Brown may play bigger role with Sixers
Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA -- Larry Brown may be back with the 76ers now that Allen Iverson is gone.

Already acting as an unofficial adviser to the Philadelphia 76ers and team president Billy King, Brown could formally return to the organization he led to the 2001 NBA Finals.

"We will certainly continue to talk, but at this point, we are not sure if anything official will come of it," King said in an e-mail to The Associated Press on Wednesday night.

Brown's agent, Joe Glass, indicated in a brief interview that Brown could return to Philadelphia. The Knicks fired Brown in June after he went 23-59 in his only season in New York.

"However it's going to be characterized will come out in the next couple of days," Glass said.

Glass was vague on what kind of announcement should be expected.

"I'd much rather have it come out of the Sixers office," Glass said, ending a brief phone interview with the AP on Wednesday night.

Brown, who had a contentious relationship with Iverson during his six seasons as Philly's coach, moved back to the area after he was fired by the Knicks. King consulted with Brown on the Iverson trade, which ended with the former MVP dealt to Denver on Tuesday.

"I will still be talking to Larry. Beyond that, I am not sure," King said before the 76ers' game against Indiana on Wednesday night.

Brown has been King's mentor since he hired him as an assistant coach in Indiana. When Brown came to Philadelphia in 1997, he brought King with him as vice president of basketball administration. King was named team president after Brown resigned in 2003.

"Larry is a great friend and tremendous asset who I have talked to numerous times during the season," King said.

While Brown has stayed behind the scenes in Philadelphia, he's visited some Sixers practices this season and attended a game against Miami. He also is still friends with team chairman Ed Snider.

"It's strictly up to Billy King. I'd welcome him if Billy decided he wanted him," Snider said at halftime Wednesday night. "He's a basketball man. He's also a coach, but he has a tremendous basketball mind."

A Hall of Famer and one of basketball's most well-traveled coaches, Brown's job with the 76ers was his longest tenure with any team in his 34-year coaching career. He took the job at Detroit and led the Pistons to an NBA title in the first of his two seasons there before bolting for one disastrous year in New York.

Brown criticized players through the media and talked to the press without a public relations official present, both violating Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan's policies. Also, the Knicks said Brown undermined team president Isiah Thomas by making trade offers to other teams, which he wasn't authorized to do.

The Knicks withheld the remainder of Brown's contract, which had four years and more than $40 million remaining, saying they fired Brown for cause. The dispute went before commissioner David Stern, but the sides agreed to a compromise in October before Stern's ruling, in which Brown got $18.5 million and both sides were freed of any future obligations to each other.

Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said he would welcome Brown's input.

"I've never had a problem with Larry Brown being around," he said.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2704309
LB looks to have had a slight hand in Iverson's trade(which would explain why it was so bad). If it comes out to look like that, what does Ivo think about his wishing LB came back?

I've been speculating about this ever since I read about LB being a consultant with the Sixers last week.

Makes you wonder if AI was the reason that LB left Philly (eventually landing in Detroit) in the first place.

If so, I guess we sort of owe some thanks to AI for our championship. :)

good for him. wonder if he'll propose some more trades to other teams even if he has no authorization to do so, like he did in NY. or maybe he'll flirt with yet another team while working for philly. nah- he'll wait until he gets the coaching job again and the sixers are deep in the playoffs. THEN he'll flirt and seek employment from another team.

yup, gotta love LB. one of the classy guys around. *rolleyes*

i wouldn't hire him for ANY position, even if he PAID US. he's a moron and while he does have good coaching skills, his personality disorder FAR outweighs the benefits he might bring to your team.

i wouldn't hire him for ANY position, even if he PAID US. he's a moron and while he does have good coaching skills, his personality disorder FAR outweighs the benefits he might bring to your team.
I totally disagree. LB is an ass and should never be allowed to make the personnel decisions. But as a coach he is by far worth it if you give him the right players. The Knicks were filled with "Anti-Right Way" players so that was doomed from the jump. But saying that his antics far outweigh that gold trophy he can potentially put in your case is stretching it.

you think so? i don't.

when YOUR COACH is searching around for other jobs while in the middle of a playoff series deep in the playoffs.......you think THAT is good for your players to have a coach like that?

