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crzymdups
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/20/sports/basketball/20knicks.html
Brown Back for Short Term; for Long Term Stay Tuned
By HOWARD BECK
Published: April 20, 2006
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., April 19 — Larry Brown was coaching but not talking, presumed healthy and in charge of the Knicks for the evening, if not necessarily for the long term.
After missing three games because of a stomach ailment, Brown rejoined his woebegone team Wednesday night for a 90-83 victory over the Nets at Continental Arena, closing out what was surely the Knicks' most trying season in four decades — 23 victories and a franchise record-tying 59 defeats.
The Knicks cannot lose again until November, and that was about the only certainty the Knicks could enjoy.
Brown's status is clouded by health issues, by a team that stopped listening to him months ago and by a front office that — at best — is disenchanted with his conduct and his results.
There were three chances Wednesday for Brown to clarify his future, but he passed on them all. Ordinarily, Brown speaks with reporters at the morning shoot-around and before and after the game. Despite league rules that require him to be available to the news media, Brown declined them all, with the consent of the Knicks' front office. After the game, Brown avoided the news media and left through a side exit closed off to reporters.
The Knicks are scheduled to hold exit interviews at their training center Thursday, and Brown is expected to speak to reporters then. Although Brown was back Wednesday, he left most of the coaching to the assistant Herb Williams.
"He seemed pretty energetic," Jamal Crawford said. "He let Herb do the coaching, but he still had a lot of input out there."
Friends who spoke with Brown on Wednesday said he was still bothered by the acid-reflux condition that sent him to a Cleveland hospital last Thursday. On the bench, he was much less active than usual, leaving most of the pacing and hollering to Williams. According to Williams, the team physician, Lisa Callahan, wanted Brown to limit his activity "because there is acid reflux every time he gets up, he has a reaction to it, so she wanted him to stick to sitting down."
Williams directed the Knicks during most of the huddles, with Brown looking on. But when a timeout was called with 2 minutes 35 seconds left in the first quarter, Brown briefly morphed into his former hale and hearty self. He walked onto the court to rebuke the rookie Nate Robinson, then continued his lecture as the team huddled near the bench.
How did the Knicks know Brown was back?
"When he yelled at Nate," Crawford said cheerily.
Brown stayed in his coach's office before the game, avoiding interaction with reporters or the fans gathering inside the arena. Three minutes before tip-off, he emerged from the visitors' tunnel with the rest of the coaching staff. He smiled and laughed as they reached the bench.
The Knicks did not announce that Brown was coaching until 45 minutes before the game. Forty-five minutes before that, Williams stood outside the Knicks' locker room and gave befuddled responses to questions about who would coach.
"I'm not sure," Williams said. "Maybe me. I'm not sure right now. I don't know. Right now, I'm planning on coaching."
It was an appropriately mystifying final chapter for a thoroughly bewildering season.
The postscript has not been written, but it will involve several departures. If Brown stays, he wants to make dramatic changes to the roster. Stephon Marbury will top the list of players Brown wants to unload. But the roster is overstocked with bloated contracts, making an overhaul highly problematic, if not impossible.
That realization alone could have Brown reassessing whether he should continue with the Knicks. But there is also his own contract, worth about $40 million over the next four years, to consider.
"I'm not worried about Coach," Williams said. "I feel very confident that he'll be back next year."
Two months ago, James L. Dolan, the Madison Square Garden chairman, said the jobs of Brown and the team president, Isiah Thomas, were safe. Thomas has not publicly addressed Brown's situation, or any other issue, since late February.
Brown attended the morning shoot-around in Greenburgh, N.Y. — his first time with the team in eight days — but spent most of it on the sideline while Williams ran the workout. "But it was just good to see him back out there," Crawford said. "He looked better."
Nothing that Brown did say or did not say could quell speculation about his future. At 65, his health problems loom ever larger. In the last two seasons, he has battled hip surgery, a bladder condition, acid reflux, and he has hinted at heart problems. He may need surgery for the bladder condition in the off-season.
Joe Glass, Brown's agent, has repeatedly, often tersely, insisted that Brown would be back next season. But then, Glass offered the same terse assertions a year ago, while Brown was preparing to cut ties with the Detroit Pistons.
Brown's arrival last summer was supposed to signal the arrival of a bright new era. A Brooklyn native, Brown repeatedly invoked the name of Red Holzman and promised a team that would play hard and play selflessly, in the Holzman tradition. Instead, the Knicks mostly looked like a disjointed collection of individuals with outsized contracts.
Before Brown was wheeled away on a gurney last week in Cleveland, the Knicks' three most highly paid players had already checked out. Marbury (knee), Jalen Rose (knee, foot) and Steve Francis (back) were well-dressed spectators for the final week. Marbury, who openly feuded with Brown, sat out the last 10 games.
The Knicks had the league's highest payroll, $125 million, including payments to the retired Knicks Allan Houston and Jerome Williams. The victory over the Nets saved the Knicks from finishing last in the league, and from recording the first season with 60 losses in franchise history. Given the talent, the payroll and Brown's Hall of Fame credentials, team officials had reasonably expected something around a .500 record, if not a playoff berth.
"I put together our roster on 'NBA Live,' " Rose said, referring to a video game, "and we're pretty good."
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