AS usual, Larry Brown took care of basketball business by adopting a coward’s approach in delivering negative reviews and bad news on a player’s doorstep. Instead of notifying Trevor Ariza directly he was demoted from the Knicks’ rotation, Brown alerted the beat writers and let them do his dirty work for him.
Traditionally, if there are good tidings to hark the herald angels sing (more regularly about opposing players than his own), the heralded coach will be out front and center.
On the other hand, when it comes to putting on the uniform of a Bad News Bearer and informing a player he’s being traded, released, suspended, deactivated or demoted, 11 times out of 10 Brown will turn over the burden to the GM, or, in this case, the media. Those who’ve been traded claim Brown wouldn’t so much as shoot them a parting glance on their way out of the locker room and all he had to do was turn his head slightly from what he was doing.
Yet Brown, an expert at avoiding confrontations with his cast of characters (getting into the face of a woman journalist comes easier) but notorious for cracking on them behind their backs at postgame/practice press conferences, states coach-player communication is huge.
This is especially true at, well, every single level: high school, college and the pros. The dam lines of interaction need to be wide open on an everyday basis so there’s no doubt what’s expected and there’s no room for excuses when accountability bursts into play.
So how come so many coaches act as if it’s beneath them to maintain an ongoing dialogue with their players? How come players are so often the last to know about where they stand with the coach? Is it really too much to ask of a coach to be upfront with his players?
How come upper management recurrently overlooks such habitual irrationality and irresponsibility? How come bosses allow coaches to get away with not performing such an elementary sense of duty, something that should be required as part of their job description?
Brown said he didn’t owe Ariza an explanation for washing him out of the rotation. I agree. Still, does that mean it’s forbidden to apply common courtesy? How many times have we heard Brown wax lovingly about his “kids” and how “special” they are?
By continually creepin’ down the back stairs with negative feedback, or no commentary whatsoever, Brown never fails to create bad feelings, friction and mistrust.
More than anything, more than Brown’s histrionics becoming a daily distraction, more than his intolerance for imperfection and impatience for change, more than his egomania for power and lust to wander, more than his players becoming anesthetized to his demand to do as he says not as he does, it’s this alienation that leads to him shifting aimlessly from one franchise to another.
Meanwhile, how would Brown like it if some coach didn’t think enough of Brown’s kid to level with him about his situation? How would he like it if some coach disparaged his kid publicly (a la Stephon Marbury and countless others throughout the years) as opposed to airing his grievances privately?
Come to think of it, how tingly did Brown feel when he read or heard through the puppy mill that Pistons owner Bill Davidson was about to dump his sorry self?
Afterthought: I’m obviously asking too much of Brown. If he can’t be honest with his superiors, how can I expect him to be honest with subordinates?
*
In view of the contention by documentary director Wilfreid Huismann that Cuba’s secret service was behind John F. Kennedy’s assassination, any day now we’ll find out for sure the Patrick Ewing Lottery was fixed.
So, Herman Edwards is thisclose to jilting the Jets and taking the head job in Kansas City. “Why anyone would want to leave the Meadowlands is beyond me,” Bruce Ratner declared.
By my count, Jerome “Jesse” James is the first player since Hot Plate Williams to get suspended for condiments detrimental to the team.
Vin-yard Baker’s former agent, Aaron Badwin, has filed a grievance, claiming his former client owes him big. “I want to see the proof,” Vin-yard said. Then again, notes column castigator Frank Drucker, “When doesn’t Baker want to see the proof?”
My Paper Clips broke my paper heart when they waived Howard Eisley. Steven Spielberg is preparing a video tribute, implicating some country’s government.
This just in: In an effort to achieve fiscal accountability, James Dolan has fired Isiah Thomas and replaced him with Jack Abramoff.