It?s not easy to see what was so wrong about the comments of 76ers coach Jim O?Brien about St. Joseph?s star Jameer Nelson and the NBA Draft.  It seems he was simply offering his unfiltered, honest opinion, and there can be nothing wrong with doing that.

While noting that he does think that Nelson?s future is very bright, O?Brien could be saying just that the Sixers would not be best served by taking Nelson with the ninth pick in the NBA Draft.

"It's not what Jameer lacks," O'Brien said. "It's just my opinion, but I wouldn't put Jameer's name down at number 9 because there is a strength in the draft that would lead us into a different direction."

And the best part for Philadelphia fans is that the Sixers finally have a coach willing to speak his mind, who will roll up his sleeves to deal with the problems on the Sixers and not settle for mediocre solutions or cover-ups.  

"You cannot have an emotion impact the decision when it comes to draft choices," O'Brien said. "I know it would be a great story, but we have to take the player that we think is going to help the organization most. If it's Jameer, so be it."

Pistons Coach Larry Brown, despite the impression the New York Daily News gave readers Sunday, isn't leaving Detroit for a job with the Knicks.

"Knick at Heart," screamed the headline.

In the story, Brown was quoted as saying, "I would be foolish not to tell you that my dream has always been to coach the Knicks."

Brown is in the first of a five-year, $30 million deal with the Pistons, who are contenders for the Eastern Conference title.

"That was when I was a young kid," he said of his desire to be the Knicks coach. "(Knicks legendary coach) Red Holzman helped teach me to play. But I am 63 years old. This is my last coaching stop."

Then he laughed.

"Unless I'm 90 and Jerry West calls me," he said, referring to West hiring 70-year-old Hubie Brown to coach the Memphis Grizzlies.

Brown told the Daily News that had the Knicks come after him last summer and offered a job before the Pistons did, he might have taken it.

"The only thing I would have wondered about was what effect it would have in Philly on (76ers chairman) Mr. (Ed) Snider, if I had gone to the Knicks," he said, referring to a once-fierce 76ers-Knicks rivalry. "That would have been very difficult. But, yeah, I would have come."

For the most part, though, his desire to coach the Knicks is rooted in nostalgia.

"I grew up a Knick fan," he said after the Pistons' shoot-around Sunday. "I used to go to the Garden for 60 cents and see a doubleheader.

"But they write that every year, whenever I come play a series against the Knicks. I bet if you went back to when I was with Indiana and we played Pat Riley's (Knicks) teams, both years, they asked me the same question."

New Celtics head coach Doc Rivers is not wasting anytime in trying to put his staff together.

Canadiates include "former Toronto lead assistant Tony Brown, Memphis assistant Lionel Hollins, former Orlando assistants Dave Wohl, Paul Pressey, and Mark Hughes, former NBA assistant Jim Brewer, former Philadelphia coach Randy Ayers, and Boston assistant Paul Cormier."

I've talked to both guys [Brown and Hollins] about the job," said Rivers. "I've also talked to about five other guys. Tony Brown is the only guy I've given a financial offer to. I think he would be a terrific addition to our staff. Verbally, if Lionel and I can come to an agreement, he would be a terrific addition, too."

The Philadelphia 76ers have hired former Charlotte coach Dick Harter as an assistant coach.

Harter was also on new 76ers head coach Jim O'Brien's staff in Boston but was let go when O"Brien resigned earlier this year.

He has been in the league as a head coach and an assistant for over 50 seasons.

It has been a case of so far so good between new Philadelphia coach Jim O'Brien and Allen Iverson, the pair forging an understanding early and building a foundation for a successful partnership.

"We basically talked about how we wanted to move this back to where we could be a legitimate contender for the Eastern Conference championship, what kind of leadership role he would need to have in order to do that, and what his expectations of me as his coach were," O'Brien said. "He, like everyone else, is extremely disappointed in the type of year they had. He believes, as I do, that we can have a very open and direct relationship. I think he welcomes that.

"He welcomes being able to sit down eyeball-to-eyeball on a regular basis and discussing the expectations of him as a leader, and what he can do to get this to a level that it deserves to be. I've never found good relationships based on anything but that. You have to be able to sit down and talk one-on-one, and to listen and be able to articulate what your desires are. From a standpoint of developing that relationship, the best way to do it is to listen."

O'Brien also talked about feeding off the player's positives rather than focusing on their negatives, and building a system which plays to the strengths of their personnel.

"We will attempt to hide whatever weaknesses they have, but everybody has to feel good that our staff knows what each guy does well. They'll hear more often out of our mouths what they do well," O'Brien said.