July 28 -- After 64 years, Larry Brown is back in town.

The Knicks named Brown head coach of his hometown team. Born in Brooklyn in 1940, Brown has taken the long way home. The Knicks job is his eighth NBA head coaching job. He began his career in the ABA with the Carolina Cougars in 1972. Throw in a couple of gigs back on campus in Los Angeles (UCLA) and Lawrence (Kansas) and you soon realize Brown has been a head coach somewhere for 33 consecutive years.

Knicks fans, whose team finished 33-49 last season, have reason to be optimistic. At every stop along the way (that would be 11 total), Brown has made the product on the floor better, if not immediately, then eventually.

Only once has a Brown coached team not improved its win total in his first season, and only two failed to make the postseason. His teams have averaged an improvement of more than 10 wins upon his arrival. If that holds, 43 wins would have put last season's Knicks in the postseason.

Larry Brown helped guide the Pistons to an NBA title in 2004.
Andrew D. Bernstein /NBAE/Getty Images
Here, we rank Larry Brown's best turnarounds.

1. Detroit Pistons

Before Larry: 50-32 (2002-03)
After Larry: 54-28 (2003-04)
Total win difference: 4-plus games
Playoffs: You bet. They won the NBA title in five games over the L.A. Lakers

Reason: While one would argue that this team was already on the cusp of greatness and that Brown only improved the win-loss record by four games, there is one reason why this ranks as Brown's top turnaround: Larry Brown, meet Larry O'Brien.

If the ultimate goal is winning a championship, then this stands to be Brown's finest work as he led the Pistons to the NBA title in his first season with the team. While they won 100 regular season games in the two seasons prior to Brown's arrival, the Pistons didn't have much success in the playoffs. The Celtics dusted them in five games in 2002 East Semis and the Nets swept them in 2003 in the semis as well.

Enter Brown, who helped mold a team of undrafted, oft-traded and seemingly unwanted talent into an NBA champion as they excised the heavily favored Lakers 4-1 in The Finals.

2. L.A. Clippers

Before Larry: 31-51 (1991-92)
After Larry: 45-37 (1992-93)
Total win difference: 14-plus games
Playoffs: Yes, lost to Utah in West First Round

Reason: This one was especially good considering that Brown took over the Clippers in the middle of the 1992-93 season with the team languishing at 22-25. After Brown's arrival (he was let go by the Spurs on Jan. 21, 1992), the Clips went 23-12 and made the playoffs for the first time since the franchise's Buffalo Braves days in the 1970s.

Brown showed his late-season patch job was no fluke as he led the Clippers to a 41-41 record and the playoffs the next season. Brown is still the only coach to lead the Clippers to two playoffs appearances.

3. New Jersey Nets

Before Larry: 24-58 (1980-81)
After Larry: 45-37 (1981-82)
Total win difference: 20-plus games
Playoffs: Yes, lost to Washington in East First Round

Reason: Two years removed from taking UCLA to the NCAA title game, Brown returned to his ABA roots to coach the Nets. The 20-plus game improvement is the second best for a Brown-coached team. It was also only the second time in Nets history at the time that they had made the NBA playoffs.

4. Denver Nuggets (ABA)

Before Larry: 37-47 (1973-74)
After Larry: 65-19 (1974-75)
Total win difference: 28-plus games
Playoffs: Yes, lost to Indiana Pacers 4-3 in conference finals

Reason: While the 28-game spike is Brown's biggest, it's tough to gauge how good it was considering the ABA's constant flux. Still, a 28-game upswing and 65 wins, the second most in ABA history, is nothing to sniff at. Seems the media was impressed as well, as Brown was named ABA Coach of the Year. That, and adding an in-his-prime David Thompson to the team is liable to help as well.

Brown's Pacers teams made the postseason in three of his four seasons at the helm.
Andy Hayt /NBAE/Getty Images

5. Indiana Pacers

Before Larry: 41-41 (1992-93)
After Larry: 47-35 (1993-94)
Total win difference: 6-plus
Playoffs: Yes, lost to New York Knicks 4-3 in Eastern Conference Finals

Reason: We could have pushed this a little higher considering the Pacers made it to the Eastern Conference Finals under Brown after being swept by the Celtics the year before, but the comparatively meager six-game improvement and Michael Jordan's absence after his first retirement from the NBA play into the mix.

As for Brown's other two teams, the two teams which didn't make the playoffs, here's how they rank.

In 1996-97, rookie Allen Iverson and second-year player Jerry Stackhouse led the Sixers to a 22-60 record. Under Brown in 1997-98, the Sixers won nine more games (31-51), but missed the playoffs. In the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, the Sixers went 28-22 and didn't miss the postseason in the rest of Brown's tenure.

Finally, Brown's only head coaching gig where the team regressed in his first season occurred in 1988-89 when the Spurs went 21-61 after going 31-51 the year before. Luckily for Brown and Spurs fans, David Robinson, drafted No. 1 overall in 1987, completed his required two-year stint in the Navy and helped the Spurs to a 56-26 mark the following season. The 35-game turnaround is the second-largest in NBA history.