Larry Brown is always good for a good basketball story or two, especially when the story is about Brown and his days coaching the New York Knicks.
Not sure what the verdict is here, but I’m thinking Larry isn’t big on recounting his brief stay in New York. I could be wrong. But I don’t think so. Yet one of the most memorable moments for me about Brown is how he used to mispronounce Channing Frye’s first name.
Every time.
Back then Frye was trudging through his (impressive) rookie and (not so impressive) sophomore seasons under Brown before he was dealt to Portland two summers ago.
Yet for Brown, Frye will forever be known as “Channin”.
Notice the missing “g”.
“Channin.”
Poor “Channin”.
Brown – God bless his heart – thought he was saying Frye’s name the right way, but no matter what, where or when it always came out “Channin”. Now “Channin” is getting ready (spoke with “Channin” last week about returning from injury and to the floor early) for his first preseason game tonight in Sacramento, while Brown tries to figure out what he has in his first year in Charlotte (broke down those Bobcat woes today over at HOOPSWORLD).
So far he has a winless team this preseason (0-5), which conjures up another “Brown-izm” from back in the day:
“We’re playing like we don’t have a head out there.”
That was namely a dig on Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury.
And you know both “Channin” and Coach Brown remember that drama all too well.
pic via: si.com
beyond the beat 