Brown and Pistons part ways, Saunders next up

DETROIT -- Larry Brown is free to roam again.\nBy letting him go, the Detroit Pistons are looking for their third coach in four seasons, and Flip Saunders is the leading candidate.\nThe Pistons seemed to decide they weren't willing to look past Brown's wandering eye, though they enjoyed a pair of great seasons with him on the sideline. Weeks of negotiations and months of speculation ended -- finally -- on Tuesday night.\nBrown and the Pistons reached a settlement on the final three years of his contract, which had about $18 million remaining. He can coach another team next season, but further details were not provided by the Pistons or Brown's agent, Joe Glass.\nThe team didn't want the Hall of Fame coach back and offered a payoff, Glass said.\n"I take umbrage with the Pistons, or sources, saying it's a buyout," the agent said Tuesday morning before the announcement. "A buyout encompasses a mutual agreement, and that's not what is happening. Larry Brown is saying, `I want to coach the Pistons,' and they want to pay him off for whatever reason."\nBefore the Pistons said Monday that they were negotiating a buyout, they had said they would welcome Brown back if he was willing to return.\n"Until this week, I can't remember a time that I read (team president) Joe Dumars not categorically state that Larry Brown is our coach," Glass said. "The Pistons can try to change the facts, but you can't change history.\n"When did this all break down? My best guess is months ago."\nAfter the announcement, messages seeking comment were left with Brown, Dumars and Pistons players Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups.\nIn a statement, Dumars said "the search for a new Pistons' head coach has already begun." Brown is expected to be replaced soon by Saunders, who was fired last season by the Minnesota Timberwolves.\n"We appreciate the two tremendous seasons the team enjoyed with Larry as coach," Dumars said in a statement. "We wish him the best and good health going forward."\nTwo years ago, Detroit signed Brown to a five-year contract worth about $25 million, plus incentive bonuses. He guided the Pistons to the NBA championship in 2004 and came one victory away from repeating this year.\n"If that's not good enough to bring a coach back, I don't know what is," Glass said. "As he has done for over 30 years, he made the Pistons better than they were when he got there."\nThroughout the season, Brown insisted he would return if doctors deemed him healthy enough and said he wouldn't lead another NBA team from the sideline. Still, there have been reports that the New York Knicks would wait until Brown's status was clear before hiring a coach.\n"The ink hasn't even dried on this thing with the Pistons, but if and when any team is willing to talk to Larry, we'll listen," Glass said.\nThere are reports that Thomas and the Knicks will meet with Brown in the next day or two to discuss their coaching job.\n"Now that the Detroit situation is settled, obviously Isiah will be reaching out to Larry," Madison Square Garden spokesman Barry Watkins said, according to various media reports.\n"I'll cross that bridge if and when it presents itself," Brown told the New York Post for Wednesday's editions.\nThe 64-year-old Brown was hospitalized for treatment of a medical problem that developed from complications following hip surgery in November and persisted after a second procedure in March. He checked into the Mayo Clinic the morning after last month's NBA draft, less than a week after Detroit lost Game 7 of the finals to the San Antonio Spurs.\n"His medical condition isn't 100 percent and it hasn't improved much," Glass said. "But we're trusting God that it will, and Larry has represented that he is physically, spiritually and emotionally able to coach.\n"I do not want myself or Larry to sound vindictive because this is a free country, but at the same token, facts are facts. Some are saying Larry is using his health as an excuse, but that's not the truth because he's more than willing to come back, even with his current condition."\nBrown and Glass met with Dumars and Pistons owner Bill Davidson last week. Other than traveling to suburban Detroit for the meeting, Brown has been resting, on doctor's orders, at his vacation home in New York.\nDuring the regular season, reports linked Brown to jobs in New York, Los Angeles and Denver.\nThe Cleveland Cavaliers talked with Brown about becoming their president after Detroit gave them permission during the spring. Cleveland hired Danny Ferry as general manager last month, and he has been assured that Brown will not be his boss.\n"He only spoke to the Cavaliers ... because they were given permission by the Pistons," Glass said.\nBrown is the only coach with NBA and NCAA championships, winning a title with the Pistons last year and one with Kansas in 1988.\nHis longest tenure with any team was six seasons with Philadelphia. He had two years left on his contract there before coming to Detroit.\nBrown led the 76ers to the playoffs for five straight seasons, including the 2001 NBA Finals, and became the first coach to take six NBA teams to the playoffs when the Sixers made it in 1999.\nThe win over the Spurs in Game 6 this year was Brown's 100th in the postseason, moving him past Red Auerbach for third place on the all-time list.\nBrown has more than 1,000 NBA victories in the regular season and playoffs. Since starting his career in 1972 with the ABA's Carolina Cougars, he has led pro and college teams to more than 1,400 wins.\nBrown also coached the U.S. men's basketball team to a bronze-medal finish at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, the first time since pro players were added in 1992 that the Americans went home without gold.