Knicks News: Larry Brown believes honesty with media led to his dismissal

Hall-of-Fame coach Larry Brown believes his tenure with the Knicks ultimately came to an end because of his relationship with the media.

Former New York Knicks coach Larry Brown believes James Dolan is a good owner and accepted a lot of blame for his failure to produce a winning basketball team in New York, but he believes he was fired by the Knicks because of his open relationship with the media.

"“The reason I got fired: they had a media kind of protocol,” Brown said on the Whe’re They At Podcast. “When anybody asked me a question, I tell them truth. They asked the question. I’m not smart enough to think about how this is going to effect somebody […] In Mr. Dolan’s eyes, I didn’t handle the media side very well, and that really disappointed him a lot.”"

The 2001 NBA Coach of the Year was very complimentary of Dolan as an owner, despite their bitter divorce in 2006.

"“In terms of giving me every opportunity to be successful, he would have been there in a minute,” Brown said. “And if I had been able to really sit down and explain to Isiah [Thomas] exactly what I was about, I think it would have been better.”"

Brown took his “dream” job with the Knicks in 2005, after leading the Detroit Pistons to an NBA title one year earlier. The Brooklyn native, who had a history of turning sputtering teams into winners, was returning home to do the same thing with the Knicks.

At the time, four straight losing seasons felt like a lot (the Knicks are currently in their seventh straight losing season over a decade later).

Brown’s tenure with the Knicks didn’t last one calendar year, as he was fired for “just cause” and was forced into court to settle the $41 million remaining on his contract that was only one year into a five-year term when he was dismissed. In the end, Brown netted $28.5 million from the team for his 23-59 performance on the bench.

The Hall-of-Fame coach had a rocky relationship with his star player, Stephon Marbury, and was accused of negotiating trades behind the back of team president Isiah Thomas. Brown talked about the importance of being on the same page with the owner and front office as one of his failures, while saying he should have done a better job communicating his ideas directly to Dolan.

"“Isiah [Thomas] is as bright of a guy as I’ve ever been around in my life, in terms of judging talent, and just his knowledge of the game,” Brown said. “Jim Dolan is one of the most generous owners there ever was. But we never all collaborated together. I could never get my message across to Isiah or Mr. Dolan. I didn’t do a good job.”"

Brown didn’t believe there was a connection between himself, Isiah Thomas, and James Dolan, resulting in the team’s poor performance. He cited the importance of a common vision among the owner, front office, and coaching staff in order to build a winning organization.

"“My thing about the NBA, Brown said. “If you look at a team that’s going to be successful, the head coach, the GM and president, and the owner got to be attached at the hip. You might have differences, and that’s always going to happen when you have opinions from different people. But at the end of the day, there’s only one voice. And the players got to know that.”"

Fourteen years after Brown was fired, it’s amazing to think the Knicks are in a similar position, looking for yet another new coach to lead them through a rebuild.

At least this time the team seems somewhat focused on building through the draft instead of overspending on players like Jerome James.