Yardbarker: Larry Brown

Improving Defense Has Larry Brown's Bobcats Thinking Playoffs

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:11:15 -0500

Don't look now, but Larry Brown and the Charlotte Bobcats are on the verge of making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history (OK, short history), and in Larry Brown's first year as head coach. OK, with a record of 34-40 we're not talking the greatest turnaround ever, but I certainly think Brown should be given credit for making them competitive, even if they don't end up making the playoffs (currently 1 game out of 8th spot).

Yesterday's home win over the Lakers (making a season sweep) proves that the Bobcats have improved dramatically. First and foremost, what Brown has brought to the Bobcats has been defensive consistency. The trade to bring Raja Bell gave Brown the kind of scrappy defender that he can depend on night in and night out to defend the opponents' best player, in this case Kobe Bryant. Here are a few great defensive sequences from the first half,

Raja Bell is a big reason for the Bobcats improved defense. But I wanted to highlight a couple of defensive tactics I noticed the Bobcats doing that most other NBA teams don't really do.

Pick up Full Court:

We know that full court presses aren't used much in the NBA because of the athleticism and unnecessary fatigue factor. But I like what the Bobcats do by putting token pressure on the primary ball-handler full-court. It's not really designed to increase turnovers per se (Lakers actually won the turnover battle 16-10), but it accomplishes 2 things:

1. Forces your players to be accountable on defense at all times
2. Dictates tempo

Defending the Inbounds:

You see this more in college, with teams like Tennessee and Gonzaga really putting pressure on the inbounds. But unlike the full court press, I think aggressive pressure on the inbounds is something that translates well to the pro level. Especially in the NBA, where a lot of teams take for granted that the ball will be inbounded,

Summary:

Just some great quotes from an article at the Winston Salem Journal a couple of weeks ago about Larry Brown:"We have values that we hope everybody understands about sharing the ball and rebounding. I think not everybody buys into it right away. For some, you demand a lot. And I don't let up."

Just ask Raymond Felton. Because few can see the court like Brown does, point guards often take the brunt of his rants, leading to his famous run-ins with Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury.

"It was tough," Felton said. "He was on top of me. He's still on top of me now. But it was just one of those things where he was drilling me, drilling me, drilling me."

But Brown acknowledged he backed off some when he saw Felton internalize the criticism. Bell believes it shows Brown has mellowed since he last played for him in Philadelphia.

"I used to try to treat (players) 1 and 15 exactly alike because that's the way I was taught with Coach (Dean) Smith and Coach (Frank) McGuire," said Brown, a 5-foot-9 point guard at North Carolina in the early 1960s. "I always thought it was really important for everybody on the team to be treated the same. Now I realize people are different, so I've tried to understand that."
The NBA is a league of stars and currently the Bobcats don't really have any. Nobody has any illusions that this team will beat a Cleveland or a Boston (they play tonight actually) in a 7-game series. But the Bobcats are one or two key free-agent acquisitions away from becoming a top Eastern Conference team.

If you are a Bobcats fan or Coach Brown fan, take a look at Larry Brown's DVD on Secondary Break and Pick and Roll Offense. Discuss this and the rest of your favorite basketball topics at the X's and O's Basketball Forum.

Supergames I & II: The 1971 and 1972 NBA-ABA All-Star Games

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:37:23 -0500

A slightly different version of this article was originally published in the October 2004 issue of Basketball Digest.

The Forgotten Dream Teams

The 1992 U.S. Olympic "Dream Team" is considered to be the best basketball team ever assembled; ten of its twelve members are on the NBA's 50 Greatest Players list.

In 1971 and 1972, two ABA All-Star teams comprised mostly of unheralded players nearly beat NBA All-Star teams whose rosters contained some of basketball's most legendary figures

Quiz: Down Memory Lane with Larry Brown

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:22:15 -0500

Larry Brown played for five professional basketball teams (all ABA) and is now coaching his tenth. That man gets around! Can you name every city/team Larry Brown has been associated with over the last 40 years? You have four minutes. Go!

