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Pistons and Brown Are Inching Closer to Buyout Deal
Larry Brown's name is usually a popular one in NBA rumors. If he leaves Detroit, it could open the door for him to coach the Knicks
The Detroit Pistons were closer to severing ties with Coach Larry Brown as the parties were negotiating a buyout of his contract, Joe Dumars, the Pistons' president for basketball operations, confirmed last night.
Larry Brown ran some children through drills on Monday in East Hampton. He says the Pistons do not want "a 64-year-old guy" as their coach.
"That's what on the table right now," Dumars said. "We're still talking, we don't have an agreement yet."
Brown has three years and close to $21 million left on his deal. It is believed that the Pistons would consider letting Brown become a coaching free agent without any restrictions, which would give the Knicks the opportunity to pursue him.
But it was not clear if Brown would be immediately interested in the Knicks, or if he would consider sitting out a season for personal reasons before coaching a team that does not appear to be of championship caliber.
Brown took the Pistons to back-to-back NBA Finals and won a championship in his first season. Wavering about how his health would affect his ability to coach, Brown entered into negotiations for a front-office job in Cleveland while the Pistons were in the playoffs last season.
The Pistons have apparently decided it is best to part ways with a coach who has not been able to commit to the team.
"If there is a parting of the ways, Larry will be afforded his rightful dues," Brown's agent, Joe Glass, said yesterday. "Nothing conclusive has been decided. I had discussions today with the Pistons, and I will continue to do so tomorrow."
As was the case last season, and especially the last two weeks of Brown's two-year tenure with the Pistons, his situation and his future were still not clear. It seemed, however, that both sides were in a tug of war over how he would leave the organization.
"I hope everybody fully understands that Larry Brown is not quitting," Glass said, adding that Brown was standing by his statements that "he is ready to come back as coach of the Pistons."
Yesterday, Brown said that the Pistons had fired his assistants, which the team denied. Dumars said only, "I have told the assistants that talks have turned to a buyout."
The Pistons were concerned about Brown's ability to coach despite his bladder problems, stemming from complications from hip surgery. Brown missed 17 games last season, and he earlier cited those health concerns as a reason for being noncommittal about returning.
Glass said it was those health reasons that prompted Brown to seek a front-office job with Cleveland. It appears that the Pistons are trying only to offer him a similar position.
Brown said that the Pistons discussed giving him a vice president job, but he would only consider that if he were medically unable to coach. "I think I got too much to offer," he said about coaching. "I want to be a basketball coach for the Detroit Pistons."
But it appears too late. Flip Saunders, the former Minnesota Timberwolves coach, is considered the leading candidate to replace Brown.
The Knicks, then, appear to be in the same position they have been in all season: waiting for Brown.
When told of a plan that would have him sit out one season before joining the Knicks, Brown said, "That's amazing. All I can say is that I'm prepared to coach."
Knicks officials declined to comment yesterday, citing the fact that Brown was still under contract.
His ambiguous status could, however, help cement the candidacy of Herb Williams, the current coach. The team is ready to announce that Williams will remain as coach as soon as Brown's buyout is official and if Brown decides he will not coach the Knicks next season.
Isiah Thomas, the team president, had been prepared all along to make Williams the permanent coach, but not until he had the chance to interview other coaches, with Brown and Phil Jackson at the top of the wish list. Jackson has since returned to the Los Angeles Lakers as coach.
Brown has been working nonstop for the past 24 months, with a frustrating trip to the Athens Olympics sandwiched between two trips to the finals. He could take time between jobs to deal with his health issues or to repair his image of being a vagabond coach. There is no guarantee that the Knicks, despite their interest, would keep the job available for him if he sat out for a season.
Brown, who turns 65 in September, said he believed that his medical condition was the primary issue that was driving the talk of a buyout with the Pistons. He said he was able to coach.
"I told them on Thursday last week when they were so worried about not knowing something, not wanting to wait for six to eight weeks, I told them that I was prepared to coach, that I would be there on Oct. 3," Brown said.
Brown acknowledged that not knowing if he could guarantee his coaching a full season might have concerned Bill Davidson, the Pistons' owner. But Davidson was also known to have been frustrated by Brown's discussions with Cleveland during the playoffs and his talk of the Knicks' job and the Lakers' job during the season.
Davidson met with Brown last week in Detroit to discuss the issues surrounding Brown's season and to gauge Brown's willingness to return.
Brown has been through this dissolution process before in a Hall of Fame career encompassing 10 head-coaching jobs. He left as coach of the San Antonio Spurs in January 1992, saying he was fired by the team owner Red McCombs, but at the time the Spurs said that Brown resigned.
Brown was fired by the Nets in 1983 right before the playoffs when they discovered he was negotiating to become the coach at U.C.L.A.
In Detroit, Brown had a regular-season record of 108-56.
Source: AP
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