Larry Brown is no longer the NBA’s dead man walking. His “dream job” as coach of the New York Knicks is over, finally ending what may have been the most drawn-out firing in sports history.
Now Isiah Thomas gets the job of coaching the overpriced, underachieving roster he created.
The Knicks put Brown out of his coaching misery Thursday, ending weeks of uncertainty by firing the Hall of Fame coach and replacing him with Thomas, the team president and general manager.
Brown has four years and a reported $40 million left on his deal, but may have to fight to collect all of it. The Knicks are expected to claim they’re not obligated to pay the full contract.
“I won’t discuss the contract terms with anybody,” said Joe Glass, Brown’s longtime agent. “The contract stands on its own two feet.”
In Brown’s lone season in New York, the Knicks stumbled to a 23-59 record – second-worst in the NBA and matching the most losses in club history. But Brown’s public feud with Stephon Marbury and criticism of other players may have angered owner James Dolan more than the losing.
“Larry has had a long and storied career. We hired him last summer with the expectation that he would be with the Knicks for a long time,” Dolan said. “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.”
The day after the season ended, Thomas said Brown would return next season. But less than a month later, reports surfaced that Dolan was looking to buy out Brown’s contract.
Glass had said he wouldn’t accept a buyout, so the Knicks began biding their time. That created an awkward situation in which Brown – who called himself a “dead man walking” because of the uncertainty – was running the Knicks’ workouts of draft prospects without knowing his ultimate role.
He showed up to run another one Thursday at the Knicks’ practice facility, where Dolan was waiting and eventually fired Brown.
“No one in our organization is happy with last season and we all accept responsibility for our performance,” Thomas said. He added, “Larry Brown is a great coach, but for various reasons, bringing him to the Knicks did not turn out the way we had hoped and we wish him the best in the future.”
Thomas was coach of the Indiana Pacers for three seasons through 2002-03, compiling a 131-115 record and leading them to the playoffs in each season before he was fired.
Bobcats: Michael Jordan went to work for the team, overseeing a predraft workout as part-owner of the team.
Jordan, who has been given decision-making power on personnel decisions, helped conduct on-court drills during most of the workout. He retreated to a balcony overlooking the practice court by the time reporters were allowed in and declined to speak to the media.
Bucks: Larry Krystkowiak signed a multiyear contract to be an assistant coach. He joins the coaching staff after two seasons as head coach at the University of Montana.
Krystkowiak, 41, led Montana to a 42-20 record over two seasons, two appearances in the NCAA Tournament and the school’s first NCAA Tournament win in 31 years – an upset of Nevada in the first round of the 2006 tournament.
Raptors: Toronto hired Maurizio Gherardini, who built one of the most successful professional basketball teams in Europe, as the club’s vice president and assistant general manager. The Italian becomes the first European to hold a senior management position with an NBA franchise.
