Truth elusive in Life with Larry
Truth elusive in Life with Larry
posted: Monday, April 17, 2006

Nobody knows what Larry Brown is going to do except for Larry Brown, and even he might not know for sure.

Isn't it always this way with LB?

I was on the set of "Cold Pizza" last week, chatting with a longtime New York tabloid reporter who is a regular on that show, when the discussion turned to Brown and whether he'd stay with the Knicks -- and for how long.

"Let me tell you the quintessensial Larry Brown story," he said.

Back when that reporter was a beat writer for the New Jersey Nets, he was getting word from impeccable sources that Brown was leaving to take the coaching job at the Kansas University. He confronted Brown with the information, telling him he wanted to give him one last opportunity to comment before the story hit print.

"It's not true," Brown said.

"But Larry," the writer persisted, "my sources on this are telling me it's a done deal, and I'm putting it in the paper."

"OK, it is true," Brown replied.

If that had been the only Brown doublespeak story I had heard this season, it'd be one thing. But it just so happens that when I was in Indianapolis last fall waiting for a Pacers practice to end, the Pacers front office people, their beat writers and myself got to telling a few Brown stories, and the one that sticks in my mind was a recounting of Brown's final days in Indiana when he was ready to leave for the Philadelphia 76ers.

At least one writer had been tipped by Brown himself that he would be leaving, but the information was strictly off the record and was not to be published. The writer let the Pacers' front office people know that he planned to write it the following day (holding it for 24 hours out of respect for his agreement with Brown), and the Pacers huddled with Brown to plot a strategy of what they'd say publicly, no matter how far it was from the actual truth.

When the coach's office door was opened for Brown's pregame meeting with reporters, Brown tried to quash the rumors in the most unequivocal language possible. He was lying, of course, but only a couple other people in the room knew it, and they recalled being astonished by how sincere Brown sounded as he told everyone something other than the truth. A couple days later, of course, he was gone.

Those stories are worth bearing in mind as the NBA's biggest fiasco, Brown's New York Knicks, limp into the summer with their coach's future far from certain.

The Knicks put out a statement Monday morning, with Brown's full knowledge, saying he was expected to coach their final game of the season Wednesday night on the road against the New Jersey Nets if he received medical clearance from his doctors.

At the same time, ESPN reported that Brown would not coach New York's final two games.

Given what we know about Brown, how can we know what to believe?

On Wednesday night Brown either will or won't show up, and the fact of the matter is that Brown is apt to change his mind not just hourly, but by the minute. In the time it took you to read this blog entry, he might have changed his mind three times.

Brown's players on the Knicks haven't been able to figure him out all season, and the one player who acted as somewhat of a liaison for him in the locker room, Antonio Davis, was dealt away at midseason. Brown had input into that trade, which brought Jalen Rose to the Knicks, just as he gave his blessing to the other midseason deal -- Trevor Ariza and Penny Hardaway to Orlando for Steve Francis.

The blame for the failure of Rose and Francis to be incorporated into any kind of a winning scheme rests with Brown, who utilized those two players in the same haphazard, mad professor-like manner in which he ran the team all season.

I talked to a lot of folks with the Knicks on Monday, trying to get their best reading on what's actually going on. They all gave basically the same answer: They weren't quite sure what Brown was thinking or plotting, and none of them were either discounting or putting too much credence into anything they were hearing.

That's the way things are in Life With Larry, and the Knicks should have expected something like this to happen when they decided to bring him aboard.

people's history matters not when Isiah is the one doing the shopping

the Pacific Division better look out for Brown's Warriors next season

[Edited by - McK1 on 04-17-2006 10:37 PM]

Brown is forcing NY to rebuild. Who ever said it cant be done in NY?