limit, and each had a knife aimed at the other's back? Would they admit that both sides never veered from the characteristics they've displayed in the past?


Detroit, behaving in the same way the franchise handled Isiah and Carlisle.


Larry, behaving in the same way he's handled his entire career.


And since they -- starting today -- will be honest, they'll tell you that everything you just read is a lie. Beginning with "Larry Brown was not fired," and moving on to "I never talked to the Knicks about a job."


But before they leave, here's the thing you must ask: If Larry Brown was still under contract, why was there a need for a press conference once he got back from speaking to his doctors at the Mayo Clinic?


Why was there a need for "talks"?


As a shareholder, wouldn't that have tipped you off that something "not right" was going on?


Something slim shady?


If the doctors claim that Brown isn't healthy enough to coach for a season, then you replace him -- for a season. When he's healthy enough, bring him back. Again, he's still under contract.


But shareholders aren't supposed to "CSI" subtleties like that, right? Shareholders are only supposed to invest, not have a vested interest.


Please believe there is a difference.


* * * * *


Will Isiah finally get his man? Anything is possible now.
"I've dreamed about it a number of times. Growing up there, being a Knicks fan, of course it was my dream. And I've been passed over a few times. I'm an East Coast person. Red Holtzman was my hero growing up. But I'm here. These people [in Detroit] have been wonderful to me. I want to do my job here and move on. I don't look at myself at coaching much longer."
-- Larry Brown (ex-coach, future coach), Jan. 29, 2005


This is so Laker-esquse, isn't it?


Who knew there'd be a summer drama this dramatic that didn't involve Kobe, Shaq, Phil, Jerry Buss and Jim Gray?


When asked yesterday if the team had fired Larry Brown, even Matt Dobek, vice president of public relations, replied: "Say what you want."


Classic.


Now Larry is going to NYC, even though he says he's not.


If this comes true, Isiah Thomas' job/career/life will be saved. He wanted Jackson and ended up with Brown.


Act III.


Zeke will look like a genius, like next year's Danny Ainge. Win or lose, the Knicks move from irrelevant to reverence. LB has that much juice.


Will Brown win a championship there? No. But it's the most romantic (almost poetic), symbolic place for him to end it all.


Shakespeare, remember?


Soon, Larry might realize this is all a blessing, regardless of how he and the Pistons dress it up. Or try to disguise it.


But until that day comes, we are all left to wonder …


Why?


Why did this marriage of apparently reconcilable differences end in divorce?


First, Jenny leaves Puffy; then the Fat Boys break up.


Now this.


The Detroit Pistons claimed all they wanted to be about was winning. By any means necessary. And they had the guy who took them (back) to the mountain top.


Once on top, maybe they realized that sometimes -- especially when Larry Brown is involved -- winning isn't everything. Sometimes, it doesn't even beat what comes in second.


But they'll never tell you that. That's what makes this so beautiful. The truth might never come out.


Aren't you glad that "NBA" doesn't stand for "Never Backstab Anyone"?

Thatnks for providing this. Larry always looks bad, but there are questions the reek from firing Carlisle, to securing Flip, to weasling out of Larrys contract.

They allowed Larry to talk to Cavs, you don't do that if you want someone to stay.

Larry always needs love of his owner. He is smart in a way, why work for a hostile owner if you got others lined up to love you?

Detroit wanted flip, and tried to get out of larrys contract.

Larry said all along he wanted to come back! He could have taken some time to heal, and he is worth the wait! ITs a vet team for goodness sake!

Larry got his money, and freedom. That smell like Detroit backtracking on somting! They can be fools as much as any other team!

This just in... Scoop Jackson continues to make a fool out of himself. He used to waste paper with alot of nothing. Now he got 21 century on me and is doing it in cyberspace.