So there it is. Coach Brown is again a nationless leader. A Napolean frittering about in a dinghy looking for a soft sand landing..Zeke is back in the saddle and our best buddy David Stern is left to clean-up the mess.

Let the rumors, the opinions, the Saunders Vs Brown all wash up in here.
I like Coach Brown. I think we would've won it with Brown prowling the sidelines. But his transgressions in D-town weiged more mightly than the strength of his courtside manuverings, hence he spends a year battling Stephen Marbury in the big if somewhat rotten Apple.

And we are left to see what the massacre in Miami does to the Pistons and Big Ben.

I will live with Joe D's decision on Saunders because I have no choice. Hopefully he takes the Coach into the woodshed over his staccato deployment of the rosters playoff minutes and we come out the better for it. But there are those in the shadows that will call for the comeback of Brown and I with small reservation will lurk in their ranks...






June 22, 2006

Knicks Fire Brown, Refusing to Pay Out Contract

By HOWARD BECK
GREENBURGH, N.Y., June 22 — Larry Brown was fired by the Knicks this morning after just one, surprisingly tumultuous season as their head coach. And the team indicated that it did not plan to pay him the more than $40 million left on his contract.

Isiah Thomas, the team's president and general manager, was immediately named as Brown's replacement. James L. Dolan, the chairman of Madison Square Garden, made the decision just before 10 a.m., after a one-hour meeting with Brown, Thomas and Steve Mills, the Garden president.

The decision ends a strange and protracted drama that began in mid-April, when the Knicks concluded their first season under Brown with a 23-59 record, their worst in two decades. It ranked among the worst seasons in Brown's Hall-of-Fame career.

Yet Dolan's disenchantment went far beyond the poor results on the court, and he ultimately fired Brown for a number of other transgressions. The Knicks, contending that Brown violated several provisions of his contract, fired him "for cause," and thus do not intend to pay him the balance of his contract, in excess of $40 million.
Under terms of Brown's contract, a five-year deal, he can appeal the team's decision to withhold his pay. Commissioner David Stern will ultimately decide the issue.

The Knicks hired Brown, with considerable fanfare and optimism, last July. Although they kept expectations modest, team officials figured that Brown, who has won both an N.C.A.A. and N.B.A. championship, would reverse a half decade of failure. Instead, Brown exacerbated the franchise's misery, losing games by the dozen, alienating his players and engaging in a public war of words with Stephon Marbury, the team's star point guard.

Dolan wanted specific assurances from Brown that he would change his behavior, both publicly and privately. When Brown wavered, Dolan decided to fire him.

Neither Brown nor any team officials were available for comment. Dolan and Thomas issued a statement expressing their frustration.

"Larry has had a long and storied career," Dolan said in the statement. "We hired him last summer with the expectation that he would be with the Knicks for a long time. Sometimes, decisions work and sometimes they don't. After careful consideration, despite the best intentions from everyone involved, this current structure did not work for us last season and I did not think it was going to improve next season. I have great personal admiration for Larry, but have concluded that it is best for our franchise if we make this change."

Thomas, who assembled the Knicks' unwieldy roster over the last two and a half years, becomes the Knicks' fifth coach since January 2004. He previously coached the Indiana Pacers from 2000-03, compiling a 131-115 record."

__________________
"Be nice to people on your way up because you meet them on your way down"...Jimmy Durante

Yup, seems about right.

I like the Napolean in a dinghy image....that works for me.

If the Knicks got rid of LB after one season why would anyone want him back? That is two entirely different sets of management who didn't like him for one reason or the other. The weight of evidence is pointing at LB.

Well we can now compare the Zeke led Knicks to LB's leadership...
I expect an uptempo run n gun team... with even worse defense than last year.... they'll win more games just by scoring 110+ points on any given night.

LB can spend a lot of time with his young son now (and 101 year old mom)... maybe do some freelance stuff... this could be the end of his coaching days (at his age).... although it wouldn't surprise me to see him get a gig as a college coach.... he likes the less spoiled system.

He wants to write a book to teach kids play basketball, the book may be named "play the right way".

I would read it... may have an excerpt on Darko

I assume that there is going to be a battle over the money owed on the contract. What did he do to warrant "cause"? This should be fun to watch.

LB disgusts me. Please please blackball him out of the league. I know it won't happen with a HOF coach running around, but the guy is a hustler to the maximum degree.

I don't get why you have to fire him either. You pay him all that money, can't you change his job to ballboy or something? At least you're getting something for your money.

I like how they are refusing to pay him, that isn't gonna fly though.

You're right, there are so many othing things they could have had him do that would have forced him to quit:

• Ball boy
• Mopping up the sweat after players fall down
• Massaging players after groin injuries, etc.
• Laundry patrol
• Shoot T-Shirts into the crowd during time-outs
• Personal assistant/ chauffer for Starbury.