Fans skeptical that Brown firing was wise move
BY TRIPP MICKLE
Newsday Staff Writer
June 23, 2006
Sayed Buihyan, 18, made a jump shot from the top of the key on the asphalt court at Terry Farrell Park in Huntington yesterday and shook his head.
"They don't call him 'Next Town Larry Brown' for nothing," the Huntington resident said as he played basketball and talked with three friends about the Knicks' decision to fire Brown.
Like many Knicks fans, Buihyan trumpeted Brown's arrival as coach a year ago. But after a 23-59 season, he had mixed feelings about the departure.
"It's a good thing and a bad thing," Buihyan said. " ... When he came to the Knicks, he squabbled with Stephon Marbury; he alienated the rookies; he called Trevor Ariza delusional, and he ran an inconsistent rotation. But he deserved more time."Interviews with more than 20 Knicks fans revealed similar misgivings about Brown's exit. Most thought he was a proven coach hamstrung by a team that lacked chemistry and talent - one that would be impossible to turn around in one season.
"It's a shame," Marshal Nelson, 24, of Cedarhurst said in Penn Station. "It's not Brown. It's team chemistry. He probably was doing the best he could. The problem with New York is they refuse to rebuild."
Nelson fingered president and general manager Isiah Thomas for that failure. "He's more to blame for the team's record than Larry Brown," he said.
Cedric Wallace, 24, of Freeport agreed, saying that Brown, who has coached three teams in the past four seasons, always does poorly in his first season. It's during the second year that he turns it around, Wallace said.
"The Knicks don't know what they're doing," he added.
As for the organization's decision to replace Brown with Thomas, fans thought it was appropriate that the man who put the team together must now direct it on the court.
"I guess after seeing the victory for Miami, he just couldn't wait to jump in there," said Hugh Enob, 24, of Queens. "Hopefully, he won't have to fire himself."
the one in the bold is me....but i dont recall saying he needed more time....guess the media screws with the publics words as well
6/23/2006 9:36 AM
lol, wait, when i did make the next town brown comment, i didnt even have the ball near me, my boy was still practicing lmao