Bobcats coach Brown says give Sixers coach Jordan a little more time

CHARLOTTE - It's a tight fraternity, the one made up of head basketball coaches. When one is fired, the hurt is felt from far away.

Not surprisingly, former 76ers coach and current Charlotte Bobcats head man Larry Brown said before last night's 103-84 victory over the Sixers that he doesn't think getting rid of beleaguered coach Eddie Jordan is the right thing for the organization to do.

"I don't think they ever help," he said of coaching changes. "That's the thing about our profession. A lot of these college coaches, they come into the NBA and everybody says a college coach can't coach in the NBA. Well, they never get a good team and they get fired before they get a chance to learn and put their stamp on a franchise."

Eddie Jordan wasn't a college coach before he came to the Sixers, of course, but Brown seemed to be emphasizing the part about giving a coach time, something Jordan might not get.

So where does Brown think the season went wrong for his former team?

"They've had some injuries," said Brown, whose team is fighting for a playoff spot. "Elton Brand hasn't played in so long. I watch him now and he's getting better and better with each game. They're gonna be fine. They've been through a lot of changes, a lot of different coaches, different philosophies. I think they've got the pieces that they'll be fine. The league's funny. A lot of teams that you expected to be real good had some problems and teams that you don't expect, they stepped forward. I don't think they're that far behind. They're going to be fine."

Brown is particularly impressed with rookie point guard Jrue Holiday, but also thinks the team is stocked with good, young players.

"He's gonna be terrific," Brown said of Holiday. "He's got a chance to be one of the better defenders at that position in our league. He can play more than one position. It's another good draft. They've had unbelievable success in drafting kids that maybe a lot of people would have overlooked. [Marreese] Speights, Thaddeus [Young], Jrue. I think all those kids are gonna be terrific players in our league."

The phone calls have been practically nonstop, as have the interview requests. This time of year, approaching Final Four weekend, has been hectic for Ed Pinckney ever since he led Villanova to its improbable title run in 1985, which culminated 25 years ago today with a 66-64 victory over mighty Georgetown.

"Most of the day I'm usually talking to someone about the game," said Pinckney, now a Sixers television analyst for Comcast SportsNet. "It's been more than ever because it's the 25 anniversay. It's fun, though. I did one radio show, called a buddy back home and he said Dwayne McClain was on another show up there.

"It flies by. It probably hit more than ever when Villanova played West Virginia [this year] and we were all together. Everybody's talking about their kids, what schools they're picking, just conversation we all thought we'd never have. We all thought we'd be young forever. It just flies by, but this part of the year kind of keeps us together."

Besides the magical moments on the court, the thing that Pinckney remembers most was the team's uncertainty about making the tournament.

"We lost to Pittsburgh [by 23 in the regular-season finale] and coach [Rollie] Massimino told us that he wasn't going to accept an invite to the NIT. So we would get together after practice the week leading up to the selection and we'd be asking each other what we thought we'd be doing, because we thought basketball was done. As far as we were concerned, we were not getting in. We gathered in coach Massimino's office at Jake Nevin Fieldhouse. We crammed into a tiny room and watched the television, but none of us thought we were going to get in."

They did, as an eighth seed. The rest is history, 25 years of history.