Brown's Exit Changes Coaching Shuffle By STEVE WILSTEIN AP Sports Columnist Everybody in line for an NBA coaching job, step down one. Larry Brown, the vagabond Mr. Fix-it, is on the move again. That means you, Jeff Van Gundy, in case you thought the Cleveland Cavaliers' offer was about to be gift-wrapped. You, too, Paul Silas, if you believed that you might be next up for the Cavs, that Van Gundy was just using them for leverage and would turn them down for Houston. Anyone on the list for vacancies at New Orleans, Toronto and the Los Angeles Clippers move over one spot while management mulls the domino effect of Brown's exit Monday from Philadelphia. He can shop himself around freely after getting the blessing of 76ers chairman Ed Snider. Astonishingly in this age of avarice and litigation, Snider let Brown out of his $6 million-a-year contract two years early and won't be asking for a nickel in compensation from the team that grabs him. Before Jeff Bzdelik starts feeling too comfortable that he's safe in Denver, or Terry Stotts in Atlanta, they both might want to look over their shoulders for signs of Brown's shadow. The NBA plays this game every year, coaches coming and going, new ones trying to solve problems the dearly departed leave behind. Brown knows the drill well, his nomadic ways taking him over the course of a 31-year Hall of Fame career from Carolina to Denver, first in the ABA, then in the NBA, and from UCLA to New Jersey, Kansas to San Antonio, the Los Angeles Clippers to Indiana and Philadelphia. Asked about his legacy with the 76ers after six years, Brown curled a little smile and said, ``I lasted longer than I had at any other place.'' He leaves the 76ers and his tumultuous relationship with Allen Iverson feeling a hollow in his heart that they didn't quite get the job done as he had hoped. Under Brown, the 76ers evolved from doormat to contender, reaching the NBA Finals in 2001 but backtracking the past two years. Brown isn't leaving the 76ers just because he got the itch to move again or had another deal lined up. ``I don't think my personality initiated this,'' he said. ``You look around the league, how many jobs are open. It's just the nature of the business. ``I didn't want to hold this franchise back. I think by me staying any longer than this, that might have been the case here. Sometimes you need some fresh ideas.'' That translates to Brown feeling he ran out of ideas in getting Iverson and the rest of the 76ers on the same page. There were no public squabbles this year, no more complaints about Iverson skipping practices. But Brown seethed when Iverson showed up barely half an hour before the tip-off of Game 6 in the second-round playoffs against the Detroit Pistons. That and the eventual loss pushed Brown to make the decision he said he had been contemplating a long time. Though he struck a decidedly weary tone Monday, even fresh from a vacation with his wife, the 62-year-old Brown insists he's ready for another challenge beyond coaching the U.S. national team this summer and in the Olympics next year. ``I'm pumped about coaching,'' he said. ``My passion for coaching is still there and I think I'm a much better coach today than I was when I took this job six years ago. I'm not going to be idle. I don't think I could do that.'' As Brown considers his next move, and the offers that are sure to come, the effect on the other coaches looking for work isn't so gloomy. Van Gundy, for example, may have the inside track with Cleveland and may really be lusting to coach Yao Ming in Houston, but suddenly there's another opportunity in Philadelphia. Cleveland may not simply push Van Gundy or Silas aside and offer Brown the moon to coach LeBron James. But the Cavs would have to be crazy not to consider that Brown could be the best man to school an 18-year-old in the ways of the NBA. As worthy coaches as Van Gundy and Silas are, they may be more suitable to veteran teams. It doesn't hurt Brown that James already gave him his stamp of approval. ``I think Larry Brown is a great teacher if we can get him,'' James said during an interview at halftime of TNT's broadcast of the San Antonio-Dallas playoff game Sunday night. ``I consider myself a student of the game, so Larry Brown would be great.'' Brown joked that James should ``talk to some of my players first.'' Iverson would no doubt have a lot to say. The big hitch for Brown in going to Cleveland is whether he and his family want to live there. Cleveland wouldn't be his wife's first choice, but by now she's used to moving wherever Brown feels he has to coach. If she has her way, and the job opens up, they could wind up in Denver, where Brown coached for five years in the 1970s. That wouldn't be so bad for Brown if the Nuggets take either Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony or 7-foot Darko Milicic of Serbia in the draft and keep building on a team that already has a promising star in rookie Nene Hilario. It would be bad, though, for Bzdelik, the current coach. All of which just adds to the intrigue, and puts more people on edge, now that Brown is on the prowl again. Steve Wilstein is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at swilstein (at) ap.org Copyright 2003, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Why would anybody want to live in the snowpit of America - Denver? LB's wife is strange. Apparantly she's never been in Southern weather.
Yes. Sherree or whatever her name is is strange. But oh well! I will welcome her with great Southern Hospitality here. God...some of these writers are way biased.Some keep on mentioning Houston. Some continuously talk about Cleveland....or some useless stuff! Larry! THIS IS THE PLACE. COME TO HOUSTON!
