Nelson question bristles Brown

[MavsFanFinley]

DMN

Nelson question bristles Brown

By BRAD TOWNSEND / The Dallas Morning News

ATHENS, Greece – When pressed by a reporter Thursday about why Team USA's coaching staff doesn't include someone with more international experience, someone like Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson, Larry Brown took offense.

"He has enough trouble coaching Dallas," Brown said.

Brown then noted that he and assistants Gregg Popovich, Roy Williams and Oliver Purnell have international experience.

Nelson is serving as an assistant for Lithuania but said he will not be on the bench Saturday when the Americans and Lithuanians meet.

"We've had 10 practices," Brown said. "You come to these championships with 10 practices, I don't care if John Wooden was here or Dean Smith. It is a different game. The thing that's happening is I think these kids are learning on the fly."

[fin4life]

wow. Larry brown is awully defensive these days. I think that these Olympic games will forever damage his ego if he doesnt win the gold. He was taking shots at donnie without him even making a comment.... it was a reporter. Brown is very on edge right now... he is already making excuses, that doesnt show much confidence in his team.

[jayC]

Larry at least nellie had a hand in building the mavericks unlike your pistons. The pistons still had been to the ECF two years in a row prior to the NBA title. Hey Larry have fun quitting on the Sixers? Hey Larry three point shooting does matter just ask Puerto Rico. Hey Larry how does it feel to get demolished by Italy and know Puerto Rico.

[cheesestar]

that sounds kind of like he's dissing the maverick organization...

[mavsman55]

It's kind of ironic that he'd say that, but at the same time he can't even get a team full of full-fledged all-stars to compete against a bunch of no-names from Puerto Rico. What a douche.

[fin4life]

i wish a could make a comment like "he hasnt ever done anything, he just jumps ships and goes from team to team"... but he he won his damn title.

[zanahale]

True, but all he did was add Rasheed Wallace. Not to mention, they got lucky in each of those playoff series by some being hurt. ie. Kidd, Jermaine Oneal, Karl Malone.

[fin4life]

I think the addition of rasheed wallace was Joe Dumar's doing... not larry brown. As far as I know, he has no front office responsibilities other than Head Coach.

[zanahale]

You are right. I just can't stand Brown. I hate the way he talks and it really pisses me off when he goes public about being upset at Cuban's comments for not wanting Nash and Nowitzki to play outside of the Mavericks but yet no one from Detroit played on this olympics team. I'm getting more upset just thinking about it.

[EricaLubarsky]

At the end of the day do I disline Brown? Yes. At the end of the day would I prefer him over Nelson, you better believe it.

[dirno2000]

It's rare that you see a coach take such a blatant shot at another coach and a team. Brown is clearly stressed out and has been trying to deflect blame in advance for the past to or three weeks.

[V2M]

He made some stupid comments such as how we may never shoot like that again, after we pasted his pistons last year. He's a self-centered, self-righteous, whining egotist. As much as I hate the Lakers, it still pained me to see LB (and Sheed) win a championship last June. I was happy for Ben Wallace, Rip, Prince and Billups, though.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

I'd be offended too. I mean, imagine you're an NBA champsionship coach, and someone infers that you should coach more like Don Nelson, who has never won a championship. At the same time, at least Nellie doesn't just ditch the Mavs and go coach the Lakers. I question Larry Brown's loyalty. However, trouble coaching Dallas? Please....four 50+ win seasons is hardly having "trouble"....things haven't worked out to a champsionship, but we're not the Atlanta Hawks for crying out loud.

[Simon2]

I'm not sure I understand the comment. Was he taking shots at Donnie having trouble coaching Dallas? But Donnie isn't the coach of Dallas. Is it me or is Brown confused?

[Murphy3]

Originally posted by: Simon2
I'm not sure I understand the comment. Was he taking shots at Donnie having trouble coaching Dallas? But Donnie isn't the coach of Dallas. Is it me or is Brown confused?

I was curious as to if anyone else noticed this....

[Shaq Attack2]

Originally posted by: EricaLubarsky
At the end of the day do I disline Brown? Yes. At the end of the day would I prefer him over Nelson, you better believe it.

Yup, that's it in a nutshell for me too.

