Hello and welcome to the Evening News.
As the playoffs continue, we’ll keep you updated every evening. What’s happening today?
Here’s the latest from around the league:
Larry Brown dismisses report of NBA return
Appearing today on a Philadelphia radio station, Larry Brown dismissed a report that alleged he was linked to several NBA coaching vacancies.
Brown currently coaches the men’s basketball team at Southern Methodist University but was recently mentioned as a serious candidate to return to the league. 
While Brown still owns a home in Philadelphia and led the 76ers to the NBA Finals in 2001, he currently has no plans to return to the city. He said any talk of a return to the NBA was strictly “hypothetical.”
“I love what I’m doing,” said Brown. “I’m in a situation where I think I can help young people. But I don’t ever want to get back into coaching at the professional level unless I have a great relationship with the ownership and people let me share the knowledge I have learned and work with young people that have the same values that I have.”
Brown likely would have been more inclined to return to the Sixers had the team retained general manager Tony DiLeo. However, with the team’s new ownership group replacing DiLeo for the more analytic-savvy Sam Hinkie, Brown was admittedly turned off.
“They have new ownership,” Brown said. “I think when Tony [DiLeo] was let go I don’t think that they would have any interest in somebody like me.”
Brown was outspoken last month when he voiced his displeasure in the new-wave analytics movement in basketball.
“Basketball is not baseball,” Brown told CBS Philadelphia. “I mean you can use that knowledge and help things, but at the end of the day it doesn’t work in basketball in my mind.”
Many believe that quote was directed at the 76ers’ hiring of Hinkie to be their general manager. Hinkie had been serving as the vice president of basketball operations for the Houston Rockets since 2007. Houston’s general manager, Daryl Morey, is known as one of the pioneers of saber-metric statistical analysis in basketball and Hinkie was considered to be his top assistant.
Jason Kidd could be coaching next season
Marc Berman of the New York Post reports that Jason Kidd could be coaching in the NBA as early as next season. Kidd retired from the NBA on Monday and has yet to decide what he wants to do in the future. Coaching and broadcasting were listed as two new career possibilities that the surefire hall-of-famer would consider.
Kidd has been praised as a coach and leader on the court for his teammates since the start of his career. Knicks coach Mike Woodson said it was “an honor” to coach Kidd last season. With the second most assists in NBA history (12,091), Kidd often saw the court as an open canvas and would surely succeed at devising plays for a team to run.
Moreover, on top of his skills on the court, Kidd’s positive impact inside the locker room has been commended by players from every team that he had played for. Most recently, Kidd was credited for Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith’s maturations last season.
If Kidd does decide to go into coaching, the Knicks will likely be the first team to offer him a job as an assistant.
