Brown's new home would be sweeter without Marbury: hey, Larry Brown is no spring chicken. If the Knicks want to make him their next coach, they should do a little something to help the guy out

Sporting News, The, August 5, 2005 by Sean Deveney

Only between the ears of Larry Brown does it make sense to demote oneself from head coach of the Eastern Conference champion Pistons to a spot with the rudderless Knicks. That is like trading a week on the QE2 for a three-hour tour on the S.S. Minnow.

Eventually, Brown will take over in New York. Given his knack for the quick fix, that could mean 45 wins next season, a playoff spot and a healthy dose of job security for Brown's boss-to-be, Isiah Thomas.

But 45 wins likely will mean the East's sixth or seventh seed and a first-round playoff exit. Brown won't be able to fix the fact that the Knicks simply are not elite material.

Unless they take a drastic step, one that looks simple--and even obvious--to veteran Knicks-watchers. If New York wants to succeed with Larry Brown, it will have to get rid of another hometown hero, Stephon Marbury.

Marbury isn't Brown's kind of point guard. He's a scorer. He doesn't shoot well. He holds the ball for ungodly lengths of time. He doesn't do defense. All of these things are true despite the fact that Marbury is coming off the best season of his career, one in which he averaged a career-low 2.8 turnovers and had career-best shooting percentages from the field (.462), foul line (.834) and 3-point line (.354).

They're true despite Brown's track record. In Detroit, Brown took another point guard who wasn't his type--Chauncey Billups--and changed him. He taught Billups to attack immediately on defense to get the ball out of the opposing point guard's hands. He taught Billups to eschew his own offense, and to give up popping 3-pointers on fast breaks. Billups averaged 5.2 assists under Brown after averaging 4.2 before Brown.

But Billups was a midlevel signee for the Pistons, a guy who had been a sixth man in Minnesota and a forgotten man in four other places. He was open to Brown's nagging (er, teaching). It's nearly impossible to imagine Marbury being that open to Brown's philosophy--it didn't happen at the Olympics in Athens, when Brown was coach and Marbury was his only point guard. Marbury struggled before getting hot late. Even when his shot was falling, he clearly was not playing the way Brown wanted, offensively or defensively.

Perhaps Marbury will be open to change--he made a token effort to share the ball more last season. But at his core, Marbury is accustomed to being the show, a big-time star who knows a lot about scoring but not so much about winning. He has a maximum-dollar contract, a tight relationship with Thomas and a high opinion of himself--remember that 'I know I'm the best point guard in the NBA" comment? Does anyone really think Marbury suddenly will submit himself to Brown's "play the right way" doctrine?

Brown is 64. His health has been dodgy. He will do a great favor to Thomas by being crazy enough to coach the Knicks. Thomas should do Brown's health a favor first and trade Marbury, the one player on the roster who will drive Brown even crazier than he already seems.

speed read

New Cleveland G.M. Danny Ferry is having a bang-up offseason, adding Larry Hughes and Donyell Marshall as well as keeping Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Beware: The Cavs have the talent to win the Central.

INSIDE DISH

The Lakers are trying to restrict free-agent contracts to two years in hopes of keeping salary cap space for the summer of 2007. The obvious targets would be young big men such as C Yao Ming and F/C Amare Stoudemire, and it's no secret the Lakers have an eye on signing one of them. That pipe dream will end this summer, when both players sign maximum--dollar extensions and go off the '07 market. It's always wise to save cap space, but in the meantime, the Lakers missed out on G Antonio Daniels because they did not want to include a third year. With Phil Jackson on the sideline for just three years, the Lakers should focus on winning immediately. * With the addition of former Minnesota coach Flip Saunders to the presence of former T-wolves PG Chauncey Billups, speculation persists that the Pistons eventually will trade for one of Billups' best friends--Timberwolves PF Kevin Garnett. Not going to happen. Minnesota has no interest in dealing Garnett. * Having lost SF Bobby Simmons, the Clippers might change their approach with 18-year-old rookie SF Yaroslav Korolev. The Clippers planned for him to go back to Russia for a year or two. But with Simmons gone, there might be room to keep Korolev. The team was encouraged by the way PG Shaun Livingston developed last season after being drafted out of high school, and there's a feeling Korolev could do the same. * Remember PF Sofoklis Schortsanitis, the Greek kid everyone was calling "Baby Shaq" before the 2003 draft? The Clippers chose him in the second round that year. Folks at the recent Vegas Summer League were hoping for a look at him, but visa problems kept him out.