Larry Brown would be happy if he never sees Isiah Thomas again.
“I don’t have a relationship with him at all,” Brown told Michael Kay for a future episode of the YES Network show “Centerstage.”You know, he gave me a chance. I appreciate that.
“But I wouldn’t consider him a friend. I don’t look forward to seeing him, but I don’t wish him bad.”
Kay played parts of the interview Wednesday on 1050 ESPN New York.
Brown told Kay that Thomas never wanted to hire him.
Brown’s tenure as Knicks head coach lasted for just the 2005-6 season, during which he feuded with point guard Stephon Marbury. Thomas fired him on June 23, 2006 after the Knicks posted a disastrous 23–59 record.
“I didn’t like working for him,” Brown said of Thomas. “People beat him up. I don’t want to beat him up. I just didn’t enjoy working for him. He thought what he did was right and I want to leave it at that.”
Brown, who is the only coach to win an NBA and NCAA championship, most recently coached the Charlotte Bobcats, but he told Kay that Michael Jordan fired him in December 2010 when the team got off to a 9-19 start. Brown made it clear that he was fired, not that he resigned.
Brown, 70, also told Kay that he would like to coach again.
Thomas remains the head coach of Florida International. Knicks owner Jim Dolan tried to hire him back as an adviser last summer, but that was quashed by NBA Commissioner David Stern.
Recent reports have suggested that Dolan has promised current team president Donnie Walsh that Thomas won’t be brought back into the fold.
Walsh is reportedly close to signing a two-year extension to remain with the team but has objected to any interference from Thomas.
