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Thursday, December 21, 2000
Dr. Jack: Brown's not going anywhere
By Dr. Jack Ramsay
Special to ESPN.com
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The game can really eat at a coach when his hard work is getting few results and he's getting criticized from every source. But none of those things are happening to 76ers coach Larry Brown.
|  | | Allen Iverson has actually been a model citizen this season, but Larry Brown's still unhappy. |
His team is playing great basketball. On the surface, everyone is playing in harmony. He's getting rave reviews rather than criticism. Those are not usually the circumstances under which a coach decides to leave. Rick Pitino's situation in Boston, however, would be a more likely scenario. And Pitino may still leave because the Celtics have not performed the way he had hoped.
I would be surprised if Brown left the 76ers when his team is among the league's best. It's just media speculation because he's taken the time off. People have to remember that Brown was with the Olympic team all summer. He came back from Australia and started training camp the next day. He took a few days off. He didn't go with the team on preseason trips to Mexico or Carolina, so this break was not unusual for him. I think the media is reading too much into this.
When I retired in 1988, I didn't like the team I was coaching in Indiana. We were not winning. I had wanted to make a lot of personnel changes, and none of them happened. We lost one of our best players, Steve Stipanovich, who got hurt over the summer and wasn't able to play. I didn't want to go through a whole season with those problems. Early on, I made the decision that I wasn't going to do this for a full season.
I felt I had coached long enough. It is an exhausting, time-consuming job, especially to do it right. Coaching has to be your first priority for 365 days of the year. If you have a bad team headed in the wrong direction and the prospects are not good, it can be an awful burden for a coach.
Brown had has some run-ins with Allen Iverson in the past, but their issues seem to have been smoothed out. From what I've seen, they seem to be getting along very well. I watch Iverson's body language. He's sitting on the bench now when he comes out of the game. I see him smiling. When Brown calls him, he jumps up and is ready to go back in the game. I've seen them pat each other on the back during and immediately after games.
Because Brown worked hard to make the relationship work, Iverson made some improvement in his attitude. All coaches have players who grate on them at times because a coach has 12 players who all want to be the star of the team. Coaches do what they have to do to get the team to play at its best level. Brown is a nitpicker. He is never satisfied with how things are going. But I'd be stunned if he walked away from the 76ers when they have a chance to win a championship.
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ALSO SEE
Brown returns from much-needed break as Sixers coach
AthletesDirect: Larry Brown's official Web site
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