Brown back to work with Bobcats, mum on future

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Larry Brown was energetic, shouting instructions and stopping play continuously to correct mistakes.

Everything appeared to be normal at the Charlotte Bobcats practice facility on Friday morning - until the pre-draft workout ended and the usually talkative Brown went silent.

Given a chance to clear up whether he'll return for a third season coaching the Bobcats, Brown declined to talk to reporters.

"I don't have anything to say," a smiling Brown said before disappearing down a stairway toward the locker room.

And with that, owner Michael Jordan's uncertain offseason continued.

There are numerous signs that the 69-year-old Brown, who has lamented the time spent away from his family in suburban Philadelphia, will be back in Charlotte after leading the Bobcats to their first playoff berth.

A person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Thursday that Brown, who has two years left on his contract, is leaning toward returning. Assistant coach Dave Hanners said Friday that Brown was energized and drawing up plays this week at the team offices.

Brown has said he won't coach for anyone other than Jordan, and on April 30 said he didn't want this "to drag on" too deep into the offseason.

Five weeks later, it still is.

Brown, a Hall of Famer and the only coach to NBA and NCAA titles, has a track record of quick exits. Charlotte is his 13th pro and college job, so despite his insistence that he won't coach anywhere else, his name has been mentioned for numerous openings around the league.

Chicago, Cleveland, New Jersey, Atlanta, the Los Angeles Clippers and New Orleans are all without coaches.

"I still want to coach and I told that to Michael, that I don't want to coach for anyone else," Brown said after the Bobcats were swept in the first round of the playoffs by Orlando.

But Brown also said he misses his wife and two teenage children, who didn't move to Charlotte with him.

Brown does has family in Charlotte. His son-in-law and grandson watched a portion of Friday's workout, which included players expected to be taken late in the second round or go undrafted. The Bobcats don't have a pick in the June 24 draft.

The demanding Brown reconfigured Charlotte's roster through numerous trades over the past two years, and the 6-year-old franchise went 44-38 this season to earn the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Not counting the New York Knicks, who fired him after one season, Brown has guided all nine of his NBA and ABA teams into the playoffs by his second season on the job.