Time for Brown to quit whining and coach team he’s got

ATHENS, Greece — Larry Brown was at it again, playing the blame game before a live mike. His team had just taken out the hosting Greeks, and still he moved to criticize the USA Basketball selection committee for dealing him a team that could not throw the ball in the water off the deck of the Queen Mary 2.

Only there was one hitch in Brown’s latest back-door play. He had a say in the makeup of this roster, a considerable say. When Rod Thorn, committee member, was asked before the Americans’ 77-71 victory why the last spot on the United States team went to Emeka Okafor, and not a desperately needed outside shooter, this is what Thorn had to say:

"The coaches wanted Okafor. At the time they felt that without Jermaine O’Neal and Elton Brand and Kenyon (Martin), we didn’t have enough big players."

Thorn was asked if some committee members wanted a shooter with that final choice. "Yes," he said. "We looked at Michael Redd, Wally Szczerbiak and Brent Barry, guys like that."

But Brown and his staff went with a big college kid who can’t get off the United States bench. Brown and his staff neglected their most obvious need, and now have a team that’s taken 45 three-pointers and made seven.

"Believe it or not," Brown said, "I think we’ll make an outside shot sometime in this tournament."

Believe it or not, Brown should’ve been smart enough to sign up a player who can make one.

But in Larry Legend’s world, the head coach is never culpable. Brown made a dreadful choice in limiting LeBron James to 11 minutes against the Greeks, a choice that nearly made the U.S. 0-2, this after James had established himself as the best player on the floor.

In the second quarter, LeBron dunked. LeBron dove onto the floor to earn a jump ball. LeBron dunked. LeBron stole the ball and dunked. LeBron dunked after Stephon Marbury stole the ball.

Then Brown dunked LeBron. With the U.S. up 31-19, Brown benched the Rookie of the Year after he became the first American player in two games to breathe life into his team.

"We’re trying to entertain sometimes rather than just play," Brown said. LeBron had preened a bit — he dramatically flew open his hands — after his final dunk, and 17 seconds later he was gone until late in the third. The preening wasn’t tantamount to the wretched displays at the ‘94 world championships. It sure wasn’t as embarrassing as Brown’s decision to chase a ref off the court in Sydney.

"I contributed and we won," said James, who made five of his six shots. "I can never be disappointed in my minutes."

The kid was diplomatic, but his body language on the bench betrayed his true emotions. James even drained a jump shot early in the fourth quarter to give the Americans a six-point lead and — voila — Brown inexplicably removed him 24 seconds later, after the rookie picked up his first foul.

"No, I’m not happy with the shot selection," Brown said. "I thought sometimes we shot too quickly. ... We’re open all over the place, but there’s a reason why we’re open."

The reason is simple: everyone here knows the American’s can’t shoot the way it seems every other team can shoot. "Normally, they do have shooters," Puerto Rico’s Jose Ortiz said. But his team’s strategy in the opening game was as obvious as the U.S. incompetence. "We were all saying, ‘Let them shoot from the outside,"’ said Puerto Rican guard Bobby Joe Hatton.

Brown barely escaped the Greek sharpshooters, and then started taking his own sharp shots at the very selection committee members — Thorn, Billy King, Bryan Colangelo — who sat in the stands looking as if they were about to take a plunge from the Acropolis peak.

"Other teams accept (their roles) a lot better than our team would, and that’s something we’ve got to be really careful when selecting our team," Brown said. "To find role players in our environment is the way to go, but it’s not the way we’ve been making teams."

Brown would’ve made this team better by asking for an NBA shooter rather than a UConn post man. But this is no time to be crying over the process, anyway. Despite all the no-shows, Brown was given the best player in the world (Tim Duncan), and the best athletes in the field.

It’s time for him to shut up and win.