or to have a coach who is proposing trades to other teams, despite the fact he has no authorization to do so? LB did not have any control over player personel while in NY, but that didn't stop him from going behind management's back and offering trades to teams around the league, as if he had the authority to do so! LMFAO

look, if you could guarantee you would not have any of that nonsense and he would strictly coach, and be 100% committed to it and that he would stay on the same page as everyone.....then he's a great coach.

but virtually every job he's had he's screwed it up by doing some of the things i mentioned above. i mean, for crying out loud he had THE PERFECT job with us in detroit but he wasn't happy.

he had a great GM, he had an amazing roster of talented, hard working, team oriented guys, and he STILL screwed it up.

he's a headcase, plain and simple. he teases you with his coaching abilities but he's too much of a headache IMO. you don't know what he's going to do next or if he's going behind your back and doing something to distract the team or screw you over.

LB is a moron.

im always skeptical of these behind closed doors issues that the media is privy to, but we are not.

fact is that you dont know LB's side of the story, all you know is what the media has told us. that same media that said maybe nazr was actually better than ben after ben left (my point: local media is blatantly bought and paid for). im sure he was no angel in the whole fiasco. maybe ben was so mad it legitimately hurt us ( not sure about that one). but i'd becareful about saying lb was all wrong, or the only wrong party, in his piston days (or knick days for that matter).

b-diddy: where there's smoke there's fire. it's like with michael jackson- to be accused of molesting a child once is one thing.

i could see in some strange circumstances if that happened to a person once. but to be accused of it several times, you have to believe there's something to it.

anyway, that's a bad example but hopefully you get my point. at virtually every stop along his career he has done something underhanded to make his departure become a disgraceful thing.

this isn't just local media spin- he has shown himself to lack integrity with his flip-flopping and misguided attempts to do things the right way. LB has never denied any of these things that he's been accused of. i know i certainly would to clear my name. but nba execs all know it's true.

as do his friends and people who know him really well- like steven a. smith (sorry to use him as a source but he's the first that comes to mind. i certainly don't base my opinions on S.A.S's reports he's just an immediate example that comes to mind of someone who knows LB). he's a fan of LB but he and many others have said over and over that LB has issues to where he's never comfortable somewhere and he's always looking for the next job. i've heard tons of nba people say these things about LB so i'm not buying that it's just media spin.

can you seriously believe that the various things LB has been accused of are just media spin? you're right- we don't know the whole story or both sides perspective. but LB has had numerous chances to deny these rumblings but he hasn't. not because he's a 'classy guy' but because he knows they're true.

nba execs all around the league know they're true too, which is why this is no secret or no media fabrication.

he can be a great coach, no doubt. that's why teams take a chance on him. but he soon does something to screw things up at nearly every stop he's been to along the way.

when YOUR COACH is searching around for other jobs while in the middle of a playoff series deep in the playoffs.......you think THAT is good for your players to have a coach like that?

I thought it was fairly well known/established that the Pistons are the ones that initiated the Cleveland talks, not LB?

nope. from everything i've heard and read it was LB. this is why bill davidson has been so outspoken about LB since his departure.

he was furious about how LB was doing this in the midst of a deep playoff run. he forced the pistons into a very unpleasant and distracting situation.

I remember Joe D coming out and saying that they were setting something up with Cleveland just in case LB couldn't coach the next year due to medical issues.

glenn- why on earth would the pistons initiate talks with the cavs? in the midst of a playoff series, they're going to call up a divisional opponent and ask if they have any openings for their current coach? NONSENSE.

that was joe being a gentleman. why would dumars be looking for job options for his coach while in the midst of the ECF? he wouldn't. it makes no sense unless you begin with the fact that LARRY was out there looking for another job.

it was only once this was all leaked and things were looking bad, that dumars and the pistons tried to sweep it under the carpet and downplay things. they did allow him permission to talk with them but they basically had no choice. by the time they found out what LB was up to, you can be sure they didn't want him anymore anyway.

would you stay with your wife after you found out she was out prostituting herself to other men and finding an escape clause from your marriage? to save an ugly drama, you wish her luck and let her go. if she's going to do something like that, she doesn't want to be with you so there's no use fighting over it.

