Alright, I've wanted to bring this up before, and now that we have a better forum where we can actually keep a thread running, I think it's time.

What will you miss about LB? I don't know about you all, but I'm gonna miss a ton about this guy. I'm going to miss some of his coaching strategies, I'm gonna miss some of his personality quirks, and I'm even gonna miss the way he shouted so loudly on the sidelines (I always loved when he yelled at Memo. "Hey Memo!" he would shout over 20,000 people. Loved that.)

I'm going to miss his basketball philosophy: that the regular season should be used to fix weaknesses, that it should be used to make all players 3-dimensional, as opposed to specialized 1-dimensional players. LB's insistence that Ben should contribute offensively sticks out as a key example, but the evolution of Rip and Chaunce as 3D players should not be overlooked. He expected those guys to raise their games -- nay! -- he demanded it, and it paid-off big time.

Some moments I loved:

- The first time he was ejected as Pistons coach. It was against the Warriors at home. The crowd chanted "Larry! Larry!" as he walked away, after initially refusing to leave.

- I love the sideline speech at the end of Game 5 against LA. "We win the next few minutes and we're gonna be the World Champs! The WORLD CHAMPS!"

- The time when he mimicked Rick Carlisle. RC was standing too close to mid court and LB complained. But when the ref wouldn't do anything, LB moved closer to mid court to prove a point, yelling and moaning, folding his arms.

Anyways, I could go on and on. But mostly, I just don't want to forget about all the basketball knowledge he gave to this town.

Really great post.

I would say my favorite LB moment was when he showed up to the presser with an Yzerman jersey on. If there is one Detroit non-bball hero to recognize, it's probably Steve Y. Heart, passion, leadership, hard work.

While some regarded it as a weakness, I liked how candid LB could be in interviews. He would never give you a canned answer if he had an opinion on the matter. If nothing else, he was entertaining.

And I suppose more than anything, I thought that his per player coaching was impeccable. When they say he is the best teacher in the game, I don't doubt it. Not the best sideline coach, but teacher? Heck ya.

__________________
Competition is merely the absence of oppression.
- Frédéric Bastiat

Wow, where to begin?

I think, first and foremost, I'll miss the instant respect our team got each and every game night, just because LB was our coach. Oh we'll still get our respect, it just won't be on the same level as an LB led team demands.

I'll miss his constant and sometimes down right comical feuds with the refs.

I'll miss his play calling after TO's. Something he was a master at.

I'll miss him slapping at his asst. coach's as they try to pass things behind his back.

I'll miss how he undeniably teaches our guys how to play better.

But most of all I'll miss the feeling I had everyday I woke up that we would win the Championship the past two years. I sadly don't have that feeling anymore.

LB will definitely be missed by me.

I’ll miss the intimidation factor. There isn’t another coach in the league that he feels he can’t out coach, and they know it. Our players also knew it, believed it and that builds confidence.

When the vaunted King Phil tried to run his Zen master routine on Brown, he got spanked and sent home without supper. The tweakmaster got tweaked.

Right before Game 1 of the La/Det series, in a media interview Phil Jackson said, “Larry Browns a great coach, but he’s never won a championship.”
Browns response was to smile and say, “I just hope someday I can be like that guy.”

In one sentence he made Jackson the butt of his own joke. The complete international press throng enjoyed the simplicity of his King Phil diminishment. He literally took Jackson’s big brass testicles off in front of the world media and handed them back to him in a paper bag. Great stuff.

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

"they played great"

"give them credit"

"that was pretty neat"

and pictures of his hot wife (mysteriously absent from '05 finals)

I'll miss winning titles



....oh and torching the other brain at the opposite bench.

That slow drawl speech pattern of his. Larry always seemed like the kind of cat who could hang with the brotha's at the BarberShop. My favorite moment was during the playoffs 2 years ago. Tayshaun played like a scared little girl in the first half. When asked about LB's halftime adjusments he told them, "Share the ball and pass it around......except to Tayshaun, cause he doesn't wanna shoot anyway." Man Tay had like 13 in the 2nd half in route to a win. I'm going to miss the guy that feels the integrity of THE GAME is first and foremost. I don't think anybody loves this game more than LB.

Although I strongly believe our squad will continue to be very good and succesful without LB, I'd be lying to say I'm not going to miss the old guy...

I'll miss the way he defiantly stuck up for his players against officials, it's the job of a real coach to be sort of the attorney/counselor for his players against the refs that be... I recall when Rip wished to calmly discuss a bad call with a ref during a free throw and the ref basically told him to %%%% off/beat it and since he wasn't a captain he had no right to talk to him!!! Larry immediately lost it screaming "HEY, you can't talk to a player like that... YOU CAN'T TALK TO MY GUY LIKE THAT!!!!"

I really dug when during a crucial timeout/huddle @ indy for game 5 in the 2004 playoffs he exclaimed "Yo everybody swing the ball around, but don't swing it to Tayshaun cause he don't want to shoot the damn ball anyway!" LOL, some would call it mean but I recognized it as tough luv, low and behold a few plays later when Tay was WIDE open for a trey and instead of hesitating (as usual) he rose up and drained it without a second thought! A back breaking triple in the clutch just from a tad bit of sarcasm and tough luv, man you can't tell me that's not good coaching!

Then just the way he undeniably made Ben, Rip, and Chauncey better all around basketball players.... No longer just specialists but REAL basketball players period, that's priceless folks.

I'll miss the "Darko! Darko! Darko!" chants that happened in the 4th quarter during a blow out cause Larry wouldn't play him.

(I'm glad he's gone.)

Frankly speaking, all of the above. But at the end of the day (season actually) I hope to miss a lot less than I do now. Like LB4LB I'm hoping Flipper takes the finest opportunity ever handed him and proceeds to overshadow the accomplishments of the last guy.

Americans, not refugees.