Larry....
It's time for everyone to accept the truth here.
Larry Brown knew exactly what the roster was he stood to inherit. How do you have a "dream job" if you hate your roster? Mistake number one: he tried to treat Steph the way he treated A.I. Steph is not A.I., they are completely different types of players with very different agendas. Larry is the coach, you are supposed to handle your players according to their personality. He failed as a teacher, as a coach, and as a person in NY. Larry constantly took digs at Allen in the media. But people, lets be real, Philly is DEFINITELY NOT NY. Thats not going to work here.
Mistake number two: Taking shots at Thomas, your boss no less, but not playing HIS players. What was that about? Everything he said in the media about the roster is a dig at Thomas. In no job, can you constantly take digs at your boss and survive.
Mistake number three: The Larry Ego effect. $50 million dollars, and a public wooing by Thomas made Larry think he is better than he really is. ONE championship in thirty years does not make you the second coming of Pat Riley - or Phil Jackson for that matter. The Detroit roster was in place. That ring was hardly Larry's doing. You could make just as strong a case that Joe Dumars directed that championship or even Rick Carlisle. This was a journeyman coach with a rep of making teams SLIGHTLY better. We need to not forget that. And in all his stops he made teams SLIGHTLY better. Detroit was already very good. He made them SLIGHTLY better, and that sliver was good enough for a ring. His ego was ridiculous and in my opinion, he seemed to be out for Thomas despite being his so called friend. The players noticed his ways and tuned him out.
Is there a black eye in NY? Certainly....
Does Thomas deserve some blame in this? Certainly....
Does Dolan deserve some blame in this? Absolutely......
But in the end, LARRY agreed to coach this team. He got $50 million dollars to sit on his azz and cause a stir for 82 games. What a con job. Therefore, the ultimate blame goes to Larry.
Thomas is now charged with cleaning this mess. If he deserved the blame you will soon find out. Dolan writes the checks. Eventually, he may need to take a look at his "basketball people". But as for now, lets see where this goes.