In Athens Larry Brown has shown himself to be stubborn and self serving. So far putting his own reputation above the good of the US mens basketball team. Yes, yes he didn’t get to pick his team. They are too young, they don’t listen, they work hard on defense. Bull, Larry Brown is just distancing himself from this team if they don’t win.

He watched this team get beat up during practice games and complained about the guys that weren’t here. He watched them lose to Puerto Rico and complained about the guys that weren’t buying in. 

So how can you explain guys like Stephan Marbury who can’t hit a jump shot these days if we widen the hoop by 3 feet? Or Carmelo Anthony, showing what we already knew, that he is a me player that will chuck up everything in site. Yes he can score, but he doesn’t play defense or a very good team offense.

Then you have guys like LeBron James who come in and take the team on 10-0, 13-2 runs and then sit’s the rest of the game. Dwayne Wade who pushes the ball inside consistently and plays hard on the defensive end. But they are kids, too young for Brown’s big ego to deal with. This is why Brown couldn’t win in Philadelphia with Allen Iverson, if it’s not all about Brown and his system then it’s not his fault.

How about the next time the US plays international competition we find a coach that will coach to the strength’s of the players instead of demanding them to change their game to the point where none of them can play any longer. Brown keeps trying to come up with excuses.

But if the US team doesn’t win the gold, it will be on the shoulders of one man, the man that despite having 12 superstars on his team, is still the man with the biggest ego. So far this team has lost as many games this Olympics as it has in the previous 68 years combined. But, he will have you believe that the loses are everyone’s but his fault, but the truth is, if he wasn’t so stubborn about having to play one way, and so determined to run from this team when they struggle, that he is failing to miss the one thing that matters. 

This is not about him, this is about the Olympics and representing your country. Something that Larry Brown has been telling his players…maybe he should tell himself. But the most likely thing he will do, is grab his running shoes like he does everywhere he goes. So many think of him as a genius, but this Olympics has shown me what he really is, a man that won’t coach through hardship, but runs from it. That is not a great coach, nor a great man.