News-Record.com

So, either Larry Brown has already agreed to become the Cleveland Cavaliers' next president, as ESPN reports, or he's never given it a second thought because all he cares about is the Detroit Pistons' playoff survival, as Larry Brown himself reports. Who do we believe? Well, I'm not a big fan of unnamed sources, but it's pretty clear he's got something at least stirring with the Cavs, even if he denies ever meeting Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert. He's reportedly even considering ex-Duke player Danny Ferry as his GM.

And that's where the high-profile job candidate walks the fine line between truth and disinformation, between protecting his team from the behind-the-scenes reality without telling too many flat-out lies. Feigning indignance at the media coverage is one useful tactic, apparently.

I think it's more a shroud of vagueness, the same one Roy Williams lived in during the Final Four in '03, when he tried to balance coaching Kansas with the obvious wheels-in-motion process of taking the Tar Heels' coaching job. Brown, coincidentally, is a UNC guy himself. But it's not like this is a game of shake-the-media only played by Dean Smith disciples.

The media, particularly in Detroit and Cleveland, have to report the direction things are heading and go with solid confirmation when they get it -- not when someone decides to hold a news conference. But how should someone in Larry Brown's shoes deal with this when he's genuinely concerned about it being a distraction from his current job? Is he going about it the right way?

Would it be a detriment to the Pistons if he just said the next time a microphone or recorder is put in front of him: "I'm Larry Brown. Of course I'm ready to take my next job. I don't stay in one place for long, and that's a darn good offer. Now that's all I have to say until we're eliminated from the playoffs."