When You Cut to Chase, 76ers Got the Right Coach in Brown

Four years ago, when Philadelphia 76er President Pat Croce went searching for a new coach, he begged Rick Pitino to come rescue his sinking franchise.

Croce flew around the country trailing the Boston Celtics, who were also begging Pitino.

It was a charming pursuit. Croce doesn’t keep secrets well and he couldn’t possibly hide his eagerness to attract Pitino to Philadelphia. But Croce had no shot. Pitino couldn’t turn down the chance to make the Celtics great again. The 76ers were never as great as the Celtics. Pitino went to Boston.

So Croce went chasing after Larry Brown.

When Croce started bombarding Brown with his enthusiastic sales pitch, he didn’t mention how much he wanted Pitino. What’s great about Croce is that he can really make you believe what happened yesterday didn’t really happen, and that what is going to happen tomorrow is going to be great.

So Croce chooses to not remember how badly he wanted Pitino. He smiles when he says he doesn’t remember. Croce smiles at how lucky he was to have failed in his pursuit.

Brown won his first NBA coach-of-the-year award Wednesday. There was no more deserving candidate. The 76ers are up 1-0 in the Eastern Conference finals with a roster of a formerly recalcitrant superstar, a seasoned and sometimes formidable center and a bunch of guys nobody else had much use for.

Pitino is back in college, at the second program, Louisville, in the state he had left for Boston. The Celtics are still mediocre and not even in the playoffs. The 76ers and Celtics were equally pitiable four years ago when the great Pitino chase began.

Brown has been much criticized in his career for his wanderlust, for his seeming to always be looking for something else, something sweeter, harder, nicer, easier, more rewarding. No one honestly expected him to still be here.

But there he was, nearly getting teary-eyed when his old coach, Dean Smith, came from Chapel Hill, N.C., to help honor Brown. Last summer there were lots of stories that Brown was leaving Philly to coach the Tar Heels.

“He did the right thing,” Smith said of Brown.

It might have been the right thing, but it wasn’t the easy thing.

For nearly all of his four years at Philadelphia, Brown has tried to get the most out of talented guard Allen Iverson while learning to understand Iverson, understand the insecurities of Iverson, understand the trouble and trauma that have been part of Iverson’s life.

Brown has fumed and feuded with the mercurial star. Brown suffered, sometimes silently, sometimes furiously out loud, when Iverson missed practice, training and shoot-arounds. But Brown also worked hard to understand where Iverson was coming from.

And Iverson saw how hard Brown was working and worked hard himself.

This sounds sappy, but there aren’t many nicer sports moments right now than the way Brown and Iverson have embraced each other, have accepted each other, good and bad. Iverson lets Brown be relentlessly demanding, be a perfectionist, lets Brown expect Iverson to be a perfectionist. Brown constantly refers to Iverson as “that great kid,” or “that courageous kid,” or “that kid with the biggest heart in the NBA.” Iverson has had few males in his life say those things, say them and mean them. Brown means them.

And Iverson understands that Brown could have left, could have abandoned him. “Coach, he deserved it,” Iverson said. “He’s helped me so much on the court, but he’s also helped me so much dealing with things off of it. Coach, I know he could have gone other places or given up on me. He didn’t.”

Brown wouldn’t accept much credit Wednesday for winning the award.

“It’s been an amazing year for me,” Brown said. “Any time you win an award like this, it’s a reflection of what your team does.” He gave credit to Iverson. He gave credit to steady, sturdy Aaron McKie and to Dikembe Mutombo and Mutombo’s defensive ferociousness.

Smith said Brown deserved the honor because “Larry was born to coach.”

George Karl, coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, the other team in the NBA East finals, also said that Brown deserved the honor. “Larry turned Iverson into a stable player full of energy,” he said. “I wish my son played as hard as Allen does. If everybody in the NBA played with the intensity of Allen, this league wouldn’t have any problems.”

Iverson won the NBA MVP award. Thanks to Brown. Now Brown wins the coach-of-the-year award. Thanks to Iverson.

Sometimes things work out exactly right. Sometimes the right pupil and the right student get thrown together. Sometimes the teacher figures out the right thing to say. Sometimes the pupil figures out when to listen. Sometimes we are privileged to watch this process, with all its warts, work out.

Congratulations, Larry. And congratulations, Allen.

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Diane Pucin can be reached at diane.pucin@latimes.com.