Combination of opportunity, time and money.

Why is he better than Brett Brown?

Didn't Brown come here win a Championship and then in his second year lose in the finals. I am not sure if he coached in the NBL after that.

Yeah that is right. I still think Brown was an excellent coach. I don't think Goorjian would have liked to been an assistant coach for many years.

Brett Brown worked his way up thru SEABL I believe, in his first year the Giants just made the eight, made the big jump in the second year and won the chip and followed up with the grand final series versus a very good Cats team the following year.

In 98, they lost D-Mac to a injury in the Mark Davis testimonial game and missed the top six despite the prized pick-up of Ben Pepper from Newcastle (which meant they released Paul Rees for Adelaide to pick up for their championship runs).

At this point the North Melbourne GiANTS and the South East Melbourne Magic merged, and Goorjian got the head coaches role. It was a shorted off-season with the quick turnaround for the first summer season, and a few rounds into the season Goorjian was coaching on a handshake agreement without a contract.

This is when Brett Brown, without a NBL head coaching role to go to moved to the Spurs in a scouting role I believe. It sounded like a "shut up and speak when spoken to" kind of role from media interviews I remember when he was discussing how Gaze got to the team. This was the lock-out shortened season, and also the Spurs first championship.

He eventually moved back to the Kings when they played out of that new Olympic venue, with mixed but mostly disappointing results, which peaked with a first round exit. He then jumped back to the Spurs,before the 2002-03 season and Goorjian took over the Kings with a three-peat from 2003-05.

I don't pretend to know anything of the personalities involved other than what is available publicaly but looking at the outside, you would have to say the timing of the Titans merger (two months before the season) and the lock-out was a major blessing in disguise. Brown was able to go to the Spurs at the start of their run and has since moved his way up the NBA ranks. Maybe Brown always wanted to make the jump to the NBA anyway but if the Giants didn't merge I guess he wouldn't have been there for that first Spurs chip.

And similarity if Brown got the Titans gig leaving Goorjian with no where to go, maybe things would have been different.

In any case two great coaches in Australian basketball who have both achieved great success in different ways. Looking back Brown's rise seems the mixture of what you see in any job, talent, energy, networking and a bit of luck. It seems that break never quite came Goorjian's way.

Double Clutch great info there, cheers!

The NBA is very much about right place, right time for those on the fringe. Brown put himself in a good spot, and also knew some people at the Spurs from memory (RC Buford?), whereas Goorjian has never gone back to the US to work.

Personally, I think Goorjian was as good as any coach anywhere at preparing his team or game day, but he wasn't a great in-game coach, and I don't think the NBA with 82 games and minimal preparation would suit his style.

Brown also was assistant coach at Melbourne Tigers from 1988-1993, before taking over as Giants head coach for the 1994 championship.

The Tigers won their first NBL championship in 1993, which coincided with Brown's last year assisting Lindsay Gaze there.

When Brown worked for Spurs in 1998-99, it was in an unpaid role. When he moved to Spurs in a paid role in 2002, it was as Director of Player Development. i.e., a skills/development role and not game tactics, preparation and coaching. He became an assistant coach at Spurs in 2007.

It seems to me that Brown had a clear objective of getting to coach in the NBA and, when opportunity knocked, he chose to accept lesser roles to reach that goal. Perhaps Goorjian didn't have the same dream, opportunity may not have knocked, or he may not have been prepared to follow the path needed to get there.

I can't picture Brian Goorjian taking on a role that wouldn't have him calling at least some of the shots on game day.

Maybe the NBA teams didn't want to be bankrupt within 3 years of Goorjian taking over?

"Maybe the NBA teams didn't want to be bankrupt within 3 years of Goorjian taking over?"

Ha! Nice Try. Comparing NBA financial base for a club, to what the NBL has is quite laughable.

If you see what salaries of the NBA teams are, you would have realized that NBA pockets are very deep. The comment that Brian would send them broke is quite stupid.

As for Brian Goorjian sending teams, broke. Well, there not the only NBL teams that have gone broke.

Brisbane Bullets

Canberra Cannons

Geelong Supercats

Gold Coast Rollers

Gold Coast Blaze

Hobart Devils

Hunter Pirates

Newcastle Falcons

Singapore Slingers

South Dragons

West Sydney Razorbacks 1998-2008 Became known as the Sydney Spirit in 2008.