Michael Jordan hired fellow ex-Tar Heel Larry Brown to a four-year contract to coach the Charlotte Bobcats.
“How are you going to say no to Michael?” Brown said. “I’ve known him a long time. The things he stands for have made our game better. There’s no way I could say no to him. It was a pretty easy decision once my wife said yes.”
Brown’s nine NBA teams are three more than any other coach — Kevin Loughery and Lenny Wilkens each coached six.
“I think I’ve coached almost everybody in the NBA, but I’m going to challenge everybody to do their best,” Brown said. “That’s what Michael is about and that’s what I’m about.”
The Bobcats are in their fourth year, and Brown gives the struggling franchise instant credibility. He’s one of only five NBA coaches with more than 1,000 wins and the only coach to lead teams to NBA and NCAA titles.
Counting the ABA’s Carolina Cougars, the Bobcats will be Brown’s 10th job as a professional basketball coach. He’s a turnaround specialist in that he likes to take teams with losing records and make them winners. He has a career winning percentage of 0.577. Here is a list of his team’s records before and after his arrival:
Denver Nuggets: 37-47 –> 65-19
New Jersey Nets: 24-58 –> 44-38
San Antonio Spurs: 31-51 –> 21-61 –> 56-26
Los Angeles Clippers: took over a 22-25 team and went 23-12 down the stretch, 41-41 the next season
Indiana Pacers: 41-41 –> 47-35
Philadelphia 76ers: 22-60 –> 31-51 –> 28-22 –> 49-33
Detroit Pistons: 50-32 –> 54-28 (NBA Champions)
New York Knicks: 33-49 –> 23-59
As with the Spurs and the Sixers, it sometimes takes Brown two or more seasons to turn his team into a winner. The only team that Brown left as a loser without at least one 52+ win season was the Knicks, and if he hadn’t clashed with management, he probably would have eventually turned that team around as well. (To be fair, when he took over the Knicks, the roster was even worse than it is now.)
So what does this mean for the Bobcats?
Well, it’s good news if the players buy in to Brown’s plan and don’t get miffed by his sometimes-abrasive coaching style. The Bobcats don’t have any superstars that can put themselves above the team, so everyone is expendable. Emeka Okafor is a restricted free agent, so barring a surprise, he’ll have a year to decide if he likes playing for Brown before he has to sign a long-term deal. Brown has a history of improving the play of his point guards, but those relationships are often tenuous, so it will be interesting to see how Ray Felton responds to Brown’s style. Expect a big improvement on the defensive end, where the Bobcats were 23rd in the league in defensive efficiency.
Brown talks about his return to coaching:
