Basketball: Larry Brown canned in favor of Isiah Thomas

The New York Knicks announced yesterday that coach Larry Brown had been fired and replaced by General Manager Isiah Thomas. Brown had only coached for one year in New York and the Knicks had finished with an NBA-worst 23-59 record. He still has four years and $40 million left his contract. The Knicks are already saying that they are not paying him that full amount, and that they want commissioner David Stern to arbitrate a settlement.

This is yet another episode in a long list of ugly experiences for Brown. Although he has been successful, he continues to exit jobs in an unfriendly manner. In Brown's six coaching jobs since leaving the University of Kansas in 1989, he has either quit or been fired from each job with time left on the contract. Every team has had to pay some or all of his remaining salary after he had left the team.

Thomas is the head coach right now, but not too many people outside New York have faith in him. Richard Justice, the NBA correspondent to ESPN, said, "He is the most unhireable man in the NBA other than the two jobs he currently holds." The Knicks are a wreck, with incompatible talent and salaries through the roof. How long can Isiah last?

[Edited on 6/25/06 by BirdstheBest]

Isaiah Thomas is an idiot. The Knicks hav dug them selves even deeper into their ditch. They've had player personnel issues for years, but now they've added front office personnel issues.

Flouder, I gotta agree with you there, buddy. Thgis team will do nothing but your name for many years to come.

Well, they might founder, in addition to floundering.

Yeah, they will do BOTH next year.

With the Knicks' salary cap issues, I think they just need to clear house. Get rid of all the big salary guys and just start over. This team has too many players who are just incompatible with each other--and with Isiah Thomas.

The Knicks have to be the biggest mess in all of professional sports, and you can lay virtually all of it at the feet of Isiah. I just knew there was no way Brown and Thomas could co-exist (actually I believe somewhere I posted Brown, Thomas, and Marbury).

Thomas is reaping what he sowed. Let him coach 'em. Use "The Quick" and see how it goes. This is gonna be a train wreck. The Knicks will suck big-time for the foreseeable future. And I can't say that saddens me.

Originally posted by yeahright

This is gonna be a train wreck. The Knicks will suck big-time for the foreseeable future. And I can't say that saddens me.

Why would you let this bother you? There are plenty of teams out there that can pick up the slack left in thier void.

The Knicks' owner said that Thomas is going to be given one year to turn things around. ONE YEAR!!! Larry Brown, a coach known for turning franchises around quickly, only won 23 games last year with New York. What do you think the owner is saying? Is he implying that the Knicks must finish above .500? Or will he be satisfied with a 10 game increase?

I'm pretty sure that Thomas will toast in 2007.

He'll be lucky to get 10 games better, IMO.

Maybe he ran Brown out of town in reprisal for Bird running him out of town in Indy?

That's a good point. I always thought that Thomas was just a bit racist. He never liked the fact that Bird got so much attention and was hailed as the superstar he wasn't. Maybe he was acting out the revenge on Bird in the person of Larry Brown.

If I remember correctly, didn't Isiah replace Brown in Indy? There may have still been some animosity from that particluar move, too...

Ya know, I'm not a big fan of Brown-the-person, but it's pretty hard to argue with the results Brown-the-coach gets.

As for Thomas-the-coach, Thomas-the-GM or Thomas-the-league-president, well, ya gotta give the guy this: He's consistent. A consistent disaster area. And I agree with every shot that's been taken at Thomas-the-person on this thread. Maybe the most dislikeable, destructive major star in the last 30 years of pro basketball, as well as the one who's done the most to ruin the game.

BHN

I think it's time larry Brown threw in the towel anyway. He was a great coach, and he should retire now. I don't want to see him drag out his career like so many athletes that ended up tarnishing some of their accomplishments.

But the owner made this decision, and now he's putting a lot of pressure on Isiah by giving him this position and demanding change immediately. I don't know how much influence he had on the owner's decision.

Isiah's off to a flyin' start. He drafted a guy not even listed in the NBA's guide to the 123 top prospects. Now maybe Isiah's just smarter than everybody else.

Yeah. Right.

In the meantime, Brown's suing the Knicks to be paid the 40 mil remaining on his salary. What a sweet gig. I'd like to get fired and 1/100th of that. And I think I had a better year than Larry.