Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 25, 1992 TAG: 9202250112
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: SAMANTHA STEVENSON THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Long
CLIPPERS' STAR BORN OVERNIGHT
For years, the Los Angeles Clippers have been waiting for a standing ovation from a sellout crowd. It finally happened last Friday night, when the team took the floor against the Portland Trail Blazers.It wasn't so much that Portland, with the best record in the NBA's Western Conference, had come to Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, or even that the Clippers had a five-game winning streak. No, the crowd was crazy for a new head coach, Larry Brown.
"Larry is one of the great teachers and great motivators to young players," said Billy Crystal, who had taken time off from directing a movie to see his boyhood friend from Long Beach, N.Y. "That's what has been missing on the Clippers. They are moving the ball more than they have the last two seasons. Better than they have in a long time, and I've been here four years."
Many of the spectators were probably hoping that Brown's Clippers would win forever. But the Trail Blazers, hitting a season-high 12 3-point shots, including six in the fourth quarter, earned a 123-116 victory, and Brown had his first loss as the Los Angeles coach.
After the game, Brown said he thought that the Clippers had played great and that he would take the good and build on it. The problem, Brown said, was the rebounding, but there would be plenty of time to teach, because that is what has kept him moving since he began coaching in 1972.
Brown, who was a college star at North Carolina in the early 1960s and a pro player in the American Basketball Association for five seasons, has been widely criticized for being a high-priced itinerant; since he has been a head coach, this is his seventh team. But he makes no apologies for his pursuit of the perfect coaching job.
"I don't think there is anything wrong with that," he said. "Ask most people. They would want things perfect."
After a less-than-perfect departure from the San Antonio Spurs on Jan. 21, Brown signed a five-year contract with the Clippers on Feb. 6. The pact is reportedly worth $750,000 a year plus incentives, which would make him the second-highest-paid coach in the NBA, trailing Pat Riley's $1.2 million salary with the New York Knicks.
Brown, who replaced Mike Schuler, became the 15th coach in the 22-year history of the franchise, which also had incarnations as the Buffalo Braves and the San Diego Clippers. His parting of ways with the Spurs represented the first time he had ever been dismissed through stints with, in order, the Carolina Cougars of the ABA, the Denver Nuggets, UCLA, the New Jersey Nets and the University of Kansas.
"I've never been fired before," Brown said. "My dignity and pride . . . well, it was pretty damaging."
But Brown isn't going to let it get him down. What better place to end up at age 51, unmarried and rich, than in Los Angeles, where who sits at courtside is almost as important as who's on the floor.
"I don't plan on coming in here and stealing L.A. from the Lakers," said Brown, who is twice divorced with three adult daughters. "What Pat did and what Jerry West and Magic did - well, anybody compared to them will fall short."
But Brown, even with his cross-country hopscotching, has earned his reputation as an effective coach. No one is underestimating what he can do to help a franchise that hasn't won more than 32 games in an 82-game NBA season since moving to Los Angeles in 1984. On Saturday, the Clippers (27-27) lost 130-112 to the Suns in Phoenix. They next play tonight, at home against Utah.
Since Brown's arrival, Clippers ticket sales have risen 20 percent, and the club has sold 400 season tickets.
"The fans want another winner in L.A.," said Doc Rivers, the Clippers' veteran guard. "We want to keep guys like Billy Crystal as our fans. We're a blue-collar team. We don't want the glitzy fans from across town. But it will happen. They will come and buy all the nice seats."
Brown has won division titles in the ABA and the NBA, he took UCLA to the national title game, and he won the college championship with Kansas in 1988.
"I wouldn't have taken this job if I didn't think I could be successful," Brown said of his latest post. "I said I would come here because this will give me a chance to evaluate your people, establish a type of game, an unselfishness and a work ethic."
One Clipper, 6-foot-10 forward Danny Manning, was the star of that 1988 champion Kansas team. Brown has said that Manning is "like a son" to him. But despite the close relationship he developed with Brown, Manning shows the maturity of a professional by mixing in praise for Schuler with praise for his once and present coach.
"Our style of play has changed," Manning said of the Clippers. "A lot of points are scored. We shoot the ball, take advantage of our athletic ability, and we play defense. People knock Coach Schuler, but he was not that bad, in my opinion.
"Everybody in here is excited and having fun. We love it. Coach Brown knows the game so well. He's a teacher. He knows what he's doing."
From the moment Brown was first considered by Donald Sterling, the team's owner, and Elgin Baylor, the general manager, the Los Angeles staff has had a sense of rightness about Brown. In fact, Sterling thinks his new coach is an artist, "a very creative man who needs a lot of attention, a lot of respect and a lot of understanding." Sterling predicted Brown would be with the Clippers for a decade at least.
But given his past, 10 years would be a long time for Brown. And he has one more coaching goal, one that can't be accomplished in the NBA.
"I would like to stay here for a long period of time, until I know this team every year will be sound and solid," Brown said. "Then, I would like to be a high-school coach.
"I think I would like to go to a prep school or in the inner-city somewhere. I hope I'm in a position financially to do that. I hope I'm in a position personally, to make a difference."
Being happy and making a difference have always been important to Brown, perhaps because his father died of a heart attack when Larry was 7.
Brown grew up in a Long Island apartment above his immigrant grandfather's bakery, Hittelman's, which was famous for its cakes and rolls. Brown would play on an outdoor basketball court until his mother got off work from the bakery and would call him in for the night.
He was always small for his age, but he was athletic.
"The first basketball game I ever saw Larry, he scored 44 points," Crystal recalled. "In our little town of 8,000 people, he was the guy. Larry was 5-9, and for me being 5-7 and a little bit less, he was my hero. There were two things you could hear in Long Beach at night, the waves hitting the shore and Larry Brown dribbling the ball."
Will Brown himself ever be happy?
"My girls are happy I'm here socially," he said of his three daughters, Kristi, 24, Melissa, 20, and Ali, 19. "They thought it would be a good thing. My family is more important to me now. I missed out a lot on not being around them growing up. Now, they are my best friends.
"I told them I wanted to stay out here, and they told me I needed to take this job. I'd love to have another family, and I would love to have a best friend. Aside from that part of it, I want to be a great teacher. That would make me happy."
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