[V2M]

Originally posted by: DevinHarriswillstart
I'd be offended too. I mean, imagine you're an NBA champsionship coach, and someone infers that you should coach more like Don Nelson, who has never won a championship. At the same time, at least Nellie doesn't just ditch the Mavs and go coach the Lakers. I question Larry Brown's loyalty. However, trouble coaching Dallas? Please....four 50+ win seasons is hardly having "trouble"....things haven't worked out to a champsionship, but we're not the Atlanta Hawks for crying out loud.

DWHS- I believe he was asked about Donnie and how his knowledge of international game might have helped if he were in his coaching staff. The "me the greatest" coach confused Donnie for Nellie and came up with an answer that is an 'as unprofessional jab' at a fellow coach as any I have seen recently. It's also an indirect jab at Cuban and his team, whom he so openly despises.

[vinnieponte]

I dislike his comments as much as anyone else, yet to play devils advocate we must relize that he is a great coach whom by the way has a ring and is coaching the olympics while we sit here every offseason after a loss. He has credit from a coaching standpoint, more so than our side yet personally he better keep the blows above the belt.

[LRB]

Brown's comments were pretty uncalled for. It's not like Donnie has been campaigning for Brown's job. He should be able to defend himself without disparaging Donnie and the Mavs.

[Nash13]

He should be able to defend himself without disparaging Donnie and the Mavs.

Has he ever defended himself without dissing someone else?

[Evilmav2]

Larry Brown's Blame Game

Wednesday, August 18, 2004
By Adrian Wojnarowski
Special to ESPN.com

ATHENS, Greece -- The biggest ego in the United States basketball locker room stayed true to his character, with Larry Brown bringing that old college and pro act to the Olympic Games. He is planning his getaway, selling out those above and below him, spreading the blame for this U.S. basketball disaster to the executives above and players below.

The Travelin' Man is running again, running out on his bosses, his players, and setting the stage for his own absolution when his legacy leaves him without the coaching gold medal to hang with his NBA and NCAA championships. He's the best coach on the planet, but owning a selfish streak to rival his prodigious basketball genius.

In the wake of the 77-71 victory over Greece on Tuesday, the Travelin' Man had on his running shoes, blaming the officiating, the NBA and USA Basketball executives that picked his team, his players' unwillingness to assume complementary roles and the sad state of American shooting.

Brown has started on a calculated campaign to disavow himself of blame when the U.S. fails to win the gold medal. If they lose, he has successfully established that he had nothing to do with it. Yet, if they do, well, then we'll all celebrate the genius of the great Larry Brown, the earnest pupil of Dean Smith beating back the odds and teaching those wayward pros how to play the "right way" for the red, white and blue.

When asked about shortening his bench and using few players in the rotation, Brown said, "Other teams accept it a lot better than our team would. We've got to be really careful when selecting our team. To find role players in our environment is the way to go, but not the way we've been making teams."

His players' commitment?

"We're trying to entertain sometimes rather than play."

Bad shot selection?

"I think that was the first comment I made to our team, without trying to be too offensive."

International officiating?

"Unpredictable."

His message is clear: I'm flying solo for the U.S. of A.

Listen, he makes valid points. But that's not the issue. It is useless for him to sit there now and just rip everyone and everything when he's been hired to do a job. This isn't his fiefdom with an NBA franchise; it's the United States Olympic men's basketball team. The sacrifice he's asking his players to make for the greater cause is one he won't do himself. Sometimes, you've got to stand there and take the hits. Sometimes, you've got to protect your people. He won't do it. USA Basketball is getting killed for this team, and Brown just piled on with the rest of the country.

All these U.S. players America wants to call malcontents and uninterested don't come close to comparing with Brown. He's the biggest headcase of them all.

This wasn't the time for his self-serving, This Won't Be My Fault When We Lose speeches. This is his way of pushing back from the table, excusing himself and leaving everyone else with the bill. The United States has never been so desperate for a unifying voice, so desperate for a leader to rise in the chaos.

If Brown is so frustrated with the willingness of pros to take complementary roles, perhaps he should've worked harder to talk his two championship Pistons, Richard Hamilton and Ben Wallace, into honoring invitations to the Games. Hamilton is the master of working away from the ball, the jump shooter, which is so vital for international basketball. Wallace is the perfect insurance to make sure the U.S. isn't exposed inside when "the unpredictable officiating" has Tim Duncan on the bench with fouls.

