One of the brighter basketball minds to grace the NBA, Larry Brown has been out of the league for nearly a decade. Since his departure from the NBA, Brown has since found success coaching overseas, and is now working for a club in Italy.
However, it doesn’t make sense to some how a once highly-revered coach of Brown’s caliber can’t manage to land a job in today’s NBA. But Brown doesn’t feel bad that he isn’t in the NBA, in fact, he has his own theory. At age 78, Brown believes he hasn’t been able to return to the NBA due to his old age, something that may very well be the case. Following from NY Times’ Andrew Keh:
In an interview, he raised the specter of ageism as one factor keeping him out of the N.B.A. even in an assistant coaching role. But since he is still very much addicted to the game, still most at home in a gymnasium and still compulsively eager to teach, he headed overseas rather than pick a fight.
In many ways, though, he feels no different than countless septuagenarians: sure, he’s had a few health issues, and of course he doesn’t move like he used to, but he still insists he can contribute to the profession to which he had dedicated his life. His problem is he just can’t convince the right people to think the way he does.
Though Larry Brown does have a point, we’ve seen other elder coaches have success in the league. However, a lot of these individuals didn’t suffer health setbacks such as Brown has, who has already undergone five different surgeries this year.
Even with plenty of teams across the NBA today in need of experience on their coaching staff, Brown likely isn’t a realistic candidate at this point. Once one of the premier NBA head coaches, it appears that chapter has closed for Brown, and he will continue devoting his focus towards his Italian club.
