Owner: 'As of now, Larry Brown is not coming'
Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert first looked right, toward his new
general manager. Then left, at Cleveland's rookie coach.
"This is our team," proclaimed Gilbert, flanked at a table by GM Danny Ferry
and coach Mike Brown. "We have our team in place and we're going forward with
this team."
One without Larry Brown, who was nowhere near Gund Arena -- and doesn't sound
like he'll be coming anytime soon.
Ferry, part of one of the most debated trades in Cleveland history, came back
to the Cavaliers on Monday as the club's GM. Armed with a five-year contract,
he'll take over a team with $25 million in salary cap space to spend this
summer on free agents to complement star forward LeBron James.
With the NBA draft Tuesday and free agency opening July 1, Gilbert, who said
he interviewed 22 candidates for the GM position before hiring Ferry,
couldn't afford to wait any longer to finalize his front office.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that Ferry contract is worth close to
$10 million. The paper -- citing two league sources -- reported Ferry's deal
also includes incentives.
Gilbert has talked with Brown about the Detroit Pistons coach becoming the
Cavs' president of basketball operations if he doesn't coach next season. But
Gilbert indicated that Brown is no longer in the Cavs' immediate plans.
"This organization right now can't wait to move forward," Gilbert said. "As
of now, Larry Brown is not coming to this organization. I don't know where
he'll end up or what he'll do. He's a great guy and we're all in awe of him.
But I feel real good about our team."
At times, the Brown-to-the-Cavaliers story overshadowed the NBA playoffs,
forcing the 64-year-old to answer almost daily questions about his plans for
next season. Brown won't know what his next move will be until he addresses a
medical condition in coming days.
He has an appointment scheduled for Wednesday morning at the Mayo Clinic. If
he is cleared by doctors to coach, that's what Brown intends to do.
"Nothing has changed with me," Brown said by phone about an hour before Ferry
was introduced at a news conference. "The Cleveland people are close to me,
they know what I want to do. I don't even want to speculate on my other
options if I can't coach. I've told Cleveland I would help them in any way I
can if I don't coach."
Gilbert did not answer directly when asked if Brown could work for the
Cavaliers in a consulting role.
The 38-year-old Ferry, who spent the past two seasons with San Antonio
working under Spurs GM R.C. Buford, will apparently have final say in all
player personnel decisions for the Cavs.
Ferry said that from the outset Gilbert promised him he would have full
control.
"The only way the job was presented to me after the season was that you would
have the basketball decisions, and you would lead the basketball operations
part of it," said Ferry, whose father, Bob, was GM of the Washington Bullets
from 1973-90.
Although he has never been a GM, Ferry feels he has all the necessary
qualifications.
"I have more experience than most people," he said. "I grew up with it. My
dad was a GM for 20 years. I heard him curse and holler at agents when I was
nine years old."
Ferry's main chore in Cleveland will be building a supporting cast around
James, who was the only Cavs player at the news conference. James quickly
exited afterward without speaking to reporters.
"We have a pretty good player," Ferry said, smiling in James' direction. "We
want to build a team around him that he has fun playing with, that he believes
in, and that he's excited to come to work with everyday.
"That's important to me. We all have a responsibility to him to do that."
Another big decision for Ferry will be whether to offer a new contract to
unrestricted free agent center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, his former teammate. The
club has until Friday to offer the 7-foot-3 All-Star an extension.
"I've very hopeful that Zydrunas is back," Ferry said. "Yes, he is a great
friend and I'm looking forward to giving him his first fine. I know he has
some tough decisions ahead of him and I'm hopeful that the decision is to be
here in Cleveland."
Ferry's decision to come back to Cleveland has reunited him with Mike Brown,
who was an assistant coach with the Spurs when Ferry finished his 13-year
playing career in San Antonio.
And back with the Cavaliers, Ferry will get reacquainted with a few Cleveland
fans who have never gotten over Cleveland's 1989 trade that sent Ron Harper,
two first-round picks and a second-rounder to the Los Angeles Clippers for
Ferry and forward Reggie Williams.
Ferry laughed loudly when asked if he would have made the same deal.
"No comment," he said.
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