FWD: Larry Brown Comments

[Mister Ghost <mister_ghost@yahoo.com>]

Some interesting stuff from Larry Brown.
Scroll down and see the nice things he has
to say about Schintzius.  He's very 
complimentary toward Dwayne.  Sounds like,
if Schintzius can stay focused, he can be
an excellent addition for the the C's.

> This message is forwarded from the newsgroup
"alt.sports.basketball.nba.phila-76ers".
> 
> ----------- Begin Forwarded Message -----------
> 
> Subject: Text of LB's media conference call
> From: "Steve Wexler" <swexler@voicenet.com>
> 
> Newsgroups: alt.sports.basketball.nba.phila-76ers
> 
> 
> Larry Brown, Philadelphia 76ers
> 1998-99 NBA Coaches Conference Call
> February 1, 1999
> 
> Opening Statement, Larry Brown: 
> We came to training camp, I think, in reasonably good shape. We have a
> lot of new people and a lot of young people. We had a practice right
> after University of Massachusetts practiced prior to a Temple game and
> I commented to Bruiser Flint (UMass coach) that we were younger than
> his team. So we have a lot of work to do and a short time to do it. I
> think our additions have been pretty good. We got George Lynch, Harvey
> Grant and Matt Geiger and some older guys who we thought would take
> some pressure off of our young kids and be good leaders. They've
> certainly tried to do that. I think with the shortness of the season;
> with the limited time to practice; with the fact that we didn't have
> enough exhibition games or summer, it's gonna be an up-and-down kind
of
> experience for our young people. 
> 
> Q: Could you talk about Allen Iverson's development from what you've
> seen in the few weeks you've been together? Is he more under control
> and more of the leader you would like at point guard? 
> 
> Brown: I don't think it's fair to say Allen's just a point guard. I
> think where we had our most success with him last year was when we had
> Brian Shaw and Eric Snow take some ballhandling responsibility away
> from him. It was much easier for him to get touches and have
> opportunities to score after we moved the defense. We're going to try
> to use him both as a point guard and an off guard offensively. He's
> gotten better. He realizes that he can't just do it by himself and he
> needs to get other people involved. I think he's trying defensively. A
> lot of teams really tried to get him involved defensively, and maybe
> take something away from him down the offensive end. He's making an
> effort to improve in that area. With everybody understanding this
> should be his rookie year, and he's got some young people around him
--
> it puts a lot of pressure on young kids to play well all the time -- I
> think he's grown up a lot. 
> 
> Q: With an eye to the Tim Floyd situation in Chicago. What are some
> subtler pitfalls between college and pro coaching? 
> 
> Brown In the past when I was a college coach and went back to the pros
> and I wasn't away a long time, my adjustment wasn't so great. But when
> I left Kansas and was out of it five years, it was almost like
coaching
> a different sport. I think he's very fortunate that he has a guy
> sitting next to him who's been in the league a long time and I think
> can really help him. The amount of decisions he'll have to make in a
> pro game is so much more than he would even consider in a college
game.
> That's going to be a key. Also, from going from college to pro, most
of
> the time college coaches worry about their team and not the other
team.
> You don't worry about how the other team plays; you're more in tune
> about how your team plays. I think that is a difference because taking
> advantage of match-ups is a big thing. Lastly, the biggest thing I
> found out -- and I really experienced this year with the lockout
when I
> went all over the country watching college coaches coach and sent my
> staffs around -- the first thing my staff said is if we said half the
> stuff college coaches said to their players all our guys would quit. I
> think he's going to have to adjust a little bit on how he deals with
> his players because in college it's coaching and in the pros it's
> criticism. I think you really have to adjust on dealing with that. 
> 
> Q: There are a lot of people who are resigned to believe that Allen
> Iverson will be a shooting guard in a point guard's body. Have you
> given up and tried to get him to be more of a penetrating passer? 
> 
> Brown: I think most people are right that he has such great ability to
> score that if he does it as a point guard when he comes down the
court,
> four guys never touch it. The defense is never in a position where
they
> have to move and he basically has to beat his own man and a lot of
> other people. When he's off the ball in a half-court situation,
usually
> when he receives it, we move the defense and he gets opportunities to
> get some screens. He's tremendous doing that and other people, at
> least, get in the flow. I think we have to figure out a way to do this
> -- where we give him the opportunity and the open court to do the
> things he wants to do. When the defense is set, maybe take him off the
> ball a little bit and I think that would be helpful. This is not a
> negative, him being a point guard with a shooter's mentality. There's
> not a lot of people in our league who can score like him. I think it's
> my job to put him in a position where he's most effective. 
> 
> Q: It looked like Matt (Geiger) had one very good exhibition and one
> not so good exhibition. How is he fitting in and what does he have to
> do? 
> 
