It was confirmed a little after midnight ET last night, and made official today:  Larry Brown is the coach of the Charlotte Bobcats.  The mood at Bobcats Baseline headquarters is pretty positive.  We all recognize the potential pitfalls of LB as coach, but that deserves a whole separate post.  The bottom line is that he is one of the best NBA coaches out there, and we have him in the fold.

Here’s a link to an AP article with some different quotes than the above ESPN one.  Let the Adam Morrison trade watch begin.  And here’s a doom-and-gloom commentary from ESPN’s Chris Sheridan.

 As a bonus, I listened to Brown make a brief appearance on Mike Tirico’s show today during the 2:00 ET hour.  All in all, it wasn’t terribly enlightening (in other words, this was no “Josh Howard on Michael Irvin’s show” deal).  Here’s a recap anyways:

• Things got off to an inauspicious start, as Tirico referred to the Bobcats as the “Carolina” Bobcats when promoing the interview.  Thankfully, he caught himself and blamed it on reading about Brown’s first job as coach of the ABA Carolina Cougars.
• Brown stressed that, during his time away from the bench, he had a chance to visit other teams and really watch how other coaches teach and lead.  He claimed that he’d never really observed like this, or at least never really done it in such a contemplative manner (mellowing in his old age?). 
• He touched on his last stint with the Knicks a couple of times, essentially taking responsibililty for it and admitting he was very disappointed about it. 
• Scott Van Pelt was co-hosting and jumped in with a question about the Bobcats current roster.  Brown talked briefly about coaching Nazr Mohammed in the past, and was somewhat complimentary.  He then reminded us that he had coached “Emekafor” on the national team a few years back, and was again judiciously positive.
• Van Pelt brings up the Tar Heels connection.  Brown responded by going into a discussion about how important the point guard position in his system, and in today’s NBA in general.  He said that “we have a PG” who has all the tools to be a great one, and was clearly praising Felton, but strangely never called him by name.
• Brown confirmed his mother is still living in the Charlotte area, and will turn 103 this summer. 
• The interview ended with some playoff talk.  Brown commended the Hawks and Sixers for their unexpectedly strong playoff showings, and eventually concluded that the Spurs were the team to beat. 

See, not that exciting.  Hopefully we’ll get a more in-depth interview via the Observer in the coming days.