The writing was on the wall. The rumors swirling about Larry Brown’s future with the Knicks turned out to be true – he was fired today.
His coaching status had been in limbo since reports surfaced in May that owner James Dolan was looking to buy out Brown’s contract. It was at about that time that Brown called himself a “dead man walking” because of the uncertainty.
Brown’s agent, Joe Glass, had said he wouldn’t accept a buyout, so the Knicks took their time with the decision. That created an awkward situation in which Brown was running the Knicks’ workouts of draft prospects without knowing what role he had within the organization. The draft is next Wednesday.
With no financial settlement reached, ESPN.com has learned that a clause in Brown’s contract designates NBA commissioner David Stern as the arbitrator of any financial dispute between the sides, meaning the final chapter of this drama has yet to play out.
According to Chris Sheridan, there was more to the Larry Brown/Isiah Thomas feud than either guy was letting on.
One of the unreported details of how the rift between Thomas and Brown grew last season was that Thomas felt he was being undermined by Brown in trade talks when the coach would call people he knew on teams the Knicks were speaking with and would propose trades of his own.
Considering all the trades that Thomas was able to complete, you can’t really blame Brown for going out on his own. After all, he’s the guy that had to coach the team. Still, as bad as Thomas is at his job, he’s still the GM and he can’t have his subordinates undercutting him in trade negotiations.
So now Thomas is going to take over head coaching duties. He wasn’t particularly good in three years with the Pacers (131-115) but he did lead Indiana to the playoffs each season. As I said in my offseason blueprint for the Knicks, Brown isn’t the right coach for the team Thomas has put together. With Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis and Jamal Crawford in the backcourt, their best chance of winning would be to run a wide-open, up-tempo offense like the Suns. But Thomas’ teams in Indiana would always slow the pace down and try to win with their defense, so I doubt we’re going to see “Phoenix East” anytime soon.
I’m not sure the Knicks could be a bigger mess than they were last season, but with Thomas making both personnel and coaching decisions, I wouldn’t be surprised if things get a lot uglier in New York before they get better.
