Brown Back With His Hometown Team

It's a dream come true for the team because Larry Brown is indeed a unique coaching great -- "The turnaround king," President, Basketball Operations Isiah Thomas called him at Brown's introductory press conference -- who is nothing less than ideal for the Knicks' rebuilding-on-the-run situation. And it's a dream come true for Brown who, after growing up in Brooklyn and Long Beach, is returning home.

Make no mistake, the 64 year-old Brown may have been around a little bit -- "A lot!" he quips -- but throughout all his travels he's remained a New Yorker through and through. "There could be only one thing better than winning an NBA championship," Brown said. "And that's winning an NBA championship in the town you grew up in for the team you rooted for so crazily as a kid."

The extremely personable and down-to-earth Brown grew unabashedly misty-eyed as a video tribute was played to him to the tune of Simon & Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound". "I had chills running up and down the nape of my neck," he confessed afterwards. "The memories...Wow! I was pretty much one nutty Knick fan in the 1950-s and 60-s."

"A lot of the guys I went to the games with, they dreamed about some day being on the floor and playing in a Knicks uniform," he said. "I always had a different thought. I dreamed about sitting on the bench and coaching on the Garden floor." Brown, who has sometimes gotten himself into hot water by describing the Knicks as his "dream job", recalled "playing ball on the playground in Long Beach as a 12 or 13 year-old and the old Knick players such as Harry Gallatin, Carl Braun, Al and Dick McGuire would drop by. They'd come and play with me and -- I don't know if I can say that -- they'd give me money and I'd go buy them drinks. I played with Red Holzman at my park when he lived in Woodmere."

"A kid never forgets days like that. Growing up with the Knicks was an enormous part of my life."

A profound believer in things coming full circle, Brown is certain he'll grow old with the Knicks as well. "I'm aware of the fact that I said this before -- and at the time I'm sure I believed it, too," he smiled. "But I know that this WILL be my last job. Basketball started for me in this city. I want to be here when it's time for me to finally stop."

With emotions that said volumes about his character, Brown flatly stated his wish that "when I finally do retire, my goal is that Herb (interim coach Williams who will become his top assistant) succeeds me. I don't know how you exactly accomplish that but building something successful for the long term is a good place to start." Along with everyone else on the Knicks brass, Brown thanked Williams for "the exceptional patience and class he's displayed throughout this entire process. He is a great man," added Brown.

"It's going to be a learning process for me," said Williams. "I'm going to be soaking up as much knowledge as I possibly can. Being able to learn from a coach such as Larry, one of the very best in the game, can't do anything but strengthen you."

"I told Herb how elated I am that he'll be sitting right next to me," said Brown. " I told him I can teach him everything I know about basketball but I can't teach him to love me. So loyalty is the number one thing for me -- and it will go both ways."

Joe Glass could write a novel the size of "War And Peace" about that. The cigar-chomping agent has been with Brown for going on 48 years, or "ever since I met him at summer camp as a brash 17 year-old and I was so impressed by him. He was so honest, so smart, so up-front about his feelings, so much fun. And, let me tell you, I've never changed my mind about the caliber of person Larry is," he said. "Not once."

Did he, throughout all those years, ever come even close to severing the relationship, one writer asked Glass. "No! What are you, nuts?" came the reply.

Of course, like all geniuses, Brown can be a walking, talking, breathing contradiction as well. Carrying a nomadic reputation sticking to him like Velcro, he values loyalty over anything else. "I've felt that, losing his father so early in life, he's always been looking for something more," Bob Gersten, Brown's coach at Long Beach High, said. Brown's father suffered a fatal heart attack when he was 12. "No matter how high he's gotten, it's somehow never been enough. He's never been satisfied."

Maybe he will be now -- the always-classy Brown became a more mature person once he met his wife, Shelly, while coaching the L.A. Clippers, according to Glass. "First of all, she is just a great person," the agent smiled. "Second, she's perfect for him. They are true soul mates, an ideal match." Third and fourthly there are the kids, ages 8 and 11, who are showered with open love and affection by Dad. "This is Larry," the little girl introduced the stuffed gray koala she was carrying. "First I was going to call him Barry the Bear. But then I decided to name him after Daddy."

When Daddy's done, he'll surely have a few more koalas named after him: he is the only coach that has led six different NBA teams to the playoffs. He is the top active, and fourth all-time, winner in league history, won the NBA title with Detroit, corralled three ABA Coach of the Year awards, and the NCAA Championship with Kansas. In an era when no one played freshmen, he took UCLA to the NCAA title game starting FOUR freshmen. Even more significant, in not one of those places did he have the most talented team at his disposal. Brown's very presence creates a veritable shock wave of improvement wherever he goes.

How does he do it? It's that full-circle thing again: everywhere he's coached, Brown's been so successful that players REALLY listen to him. And players listen to him because of his success.

"When I am committed to making a player better, I'm relentless," he says. "Dogged." Pistons' then backup-point guard Mike James subscribes to the canine comparison. "Larry is like a chihuahua ," he smiles. "He's like one of those little dogs with bite. He is yapping at you and chewing at you until you do it exactly the way he wants it done. And then you're glad he did it because you win."

"Play hard, play smart, play unselfishly, play defense, and have fun," is how Brown describes his philosophy. With intense italics on defense -- given the fact that no NBA team that failed to be ranked Top 15 in the league in defensive field goal percentage has ever won the title, that's more than understandable. "If you don't cover, you won't win," Brown says.

But lots of NBA coaches preach defense -- so what makes Brown different? One factor is his profound knowledge of basketball. Another is that "On my teams, if you don't play the right way, you don't play," he smiles. "You learn throughout all the years around the league that, more than anything else, NBA players want to play."

And what exactly is the right way to play, according to Brown? Characteristically, he holds the all-time ABA record for ASSISTS in one game with 23. "The first thing I want my players to understand is defense," he says. "The next thing is that basketball is not about any one individual or star. You win collectively in this game."

At times, such "revolutionary" concepts are not easily absorbed. "Oh, it's going to be ugly at first," smiles Brown. "That's been my M.O. But then..." But then, if history is any indication, things begin to explode in the right direction.

Doing it the right way in the right place is Brown's dream come true. "I'm profoundly aware of the place the Knicks hold in the game of basketball, in the NBA, in the heart of this city and its fans," he said. "I know how passionate people around here are about the Knicks and how knowledgeable they are about their basketball."

"I'm here to build something that's going to last a long time," said Brown. "It's a dirty-work job," said Thomas. "And he is the perfect dirty-work coach."