Hall of Fame Words of Wisdom, Part I

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 09:00:16 -0500

How do you summarize a lifetime of work, struggle and sacrifice in just a few short minutes? Each of the 2008 Basketball Hall of Fame inductees faced that challenge on Friday night. Here are some words of wisdom by--and about--people who reached the pinnacle of success: Adrian Dantley During the video recap of Dantley's career, Morgan Wootten--Dantley's high school coach and a Hall of Famer in his own right--praised Dantley's work ethic, noting that Dantley "began the weight (lifting) program at DeMatha High School...I knew he was really special when on Christmas Day there was a knock on my front door and it was Adrian. He said, 'Coach, I need the key to the gym. I got to work out.'" Hall of Famer Chuck Daly, who coached Dantley in Detroit, noted that Dantley's ability to draw fouls enabled the Pistons to slow the game down and set up their stifling half court defense. Of course, a player who draws fouls also creates foul trouble for the opponents and provides scoring opportunities for his teammates by getting the opponent into the penalty situation. Hall of Famer Joe Dumars, Dantley's teammate on the Detroit Pistons from 1986-89, spoke in almost reverential terms about Dantley: "I think he was the most disciplined player I've ever been around in my life--did not deviate from his rituals, from his preparation, from what he ate, from what he drank, from what time he went to bed...I was a young, young guy in the league. He was truly a teacher for me personally. I was as close to him as I have been with any teammate I ever had." The Pistons traded Dantley midway through what turned out to be the first of back to back championship seasons but Dumars insists that Dantley played a vital role in Detroit's success: "I think that every guy you would talk to from those teams back then would tell you that he helped prepare us to be World Champions with his focus, with his preparation, with his professionalism, with his discipline. Those are all things that you need to become a World Champion and he embodied all of those things. He was around us, he showed those things day in and day out and other guys picked up on it. By the time we went on to win a World Championship he had ingrained those things into our team." Dantley began his speech by noting that he and fellow inductee Cathy Rush have something in common: "We waited and waited and waited" to receive the Hall of Fame call. He then said, "My entire basketball career has been based on my coach, Morgan Wootten. He taught me the fundamentals of the game, respect for the game and the right way to play the game." Dantley identified some early influences on his game: "I patterned my first step after my idol, Elgin Baylor. I copied Chet Walker's head and pump fakes and everybody always went for them; I scored a lot of points on that move. I remember as a ninth grader meeting Red Auerbach. He said, 'John Havlicek weighs 205. You should weigh 210.' My best years as a player (were) when I weighed 210 pounds." Dantley concluded, "The road to the Hall of Fame has not been easy or smooth. I had to remain focused through the changes and the trades while constantly proving that I belong in this game. But I believed in myself...Throughout my playing career, the critics said that I was too short, too fat and too slow. After being named the MVP at the prestigious Dapper Dan (Roundball Classic), I was told that I was too short and that meant that short players get short money--and this was said by someone 5-2. It was even said that I was a 'bastard' size--b-a-s-t-a-r-d--because I wasn't quick enough to play in the backcourt and not big enough to play in the frontcourt. But what they forgot to mention is that I had a b-r-a-i-n, a brain--and a heart and a work ethic and a will to win. These values served me on the basketball court and in the game of life...This is a day that I will always cherish." Cathy Rush Host Mike Breen noted, "Cathy Rush turned a small school named Immaculata into a national powerhouse." Rush compiled a 149-15 (.908) record at Immaculata, winning three straight AIAW national championships (1972-74). Immaculata barely had an enrollment of 500 students and yet prevailed against the biggest powers in women's basketball. Hall of Fame Coach Geno Auriemma compared this to "your local community college beating the Lakers." Rush also ran summer camps that were the place to be for young female basketball players during that era. Rush's Immaculata players coached at the camps, spreading Rush's knowledge to the next generation. Theresa Grentz, an Immaculata player who became the all-time winningest coach at Illinois, said, "The (Immaculata) players were able to go to the summer camps and teach what we learned all year. Doing that, we became better players and I think that is one of the reasons that so many of us went into coaching afterwards." Rush opened her remarks by joking, "Adrian, you wrecked the beginning of my speech," adding that Dantley made it in on the seventh try as a finalist while she made it in on the sixth try. She said, "I haven't coached for 31 years. Sometimes, when my sons aren't around, I don't admit to being that old--31 years and yet all of these wonderful people are bringing back memories from those wonderful years, and they were wonderful. So my line, before Adrian stole it, was, 'In so many ways we are the same and yet in so many ways we are so different.'" When Rush started coaching at Immaculata, the school had no home gym, the players had one set of uniforms that they wore all year and they were responsible for finding their own transportation to the games--which of course were all played on the road. In 1972, Immaculata did not have enough money to send the entire team to the national tournament, so three of the 11 players did not make the trip. Rush recalled, "The team we beat in the national tournament had beaten us the week before by 42 points. People asked, 'How did you win that game?' Coaching." Rush paused for a beat before continuing with a smile, "They didn't ask how we lost the first one by 42 points." Rush said, "I accept this honor, really, for all of the women who coached and played so many years ago and have been forgotten, whose scores and skill have never been brought to the fore but they played for the love of the game." William Davidson Davidson is the first pro sports owner to win championships in three different leagues--NBA (Pistons), WNBA (Shock) and NHL (Lightning)-- but Breen declared, "His impact can be measured not just by championship banners but by the contributions he's made to his sport and the admiration he's earned throughout the basketball world." NBA Commissioner David Stern said, "Bill Davidson has been a successful owner because he believes in hiring the right people and then having them do the job that they were hired to do." Pistons CEO Tom Wilson made a very interesting observation: "A lot of people say that you are great if you give your employees an opportunity to succeed but more importantly he gives you the ability to fail without second guessing because he knows that if you are the right person--they person he's picked out for the job--then you will learn from this and be better for it." Stern added, "The Palace at Auburn Hills was really a pioneer. It said that you can have this great building, you can have plenty of suites, you can have great seating and it's a worthy investment. Really, it began a 25 year run that is going to have resulted in every (NBA) building being rebuilt or remodeled." Daly said, "Ultimately he made all the changes necessary to win championships. I won two and Larry Brown won one. That's pretty good." Dumars said, "When someone is a trail blazer, an innovator, a risk taker, that person should be recognized. If any owner deserves to be in there, it's this guy here, Bill Davidson." Davidson came on to the stage in a wheelchair but he spoke without notes and with a strong, clear voice: "I want to first thank the Hall for this great honor and what it means to me. It is one of the things that kind of captivates my life. When I listened to Senator McCain's speech last night, one of the things that stood out was the fact that he started out as a brash young man and then realized when he had his experience in Vietnam that he had to have people help him. As you grow older, your ego doesn't disappear but it retreats and what you really want as you begin to hit your 60s and 70s is to help other people." Davidson recalled that when he bought the Pistons in 1974 the leadership of the NBA was too passive and that he felt that a stronger, more aggressive stance was necessary in order for the league to grow. This did not take place until Stern became the league's legal counsel and then its commissioner. Now, Davidson, said with pride, the NBA is an internationally known brand name in a way that very few organizations can truly claim to be. Part II will discuss Hakeem Olajuwon, Dick Vitale, Patrick Ewing and Pat Riley.