Most of the roster had been met with his approval. He was without a vote, but a powerbroker in the process. The biggest mistake the committee made was choosing Emeka Okafor of Connecticut as the final man on the roster, when Milwaukee sharp shooter Michael Redd was needed to combat these zone defenses that have led to the United States missing 38 of 45 3-pointers in its first two Olympic games. There was no need to bring that team GPA up, when they could've used some 3-point shooting.

The coach's campaign for absolution started before the victory over Greece, in the hours after the pounding Puerto Rico delivered to the U.S. Hey, Brown was saying, I can't coach effort. One member of the USA Basketball executive committee, Rod Thorn, wasn't directly responding to Brown's words but said, "I was there, and effort wasn't a problem against Puerto Rico. We just didn't make any shots."

He was right, too.

Between now and the next U.S. game with Australia on Thursday (7:30 a.m. ET), Brown needs to understand the Americans won't win the gold medal unless he plays the second-best player on the U.S., LeBron James, bigger and better minutes.

For all the groaning over the eroding fundamentals of American players, James has a complete and compelling game of shooting, passing and poise. The ball needs to get into James' hands, and out of Stephon Marbury's. Brown didn't stay in his news conference long enough to answer a question about his unwillingness to play James extended minutes, but then, that didn't serve his own interests.

He ripped the construction of his roster, ripped his players, and his message had been delivered. This has nothing to do with me. Unless we win, of course.

They're struggling with selfishness on the Olympic team and struggling to share the ball, the stage and the pursuit of glory in these Games. And it all starts with Larry Brown, no matter how fast he's trying to run from this team, no matter how obsessed he's become with self-preservation.

The Travelin' Man is plotting one more escape, one more end-run out of a job. Larry Brown is with the U.S., all the way: Win or win. Just like old times.

Adrian Wojnarowski is a columnist for The Record and a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at ESPNWoj8@aol.com.

[Chiwas]

Brown shouldn't talk till he gets the Gold medal.

He has the best players and the pretext of the 10 practices sounds like ... a pretext.

[madape]

How do you spell word-wide humiliation? L-A-R-R-Y B-R-O-W-N.

[StvNash13]

Man, I can't wait until the first Dallas-Detroit game when we pound the shit out of them. Oh, man, this is gonna be great. Nellie should let Donnie coach the game just for laughs.

[V2M]

Originally posted by: vinnieponte
I dislike his comments as much as anyone else, yet to play devils advocate we must relize that he is a great coach whom by the way has a ring and is coaching the olympics while we sit here every offseason after a loss. He has credit from a coaching standpoint, more so than our side yet personally he better keep the blows above the belt.

He didn't win the ring... he just walked into it with a team constructed to win by Joe Dumars & Rick Carlisle.

[rakesh.s]

Originally posted by: V2M

He didn't win the ring... he just walked into it with a team constructed to win by Joe Dumars & Rick Carlisle.

i think rick carlisle would've won too if he had rasheed wallace..take away wallace and that team would've been swept by indiana with or without j o'neal hurt, regardless of the coach

[sike]

Originally posted by: Murphy3

I was curious as to if anyone else noticed this....

I'm sure Brown thought the reporter meant Big whistle....

[V2M]

I found this at Indystar.com today. Yet another example of what a self-serving character that he is.

================

Bob Kravitz
Brown needs to look on bright side

August 20, 2004

ATHENS, Greece -- Why doesn't Larry Brown just go home? No, really, why not take the next flight back to the States and spend quality time with the Larry O'Brien Trophy?

The man is miserable here. Maybe not as miserable as Carmelo Anthony, who has been banished to the end of the U.S. bench and is vying for the gold medal in pouting. But Brown, who could go to heaven and complain about the altitude, is seriously gloomy, even by his usually dour standards.

After the United States' 10-point come-from-behind victory over Australia on Thursday, Brown was asked if he believed his players were starting to buy into the Olympic experience.

This was his soliloquy:

"Yeah, but we don't have them all," he said. "But I think they're starting to care about each other and understand the importance of representing our country and doing the right thing."

He could have stopped there.

But didn't.

"It's not easy for these guys," he continued. "A lot of these young people have never been coached. They've never sat on the bench. They've never had to assume a role with a team other than the guy who scores the ball and gets all the shots. So it's been an adjustment for a lot of people, but I think they're trying to come together."

He could have stopped there, too. But didn't.

"And then playing against the people we play, seeing the passion all the teams in this tournament show for their teammates and their sport, that's a lesson and we can learn from that," Brown said. "Just watching them warm up, how they respond to each other, it's a beautiful thing."

