Oh baby! Brown rues deal
Coach knows Irving duo
Philadelphia coach Brett Brown was in the hallway chatting with a reporter about Kyrie Irving prior to last night’s preseason game against the Celtics when Danny Ainge walked by. The two exchanged brief pleasantries.
It was suggested to Brown that, instead of a hello, he should have elbowed Ainge in the ribs for bringing Kyrie into his division.
“You remember where you were when you heard about it,” he said of the late August trade between the Celts and Cleveland. “I was in Maine, and you just step back and wonder how this all plays out. I just felt like they got better this summer, even with the respect that I have for (Jae) Crowder and Isaiah (Thomas) and for Avery (Bradley).”
Then again, Brett Brown remembers where he was when Kyrie was born.
The Portland, Maine, native and former BU guard was coaching in Melbourne, Australia — shoutout to all the Bulleen Boomers fans.
“I was allowed to have two American imports, and so I came back to my Boston University roots and went after Drederick (Irving),” said Brown of the 6-foot-4 guard who left BU as its all-time leading scorer. “We recruited him to come down. He was married to a BU girl and they came there as a young couple.
“In the middle of the season, Kyrie was born while I was coaching his dad, and I remember Kyrie being brought into practices as an infant.”
A number of years later, Brown was named coach of Australia’s Olympic basketball team, and he immediately set about recruiting the younger Irving.
“Kyrie had an Australian passport for a while, and while I was coaching the Olympic team, I dug in deep on trying to get him to play for us,” Brown said. “He was still at Saint Patrick’s High in (New) Jersey at the time. I was like, he can come in here and be the starting point guard for four Olympic games (London 2012).
“I remember talking to Drederick about it. We were learning how to get him naturalized so he could play for Australia, and I led that charge. I think he was interested for a minute, but after he went to Duke and played for Coach K, it became less.”
The two now chat regularly when they cross NBA paths. And last Friday, when the Sixers were going under picks on Irving in the first half, Kyrie surmised that Brown “was doing that just to mess with me.”
Brown laughed when the comment was relayed to him last night.
“Tell him I’ve learned not to mess with somebody with his resume,” he said. “It runs in the family. His dad was lethal offensively. I mean, he could score in his sleep. His dad could play. He could really score. It’s interesting for me, because I see bits of his father when I watch him play. His dad had this smooth game. Scoring was so easy for Drederick, and scoring is so easy for Kyrie.”
Brown therefore puts Irving in the top echelon of NBA guards.
“His handle and Steph (Curry)’s handle and you could put Chris Paul in there in a more authoritative way with his handle, but Steph and Kyrie, they are snake charmers,” the coach said. “Their ability to mesmerize you with the ball — left hand, right hand, hesitation, shoulders, eyes, getting people off balance — is staggering to me. It is staggering. And then you talk about his ability to make 3’s and make long 2’s. He’s got kiss stuff off the glass — right hand, left hand.
“He’s just incredibly difficult to game plan and defend, because he gets wherever he wants on an NBA court kind of when he wants. And it’s not like he’s old (25). He’s got an incredible body of work at a very young age. You think he’s older with all he’s accomplished, and then you realize how young he is and how much more of a career he actually has. He just is incredibly unique.”
And almost too close for comfort for the Sixers as they seek to take some giant steps forward with their young core.
“They’re a few years ahead of us; we all understand that,” Brown said. “We’re chasing them right now. Danny’s reaping the benefit of the KG and Paul trade and all his moves. We respect them. I respect them. I respect Danny and Brad (Stevens) and the path that they are clearly on.”
It’s a path that took a turn on that August day that Brown so well recalls.
“You just realized that you’re in a real sophisticated fight here,” he said. “It’s different, and it’s going to be different for a while.”