posted June 10, 2005 at 12:35 EST in NBA Betting Trends

What in the world is Larry Brown thinking? The coach of the Pistons is reportedly ready to accept the position of President with the Cleveland Cavaliers following the season. Are you kidding me? How the heck do you let information like this leak out? Your team is down in the conference finals 2-1 and you are shopping around for a job next season? Ridiculous.

All signs point to Brown taking over in LeBron Land as soon as the postseason is over. Mike Brown, an assistant under Larry’s pal Greg Popovich, was hired as the team’s new coach. Then there’s the fact that Milt Newton of the Wizards was interviewed for the GM position and he played for Larry Brown at Kansas. All of these indications appear to cement Brown as leaving Detroit once the playoffs are over.

Look, there’s nothing wrong with changing jobs. But, when rumors and innuendos can damage the psyche of a team; it’s irresponsible to even talk to another team even a minute prematurely. One factor that has played into Brown’s decision to leave is that he may no longer be healthy enough to coach a full season anymore. Be that as it may, you just don’t distract your current team in any way during a playoff run- much less a title1 defense.

I was going to pick the Pistons to come back and beat the Heat in this series. However, in light of these overwhelming distractions now surrounding Brown, I have to believe that the Pistons players feel it too. Miami should take this series and go on to meet the Spurs. One wonders just how dominant Detroit could have been had Brown’s focus been squarely put on the team and had the distractions not entered his players’ minds.