After one disastrous NBA season with the New York Knicks, Brown said he wants to help the 76ers only in his new role as an executive vice president.

    "I didn't come here to be involved in the coaching," he said. "After last year, I think I need to step away from coaching for a while, and I'm 66. I don't know if that's what I'm looking to do."

    Brown, fired by the Knicks in June after going 23-59 and clashing with team president Isiah Thomas, was acting as an unofficial 76ers consultant this season. He's kept a low profile in Philadelphia, visiting one practice and attending one game, and offered feedback to team president and close friend Billy King on the Allen Iverson trade.

    Brown had a contentious relationship with Iverson, but the two worked together despite several disputes.

    Brown said he would have been comfortable returning to the 76ers even if Iverson was still with the team.

    His six years with the 76ers was his longest with any team in his 34-year coaching career. He left to take the job at Detroit and led the Pistons to an NBA title in the first of his two seasons there before moving to New York.

    When Brown left the 76ers for the Pistons after the 2002-03 season, he had two years left on a contract that paid him US$6 million a season. The 76ers released him from a contractual clause that prohibited him from coaching another NBA team if he left Philadelphia prematurely.

    "I think most people understood why I left," Brown said. "I didn't think at the time it was right for me to continue. I was here six years and I thought it got to the point where I wasn't able to do the things I thought I should do. It was time."

    (Source: Shanghai Daily/Agencies)