"He's a constant teacher," said Ratliff, who had his best seasons playing for Brown after coming to the Sixers with McKie from Detroit in 1997-98. "Me, being a young guy [at the time] trying to learn the NBA game, trying to learn how to do everything the right way, that was great for me. That goes for most of the guys that played for him. That team we had, he elevated pretty much everybody's career.
"He definitely elevated my game, motivated me to do more, to be a threat offensively, not just defensively, and also to learn the nuances of the game, how to play the game, to recognize situations. That's why he's known as such a great teacher for young guys. He always said he won't stop. He has such a passion for it, loves it so much; I don't see him stopping."
If there's a generation gap between the Hall of Fame coach and his current group of players, it's only off the court.
Case in point: When the Detroit Pistons traded Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson, Brown said it was "like trading Marilyn Monroe for Jane Russell." That was greeted by blank, young faces in the Bobcats' locker room.
When he told the players they were playing "like Laverne and Shirley," there was no recognition factor.
"I was told I should have said 'like Jay-Z and Fifty Cent,' " Brown said.
(When Brown made his "Laverne and Shirley" reference, the Charlotte Observer did a quick Internet search and discovered that nine of the Bobcats had yet to be born when the classic TV show was canceled in 1983.)
"When I go into an arena, I look at the numbers and names hanging up," Brown said. "For our guys, that could be anybody. Very few of them have any idea who those players are."
