TOMASSON: Senior NBA coaches passing test of time

By Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 13, 2008 at 8:57 p.m.

Text size  

• 0 Comments
• Email
• Print

Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images

Warriors coach Don Nelson.

Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Bobcats coach Larry Brown.

They say 40 is the new 30. That must mean 70 is the new 60.

Gone are the days when coaches, after turning 65, actually were doing their only coaching in a rocking chair while watching TV. Come back in 2020 and maybe we'll see the NBA's first 80-year-old coach.

If anybody thought Don Nelson was done when, at 64, he left Dallas in March 2005, they were greatly mistaken. Nelson, the NBA's oldest active coach at 68, recently signed a contract extension with Golden State that takes him through 2010-11.

If anybody thought Larry Brown was finished after New York dispatched him 2 1/2 years ago at 65, they also were quite wrong. Brown, who is 68 and four months younger than Nelson, joined Charlotte this season on a four-year deal that runs through 2011-12.

If Brown fulfills his contract and Nelson doesn't sign a new one, Brown would become the oldest man ever to coach an NBA game.

"As long as they're listening, as long as (the Bobcats) are getting better, I'd love to," Brown said of lasting that long.

The oldest man to coach an NBA game was interim boss Bill Bertka, who was more than 71 1/2 years old when he led the Lakers to a win over the Clippers on Feb. 25, 1999. Bertka, now 81 and still working as the Lakers' director of scouting, remembers what he told his team that night.

"I said, 'This is probably the last time I'm ever going to coach, so don't screw it up,' " said Bertka, who didn't even know he was the oldest coach ever until reading about it later in a newspaper.

The oldest full-time coach was Hubie Brown, stunningly hired in 2002 by Memphis at 69 after having not coached for 15 years. Brown lasted until he was 71 years, two months, reportedly stepping down in November 2004 for medical reasons.

But Hubie Brown is still working as a television analyst. When advice is needed about coaching past standard retirement age, he's the man to see.

"You've got to take care of yourself," Hubie Brown said. "Late nights are out. Late dinners are out. The afternoon of games, you've got to take a nap. When you're up there in age, you've got to pay attention (to health)."

Larry Brown, though, shrugged when asked if he followed that advice.

"I never sleep," he said.

The Charlotte coach said he "doesn't feel any older than when I started" and has the "same passion." But he paused trying to remember a name.

"I'm having a senior moment," Brown admitted.

Nelson doesn't deny he must pace himself more.

"My assistants do most of the practices," Nelson said. "They're involved in the drills. I don't try to do everything anymore. I just do the big things."

Many observers believed Nelson, who returned in 2006 after 1 1/2 years out of coaching, would head to his home in Hawaii for good next spring. But the Warriors last month gave him a two-year, $12 million extension.

"I would have been all right (retiring), but they wanted me to stay on," Nelson said. "I was listening to an economist on TV, and he said one of the positive things you can do is to keep your job, so it sounded like a good idea."

Coaches are hanging around longer because the money is so good, because modern medicine has helped people stay younger. It also doesn't hurt that, with expansion, there are more jobs.

Until Hubie Brown became the first full-time 70-year-old to coach, Chuck Daly came close, finally stepping down in 1999, just shy of his 69th birthday. Utah's Jerry Sloan, 67 in March, is also a strong candidate to eventually join the 70 club.

While there are some who say the old-school Sloan hasn't changed a thing, Larry Brown admits he has had to make adjustments through the years to deal with today's athletes.

"Kids are so much different," he said. "When I was growing up, you listened or you paid the consequences. Now, kids want to know why or have a hard time dealing with it in a group. So you have to go privately (with criticism)."

Nelson and Brown figure to be tested by young players. While the Bobcats rank fifth, the Warriors have the league's youngest team.

Marquee attractions

Jane Russell was listed during her heyday at 5-foot-7 and Marilyn Monroe at 5-5 1/2. With that in mind, we'll liken Denver's Chauncey Billups to Russell and Detroit's Allen Iverson to Monroe, since the 6-3 Billups has 3 inches on Iverson.

Larry Brown, who coached Billups in Detroit and Iverson in Philadelphia, said after the players were dealt for each other last week it was like "trading Marilyn Monroe for Jane Russell." He was asked this week which actress corresponds to which player.

"Depends on who you like, that was my point," he said. "These guys, I don't think they would understand. . . . (But) I'm not up on these young girls."

Adding further credence to Iverson being Monroe and Billups being Russell, Monroe was the bigger marquee attraction but Russell more of a team player. Russell won 1955's Golden Apple Award for Most Cooperative Actress.

Billups in style

Not only is Billups a better player than in his previous Nuggets tenure, he's looking better.

At least that's the word from the fashion critic. Billups, having returned after a 1998-2000 stint, offered views on Denver's uniform history.

"(The best ever is) probably the one I used to see when I was growing up (in the 1980s), with Alex English and the city skyline on it," said Billups, 32, a Denver native. "I like these (current ones), too."

As for the duds with the elevated middle letters in "Nuggets" he wore in his first stint, Billups "didn't really like" those. He also wasn't keen on the uniforms about three decades ago featuring Maxi the Miner with a pickax.

Featured

• Boulder Wildfire

  

  See photos from the Boulder County fire.

• Legislature Blog

  

  The Rocky's Lynn Bartels and Ed Sealover provide live updates from the Capitol.

• Rocky multimedia

  

  The news comes alive in our videos and slide shows. Catch up on what's happening today.

• Who's next?

  

  Complete coverage of the Broncos' search for a new coach.

• Weekend plans?

  

  Figure out things to do this weekend with the help of our entertainment calendar.

• Winter Escapes

  

  Your insider’s guide to the copious joys of the coolest season.

• Sam Adams' Open Mic

  

  Open Mic: Two-man advantage with Avs

• Bronco Dean's rant

  

  Listen to Bronco Dean's rant on what's next for the Broncos.

• Live updates

  

  Sign up for mobile alerts and breaking news e-mails to keep up with the latest news.