Brown to be introduced as Knicks head coach Thursday

Several reports indicated both sides were negotiating on a five-year contract worth between $50 million to $60 million.

Brown met with Knicks president of basketball operations, Isiah Thomas, last Thursday and then met with interim head coach Herb Williams on Monday.

Now he’s set to become the 22nd coach in franchise history.

It was last week that Brown was relieved of his duties as head coach of the Pistons, as he was two years into a five-year, $25 million contract with Detroit.

The 64-year-old Brown would return to his roots to coach. Brown, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002, was born in Brooklyn on September 14, 1940.

The Pistons and Brown worked out their contract squabble last week, freeing him to get another head coaching job without limitations. He guided Detroit to the NBA Championship in 2004 and lost the Finals in seven games to San Antonio this past season.

Brown had insisted that if he is healthy enough to keep coaching, he would remain on the sidelines with the Pistons. Following the NBA Finals defeat, Brown checked himself into a hospital for two days because of complications from November hip surgery.

A three-time ABA Coach of the Year and the 2001 NBA Coach of the Year while with the 76ers, Brown joined the Pistons after spending six seasons with Philadelphia. His basketball resume includes 33 years of coaching at the collegiate or professional level. He has also had coaching stints with the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, New Jersey Nets and the ABA’s Carolina Cougars. He was the head coach at UCLA and the University of Kansas, where he won the National Championship with the Jayhawks in 1988.

In his NBA career, Brown has compiled a 987-741 record and has 100 postseason victories.

He has had only three losing seasons as a head coach (1988-89 Spurs, 1996-97, Indiana, 1997-98 Philadelphia).

Brown would have a big job ahead of him in New York, as the Knicks went 33-49 this past season. They haven’t won a playoff series since 1999-2000 and were last NBA champs in 1972-73.