Last night Hubie Brown announced his retirement as head coach of the
Memphis
Grizzlies due to health reasons. Note to Memphis.put up some sort of
banner
honoring Hubie now. I hope that basketball fans grasp what Hubie did in
his
time in Memphis, he turned around a franchise that showed no signs of
turning around before he got there. No small feat.
Just a refresher course in Grizz history. Founded as the Vancouver
Grizzlies, the second part of the NBA's two pronged Canadian experiment
they
quickly established themselves as a Clipper-like team with out the good
weather. The Grizz were bad, always bad, and those of us on the East Coast
were spared viewing the carnage due to time zone and border issues. The
Grizz were bad enough and so poorly located that they were a true NBA
wasteland.
Not that the Grizz didn't have players. Poor finishes made for high draft
choices. Shareef Abdur-Rahim was considered the best NBA player that most
fans know nothing about, and Mike Bibby started his career with the
Grizzlies in Vancouver. It was so bat that 1999 top draft pick Steve
Francis
declined to play in Vancouver and forced the Grizz to trade him to
Houston.
That was the beginning of the end for NBA basketball in the Canadian
Pacific
Northwest.
The Grizz packed their bags and moved the Memphis, and nothing changed.
The
season that Hubie took control of the Grizzlies, they started 0-8 under
then
coach Sidney Lowe. They had no identity, no wins and no future.
Hubie himself is quite a story. Five seasons coaching in Atlanta and five
more with the Knicks as well as an ABA champion****p with the Kentucky
Colonels before leaving coaching in 1986. Prior to taking the Memphis job
Hubie was probably better known for his work with TNT where he was a
terrific analyst.
When Hubie was hired the decision was questioned in the media and among
fans. Hubie had not coached in 18 years, was pu****ng 70 and definitely
"old
school" in his approach. Hubie Brown answered all his critics by winning.
Once Hubie took control of the Grizzlies, positive changes started to
happen. The public did not really pay attention the first year, by the
time
he got there the Grizz were buried in the standings, but he won 28 of the
74
games he coached that season (the most the team had win in any complete
season in Vancouver was 23).
The next season Hubie unleashed the fruits of his quiet labors on the NBA.
Memphis won 50 games, made the playoffs and became a hot young team on the
basketball landscape. He did not really rebuild the Grizz, he just made
them
better. No player illustrates that more then the enigmatic Jason Williams.
Under Hubie, the player know as "White Chocolate" because of his
tremendous
ball handling skills, and also known as a turnover machine, learned to
control his game. Williams who could single handedly shoot or pass his
teams
out of games is now known for his high assist to turnover ratio and good
decisions running the point.
There are other stories that Hubie played a large part in. The maturation
of
Pau Gasol, the rotation he used, the fact he took castoffs and never
were's
and made them role players for a winning team. The greatest tribute to
Hubie
is that he took the franchise, and with the players Jerry West furnished
coached them to respectability. Memphis, the NBA and even those fans left
in
Vancouver from the old days understand his impact. One of the most
difficult
tasks faced in business, s****ts or life in general is taking a culture of
failure and turning it around. Hubie Brown did that.
So get that banner into the rafters Memphis. And to Hubie, hope you come
back in some capacity, and that you get the credit you deserve for a job
well done.
You will be missed.
For basketball news and analysis visit http://brutalfacts.blogspot.com/
|
