The New York Knicks made it official today, announcing they were buying out the contract of head coach Larry Brown and turning the coaching reigns over to GM Isiah Thomas.
Brown was hired 11 months ago. At that time, he said he was taking over his dream job, having grown up rooting for Red Holtzman's great Knicks teams of the late 60s and early 70s.
Brown's dream quickly turned into a nightmare as the team fell into disarray and lost 59 games. He also had well publicized spats with players who refused to buy into his defense-oriented system and with team owner James Dolan.
Dolan released a statement today saying, 'We hired him last summer with the expectations that he would be with the Knicks for a long time. Sometimes decisions work and sometimes they don't. Despite the best intentions of everyone involved, this current structure did not work for us last season, and I did not think it was going to improve next season.'
GM Isiah Thomas, who has many critics of his own, will now take over as coach. Thomas will coach the team he, himself put together. Brown had asked Thomas to make major roster revisions before next season but Thomas refused and said it was nearly impossible given the Knicks $125 million payroll, the highest in the league.
Thomas released a statement saying, 'No one in our organization is happy with last season, and we all accept responsibility for our performance. Today begins the 2006-07 season for the Knicks, and I strongly believe we are on the right track to take major steps in our rebuilding process to achieve our goal of being one of the premier teams in the NBA. Larry Brown is a great coach, but for various reasons, bringing him to the Knicks did not turn out the way we hoped.'
Brown remains the only coach to win an NBA title and an NCAA championship and is already in the Basketball Hall of Fame. He is still due to receive another $40 million under his present contract. The Knicks are seeking to void the contract by claiming Brown violated team policy by attempting to make trades and by talking to reporters outside the presence of a team public relations person. They have asked NBA Commissioner David Stern to mediate the dispute.