USA Basketball Wins Gold

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 08:24:17 -0500

I'm sure nobody stayed up to watch it but the U.S. actually had a close game against Spain. They were only up 4 late in the 4th quarter when Spain just started getting frustrated and taking stupid technical fouls. But now, order is restored and the U.S. is once again on top of the basketball world. Huge props to Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski getting this team to play hard. Not difficult to figure out that if you can get a bunch of guys playing together for extended periods of ...

Bye Bye, Flip...Hello, Avery?

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:50:05 -0500

Despite a 64-18 record (and an Eastern Conference Finals exit) in 2007-2008, the Detroit Pistons decided to part ways with Flip Saunders today. While with the Pistons, Saunders had 176 wins to only 70 losses, but lost in the Eastern Conference Finals each year. Apparently he couldn't quite stack up to his predecessor, Larry Brown, who made - and once won - the NBA Finals in two years as head coach. Wouldn't it make sense for the Pistons to bring Avery Johnson on board? He brings th...

Larry Brown To Coach Bobcats; Will He Bring Back Rainbow Sweater?

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:47:04 -0500

Sources are reporting that Larry Brown is set to become the Charlotte Bobcats' next coach. While this will be his 9th time as head honcho of an NBA club, it won't be the first time Brown has coached pro ball in Carolina. In fact, Larry's first head coaching gig was with the Carolina Cougars of the ABA - where he roamed the sidelines in a sweet rainbow sweater.

Larry Brown: I'm Baaaaaaaack!!!

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:12:14 -0500

Larry Brown is back on the coaching prowl! Take a look at his possible destinations, likely and unlikely, and their ratings based on probability and compatibility.

Scott Skiles in as Bucks' new coach?

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:07:44 -0500

This is still considered a "report," which is journalist-speak for a "strong rumor," but the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is reporting that the Bucks are on the verge of naming Scott Skiles as their new head coach. Regular readers know I'm a Bucks fan, so getting this hire right is especially important to me. Part of me would love to see Larry Brown get the job, but he's pretty flaky and there's a good chance that he wouldn't be around very long. On the ot...

Scott Skiles Fired By Chicago Bulls...Merry Christmas!

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 18:06:07 -0500

Bulls head coach Scott Skiles was fired today by the Bulls John Paxson. Merry Christmas! Paxson is now officially the Grinch, or is he? There has to be a nice buyout in Skiles' contract and could take off for somewhere a lot warmer and sunnier. Already talk on ESPN Radio is maybe Larry Brown will get the call to clean up the

Worst ways to get fired, or at least 5 of them

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:19:06 -0500

When it comes to getting fired, everyone should have Larry Brown's mantra, resign before they can fire you. Unfortunately not everyone has the chance to leave, so the Angry T has come up with 5 of the worst ways to get axed. #6 is the worst, at least the picture is horrible.

Larry Brown ALMOST Coach With The Celtics

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 11:37:15 -0500

Here's an article entitled, "We ALMOST Got To See Larry Brown Punch Doc Rivers In The Face On Live TV", which is hilarious by itself. It's about how Doc Rivers and the Celtics nearly hired Larry Brown to be an Assistant this summer, but Brown eventually turned them down when the Sixers offered him his VP in charge of basketball position. VERY INTERESTING!

Sports Bloggers Can Be Hypocritical, and Lazy

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 22:58:08 -0500

Great post by Larry Brown Sports.