You're a Good Man, Larry Brown

Mr. Redundant says that the Laker-Sixers N.B.A. Final is a battle between superstars. Shaq and Kobe vs. Iverson and Mutombo. An even greater battle is taking place at the edge of the court though, where Phil Jackson and Larry Brown are quietly waging a tactical war. Who covers Shaq? Who covers Iverson? How can Phil Jackson make it so his face gets more air-time than Jack Nicholson? Pressing questions, true, but who is the better coach?

Many sports critics think that a man's hardware determines his worth. Phil Jackson has almost as many N.B.A. Championship rings as he has fingers (7). Larry Brown, on the other hand, is still an N.B.A. Championship virgin. Let's be frank. A circus monkey could've guided the Bulls dynasty to six championships.

Phil Jackson supporters point to his Zen-like demeanour as being the glue that held the Bulls and (now) Lakers together, which could very well be a valid point. If you want to talk about glue though, you would be remiss if you didn't mention Larry Brown. He's the only coach to guide six different teams to the N.B.A. playoffs. While Phil has had to deal with the soap opera surrounding Shaq and Kobe arguing about which one of them should be scoring forty points a night, Larry has had to deal with the enigma that is Allen Iverson. In seasons past, Iverson would be lucky if he went a whole week of practice without being late. "The Answer" had nothing but questions when it came to Brown's coaching decisions. This season, however, Iverson had been a model citizen, and he makes it a point to praise coach Brown on a regular basis. Iverson has matured, and he will be the first to admit that Brown has helped him blossom.

A fortune cookie once told me that a man is only as big as the challenges that he faces (Okay, I made that one up, but it would be one hell of a fortune cookie saying, you've got to admit). For Larry Brown, taking over the Sixers was a Godzilla-sized challenge. Philly hasn't seen prolonged playoff success since they won the championship in '83. Brown's arrival in Philly helped to solidify a once-shaky franchise, and each year since his arrival the team has dramatically improved.

What about Phil? He sat out a season after Michael Jordan's second retirement, and he refused to return to coaching unless "the right situation" came around. (Note: In layman's terms, "the right situation" means "coaching an already established team where you have to do very little coaching.) Glue or no glue, Shaq and Kobe could win championships with either one of them coaching the team (Kobe could coach home games, while Shaq coaches the roadies).

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