Brown and Pistons Disagree on Exit

Larry Brown and the Detroit Pistons appeared to move closer to parting ways Monday, and it is apparently far from amicable.

Brown’s agent, Joe Glass, told the Detroit News that the Pistons were firing Brown, but the Pistons said Brown was offered a buyout package.

“It is a correct statement that there is a package on the table, but I don’t like the word ‘buyout,’ ” Glass said. “The word buyout implies that both parties agree to the termination of services.”

“Larry Brown,” Glass said, “is physically, spiritually and enthusiastically willing to coach the Detroit Pistons next season. Whatever [the Pistons] do from that point on is not on Larry Brown. If arrangements have been made, they have not been mutually agreed upon.”

When asked by the News whether it would be too strong to characterize it as a firing, Glass said, “No, I think that’s right down the line” with what has transpired.

Brown, 64, has three years and more than $20 million left on his contract. Joe Dumars, the Pistons’ president of basketball operations, said Monday that no deal had been reached and both sides were still talking.

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The Seattle SuperSonics hired Bob Weiss as coach, promoting the 11-year assistant to replace Nate McMillan.

Weiss, who previously coached the San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks and Clippers, is 210-282 as a head coach. McMillan left this month to coach in Portland.

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The Clippers remain a possible destination for unrestricted free-agent forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim, his agent said.

Aaron Goodwin said that the Clippers, who want to make Abdur-Rahim their top reserve, made an offer to the one-time NBA All-Star exceeding the mid-level exception of about $5.5 million. All but one of the other teams bidding for Abdur-Rahim offered the midlevel exception, the agent said.

“They have the most money available,” Goodwin said of the Clippers, “but I can’t necessarily say it’s the best offer out there.”

Abdur-Rahim, 28 and a nine-year veteran, reportedly wants to join the New Jersey Nets.

Meanwhile, Marko Jaric’s agent said that he planned to meet with the Clippers today and suggested that Jaric, a restricted free agent, might want to sever ties with the Clippers after playing with them for three seasons.

“They like him, and I know he likes it there,” agent Bill Duffy said, “but there seem to be other situations that are a little more conducive to him in terms of his desire to play point guard, which I think he wants to do.”

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Stan Van Gundy said that he and team President Pat Riley met for 3 1/2 hours Sunday, during which Van Gundy was assured that he “will be coaching the Miami Heat this coming season.”

Van Gundy is 101-63 in two seasons.

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Free-agent forward Stromile Swift reached a five-year, $30-million deal to sign with the Houston Rockets, according to KPRC-TV and the Houston Chronicle. Swift, 25, spent his first five seasons in Vancouver and Memphis.