> Brown: Well, our team had one very bad exhibition and one very good
> one. The first night he was one for nine and every one of his nine
> shots was a make-able shot. I think our team was really tired. We've
> worked really hard. He's a terrific player for our team. He's very
> unselfish. He works very hard. He can run the floor and he's just a
> good guy. We lost a lot in losing Derrick Coleman. People might not
> agree with me, but he took a lot of pressure off all our guys. He was
> an extra ballhandler and he was a great defensive rebounder. He just
> knew how to play. With Matt, we have a different type of player. He
has
> a little more energy than most big guys. He can play both four and
five
> defensively. I just think we have to try to put him a position where
he
> thinks about scoring just a little bit more. That came easy to
Derrick,
> he could just walk out on the court and get 19 and 10. We need to put
> Matt in a position to shoot the ball a little bit more. That's going
to
> be an adjustment right now. 
> 
> Q: Where do you see Derrick Coleman's strengths and weaknesses playing
> center? 
> 
> Brown: I don't think there are any weaknesses with Derrick. One of the
> problems he told me he had when he played center was he had to guard a
> lot of the bigger people and that was just too hard for him to push
and
> shove with (Dikembe) Mutombo, (Alonzo) Mourning, Patrick Ewing. In the
> East, we have a lot of truly big people. Some of those big centers
were
> a difficult match-up to field. And that put Derrick in the position to
> fight them all the time. He almost looks at himself as a three man
> because he has such great skills to handle a ball and can go out on
the
> floor and shoot it. I don't think he has any shortcomings. I could
> understand where he was coming from. 
> 
> Q: What are your thoughts on pursuing a player with a bit of a
> controversial character? 
> 
> Brown: My feeling is a lot of us have made mistakes in our lives. I
> don't condone what Latrell (Sprewell) did. I thought it was terrible
> for basketball and unfortunate for everyone connected with this sport.
> I think on our level, we have such a responsibility to set a good
> example. He made a mistake and I think he finally said he was sorry
for
> it. He deserves a chance. You can look down any roster in our league
> and just about everybody on every team from players to coaches can say
> they've done something they weren't very happy about. Fortunately, we
> can sometimes forgive and hopefully this is all going to turn out good
> for him and good for everybody. David Stern forgave the referees for a
> mistake. I have a kid on my team who has made some mistakes in his
life
> and he's trying to straighten himself out. There are stories like that
> all over our league. I'm just hopeful it works out for Latrell where
we
> can look back on it and say that's an isolated incident and it's
over. 
> 
> Q: What were your impressions of Dwayne Schintzius? 
> 
> Brown: I coached Dwayne on the World Team, the World Junior team, so
> that was my first experience with him. We kind of had an interesting
> trip and then I drafted him when I was with San Antonio. That probably
> shocked the heck out of him, but I really like the kid. I think he had
> tremendous ability; he knows how to play. His biggest problem is that
> he's never really worked hard. He's never had his priorities in order.
> This is probably his last chance and he's playing for a very demanding
> coach who, I think, will bring out the best in him. I'm hopeful it
> works out because there are very few big people with the skills or the
> understanding of the game he has. His biggest problem is he hasn't in
> the past approached every practice and every game in this profession
in
> a responsible way. I'm hopeful he'll do that because he's really a
good
> guy. 
> 
> Q: How mature is Larry Hughes and when you move Iverson to the off
> guard, will he be capable of handling the point? 
> 
> Brown: I think in time Larry will be able to play point. Right now
> usually the point guard is guarding Allen anyway so his defender is
not
> usually as good on the ball as some of our point guards defensively.
So
> that should help him a little bit. He's mature way beyond his years.
He
> knows how to play and he's got a toughness. He's much further along
> defensively than any of the young kids I've ever coached. But he's got
> to guard Reggie Miller, he's got to guard a Nick Anderson, he's got to
> guard a Sprewell or a Houston or a Mitch Richmond almost every night,
> Steve Smith. He has unbelievable match-ups in our conference and I
> think that's going to be a big challenge for him. 
> 
> Q: Are you looking for Theo Ratliff to blossom even further this
year? 
> 
> Brown: He's coming off knee surgery, so he's been a little bit behind
> in our training camp. He was terrific for us in the end. He was
blessed
> by playing with Derrick Coleman. Derrick, in a lot of cases, played a
> the bigger people, which gave Theo a little more freedom to roam
around
> defensively, block shots. Theo was not a low-post threat. Derrick was
> the guy who we would throw inside and who would create double teams.
> He's very young, he's only played a half a year. He's a tremendous
shot
> blocker and a terrific athlete and I think he'll complement Geiger
very
> well. I think we just have to understand that he's still young and
> still improving. I feel very good that we were able to re-sign him.
> 
> 

==
MG In Exile

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