Done yet?

Nope.

"People back home, they talk about, 'Wow, we've got all this talent.' They've got basketball players. We've got athletes. They've got kids who are truly committed to being a part of a team, and the Olympic experience is the biggest thing in the world to them. And I'm hopeful with this experience, some of these kids will understand that."

Wow.

Brown couldn't distance himself further from this team if he caught the 9:20 bus to Thessaloniki.

Is Argentina looking for a coach in 2008?

This isn't a little bit self-serving.

This is a lot self-serving.

It's the perfect setup: When Larry Brown's plucky Americans come around and beat those mighty Serbians and Spaniards and win the gold medal, he will be remembered as the man who whipped this strange and disparate group into Olympic champions and the pride of a nation.

Granted, there is some truth to Brown's criticisms, which have been relentless since the team's opening-game loss to Puerto Rico. In that game, his team didn't play hard. And he does have at least one player, Anthony, who has mentally checked out. Anthony played just two minutes against Australia and then announced, "I've got 2008 and maybe even 2012."

The past two games, though, the effort has been unquestioned. Allen Iverson, for one, is playing through a fractured thumb. And a lack of teamwork? When most of the starters were on the bench down the stretch against Australia, all of them were standing and loudly cheering their teammates.

The problem with this team, as everybody knows, is its composition. They can't shoot from the perimeter. Three-pointers? They're 10-for-62 in three games.

"They've got to make jump shots if they're going to win the gold," said Aussie guard Shane Heal. "Everyone will play them roughly the same way, just pack in the zone, and make them make jumpers. And they really haven't done that so far in this tournament."

At least one player inspired something of a smile from Brown: LeBron James. As this tournament has unfolded, it has become clear that A) James needs to play more and B) he's not only the future of the NBA, he's the future of America's Olympic effort.

James came off the bench and changed the game against Greece, and he did it again Thursday against the Aussies. He did it with defense, actually stepping out on Australia's 3-point shooters. And he did it with his passing, making the all-too-rare entry pass to Tim Duncan.

So, Brown was asked, how about James' play?

"The biggest challenges coaches have today on our level is to have guys who think coaching is coaching and not criticism," Brown said. "And I find with him, sometimes he has a hard time looking at me because of how he might be perceived by certain people, but he listens to everything I say. And that's tremendous.

"I have to be relentless about coaching these kids, whether they want it or not. Because I think deep down, if they know you care, they're going to listen. And that is a challenge with this group right now."

Enough, Larry.

Enough.

Bob Kravitz is a columnist for The Indianapolis Star. Call him at (317) 444-6643 or e-mail bob.kravitz@indystar.com

[Chiwas]

"He has enough trouble coaching Dallas," Brown said.

Who has enough trouble coaching who?

[V2M]

For the "great" coach that he supposedly is, I can't believe he's playing Marbury over Lebron or Wade in tight situations during the 4th quarter. Granted none of 'em can shoot an outside jumper, at least Wade & Lebron are taller, more athletic and playing defense. They are also penetrating and dishing better than Marbury.

On this team, over the last 4 games, I haven't seen Marbury hit an outside shot, play an iota of defense, or pass. How could the best player in the world (Duncan) not get a shot for multiple quarters at a stretch?

I don't blame the players as they seem to put the effort needed to win every game. True, they can't shoot well but there are other ways to win and this coaching staff don't seem to get it. What a "great" coach he is?! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

[FishForLunch]

US lost to Lithuania, and interestingly Donnie was the Assistant Head Coach for that Team even thopugh he was sitting this game out.

[DubOverdose]

I was happy that Lithuania beat the US. It proves Larry Brown is a douche. What was that Larry? Oh, I thought you dissed the Mavs and Donnie, yet Donnie's less talented team just beat your team full of some of the best players in the world. I guess Larry Brown forgot that Donnie is head of basketball operations and isn't the screwy one with whacky ideas. Even if he meant to diss Nelson, did he forget who has more wins and how he coached the Mavs in to being an overachieving team a few years ago? Did he forget that Nelson has won coach of the year a few times I believe? Did he forget that Nelson coached the Mavs into a 60 win season in 02-03 and made it to the WESTERN conference finals? I'd like to see his Pistons make it to the Finals the same way the Lakers had to last year. Houston then Spurs, THEN TWolves.