do you think in the middle of the eastern conference finals that joe said: "gee, you know i think we should call cleveland and see if they have a front office job for LB in case his health situation doesn't allow him to coach after this season".

of course not. joe was preoccupied with his team and the ECF. LB however was already eyeing another job and he got caught doing it. rather than let it become a huge distraction, joe took the high road at the time and was a professional and a gentleman about it. he granted permission for them to talk, because they had already talked!

but i'm sure behind closed doors that he and davidson were like "yeah, sure- talk to cleveland. we give you permission because you're OUT OF HERE as soon as this season is over anyway!"

how dare he seek out other employment right in the midst of a crucial playoff series. there is never any situation which makes that acceptable. his entire focus should've been on our team and the playoffs.

what a selfish, stupid hypocrite. yes, i appreciate his health was an issue but it's not like he couldn't have waited until the offseason to pursue that avenue.

and another thing- i suspect LB made more of his medical issues than was necessary. it didn't stop him from being coach of the knicks, did it? and i remember there was some dispute back when he missed some games for us, as to how soon he should've been back on the sideline.

one side felt he was capable of being on the bench while the other side wanted a longer vacation, i mean- more sick time. sure he had an issue but like everything with LB he overdramatized it IMO.

glenn- why on earth would the pistons initiate talks with the cavs? .
Well there were a few theories as to why. But regardless it did happen like that. Cleveland can't say a word to LB without the Pistons say so. Thus they had a hand in the talks happening when they did. We've been over this a million times before with each other and the comclusion I think everyone can agree with is that both the Pistons and LB were both culprits in not making the scenario work. Who was more the culprit is a subjective answer that we all vary on . But everybody stunk in that scenario. Much as everybody stunk in the ben wallace scenario.

well i guess i wasn't a member of the board then. true, the cavs could not officially talk to brown while he was under contract. but his agent can float things out there.

and IMO that is what was going on. because while else would the pistons be granting permission at so crucial a time? it was because LB had already been flirting with the cavs, unofficially if not officially.

but anyway i'll drop the subject because i was not aware this had already been a huge debate in here that people were tired of.

and IMO that is what was going on.
I understand that. But its an admitted fact that the Pistons allowed it. Not a speculated rumor. The rumor came in that he accepted the job(the timing of which is kinda iffy on the organization's part). But he admitted openly to talking with them as did the Pistons to allowing it.

In fact its impossible for him to talk to the Cavs w/o The Pistons permission I think. Tampering issues.I'm not trying to stop your LB bash-A-Thon. But your opinion on that particular scenario is not a well informed one.

With that said, you've made some good points otherwise and I can't really take too much blame off of LB for his silly ways. But I liked his coaching and to my own subjective personal liking, I woulda found a way to keep him for the sake on NBA titles. If Shaq, Kobe, and Phil can win as many titles as they did before implosion, we coulda stuck it out longer.

well i guess i wasn't a member of the board then. true, the cavs could not officially talk to brown while he was under contract. but his agent can float things out there.

and IMO that is what was going on. because while else would the pistons be granting permission at so crucial a time? it was because LB had already been flirting with the cavs, unofficially if not officially.

but anyway i'll drop the subject because i was not aware this had already been a huge debate in here that people were tired of.

i personally was always in LB's camp, but none of us are in any position to be judges.

imo, theres nothing wrong with LB worrying about his future, even during the playoffs. dude's in his mid 60's and he just had a surgery. my dad was in the same boat at about that time, so maybe im just a tad bit more empathetic, but i could understand why he wanted a plan B, just incase he decided coaching was no longer an option. and its not like cleveland was going to wait for ever on LB, there are some responsibilities for the gm after the season, believe it or not (draft, FA, staffing, etc).

LB is no saint, but neither are the powers that be in the pistons franchise.

all you can really say is its a matter of opinion. some people say LB was worried about his health, other people say LB exploited it in order to sneak out of detroit and collect two K's. but whatever, people turned on carlisle for i have no idea why, so its not like the LB hate is anything new.

The Cavs were (and are) trying to duplicate the Pistons success through mimicry. Negotiations with them are almost assuredly "interesting" since the new owner of the Cavs is one of our largest advertisers with Rock. There may have been business reasons for Dumars to allow LB to talk with the Cavs.