If not for recent circumstances, I'd be pretty damn mad about Pistons coach Larry Brown flirting with the Cleveland Cavaliers and their vacant president's job while his current team is still involved in a playoff series with the Miami Heat.
According to ESPN's Chad Ford, it's already a done deal. Brown will leave the Pistons after their season is finished and become Cleveland's team president. That means ol' Larry's lying when he says that he hasn't talked to the Cavaliers. Choose who you want to believe.
Gee, you think that could be a distraction for the Pistons? As Michael Rosenberg wrote in yesterday's Detroit Free Press, Detroit might be the first team to win a NBA championship in spite of its coach.
The Pistons players deserve all the credit for this one. They ignored the incredibly selfish acts of their coach; they ignored his half-truths and the speculation about his future; they ignored him, period, except during the game.
On his blog, Terry Foster writes that the Pistons knew what they were getting into when they hired Brown - who's notoriously high maintenance, nomadic, and something of a drama queen - and might already have his replacement on tap. As always, Joe Dumars knows what he's doing. Your new Pistons coach? Former Minnesota Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders.
But the whole thing still stinks. Anyone has the right to look for another job, of course, but how about displaying some professionalism and waiting until business is finished with your current team before accepting the next job? How about living up to the terms of your contract? And it's not like Brown has a bad job right now. Last I checked, the Pistons were defending NBA champions. They might win another championship this year if this garbage doesn't get in the way. Salon's King Kaufman has it right: Brown's just a jerk.
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