LONDON – As coach of the Boomers — the name Australians affectionately reserve for their national men’s basketball team — Brett Brown is the man behind the team’s long-shot hope for an Olympic medal.
A 1979 South Portland High graduate and son of the legendary coach Bob Brown, Brett has ties all over the basketball world, but none so strong he forgets his roots.
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“I don’t forget where I’m from. I have a great sense of pride coming from Maine,” Brown, 51, said on the day the Olympics opened.
“Maine, to me, is very different in the large majority of the United States for a lot of reasons. Geographically, it’s such a beautiful part of the world. I think people (are) very close, I think that there’s a lot of integrity, a no-nonsense, no-frills type of lifestyle and mentality.”
Brown’s Boomers tip off against Brazil at 5:15 a.m. Sunday. Also in the Aussies’ first-round pool are China and Spain.
“And that’s my upbringing. That’s how I was raised and that’s how I started. I’m the son of a coach, a very successful high school coach in Portland, Maine — a New England Hall of Fame coach. My basketball journey most definitely started with my father and in the state of Maine. So to be able to carry at some level the Maine flag and the representation is also an honor, and I’m proud to let basketball people in Maine share this particular experience with me.”
A TRAVELING MAN
Bob Brown coached Brett Brown to a state championship at South Portland in 1979.
Father and son then moved to Boston University, where Bob served under Rick Pitino, the current Louisville coach. Brett was named team MVP as a sophomore, then served as captain as a junior and senior.
He went to Australia in the 1980s to assist Lindsay Gaze, an International Basketball Hall of Famer, with the Melbourne Tigers, and stayed for 17 years.
Brown became head coach of the North Melbourne Giants (1993-98), winning a coach of the year award and a national title in 1994. He also coached the Sydney Kings (2000-02).
He served as assistant coach of Team Australia at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and again at the 2000 Games in Sydney, missing a medal by one spot both times.
A front-office job with the San Antonio Spurs brought Brown back to the U.S. in 2002 and, since 2006, he has been an assistant coach to Gregg Popovich.
Including his time spent in the front office, Brown has been a part of four NBA championship teams.
Ask him if he considers himself more Aussie or more American and Brown has a simple answer.
“I consider myself a basketball coach, and it just so happens that I’m coaching Australia,” he said. “I have a very strong (feeling) for the country. The country was very good to me. I married an Australian (Anna). Two of my three children were born in Australia.
“Not so long ago I spent half my life in Australia, and I truly feel a responsibility and an honor to coach the national team. I’ve had such a long history and relationship with Australia and Australian basketball that to find myself now head coach of the national program, and here getting ready to compete in the Olympic Games, is a privilege. It’s something that I don’t take for granted.”
DREAMING OF A MEDAL
No, Brett Brown always had to work for what he wanted in Maine.
A similar outlook is what he hopes will carry his Boomers to the Olympic podium.
“That’s why we’re here,” he said. “And I think the progress that our players (have made) over the past four years, we really feel like we can dream at that high level. That really is our focus as we begin the Olympic Games.”
Australia was ninth at the 2004 Athens Olympics and seventh four years ago at Beijing.
The Aussies are missing their most recognizable player, Andrew Bogut, due to injury.
That shifts the spotlight to Patty Mills. The former Saint Mary’s College standout was picked up by the Spurs after the Chinese team Xinjiang terminated his contract, accusing him of faking a hamstring injury.
With Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili temporarily sidelined, Mills stepped in April 25 and scored 27 points against the Phoenix Suns.
The next night, he set an Aussie single-game NBA record with 34 points against the Golden State Warriors. When Parker and Ginobili returned, Mills got little playing time.
David Andersen, who played 103 games over two seasons with Houston, Toronto and New Orleans, is the only other Boomer with NBA experience.
“After that we’ve got a bunch of just hard-working European-based Australians,” Brown said. “We only have two domestic players that play in the Australian League.”
What Brown’s team lacks in talent, it makes up with defense, tempo and intelligence.
“I think we always have to know who we are. We’re a defensive-oriented program,” Brown said. “We try to pride ourself on going in at a world-class fitness pace and we have tremendous chemistry. The players generally are close friends.
“We’re not going to (win) with NBA players; we’re not going to get it done with talent. Whatever we do, it will be done by committee. It will be done as a team.”
Team USA, laden with NBA veterans and No. 1 draft pick Anthony Davis, is the gold-medal favorite.
Brown thinks that Spain can make a run. He warns not do discount Ginobili, a past gold medalist with Argentina, nor the Parker-led French team.
Especially, don’t count out his Boomers: “We hope to come in and be a spoiler.”
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