Bulls assistant strongly denies spying allegations
Chicago Bulls assistant coach Randy Brown insists he's innocent amid rumors of him spying on players in the locker room.
Jimmy Butler, along with a host of other players, alerted Bulls management of a snitch in the locker room, Joe Crowley of the Chicago Sun Times reported. Brown was specifically named as someone the players harbored suspicions about. The report was confirmed a day later by ex-Bull Richard Hamilton, who also named Brown as an informant for the front office.
Brown tried to clear his name from the unflattering allegations through K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.
"Look, this is a public position. I get it. But my reputation is being slandered at this point," Brown told the Tribune. "I'm losing sleep the last couple of days. I'm trying to get over it. But it's tough.
"I played 12 years in the NBA. I've had hundreds of teammates and I've always been a good teammate on and off the court. I've never been known as the person I'm being portrayed as. As a former player, I understand how sacred the locker room is. I would never, ever violate that unwritten rule. That room is for the players. It's not for me to report anything. I would never do that.
"I think I'm a really, really good coach. I work my ass off for Fred Hoiberg and the Bulls. I treat all my players the same, from D-Wade all the way down to Denzel Valentine. I feel I relate to these players in more ways than basketball. For me to be portrayed as being a snitch really, really doesn't sit well with me. It's not part of who I am."
Brown, however, did not deny his extremely close ties to general manager Gar Forman, who he once worked under as an assistant.
"I've known Gar for 28 years," Brown said. "My mother and dad trusted Gar with me years ago. He's like family to me. That relationship is never going to change. It doesn't mean I have to degrade myself for the organization.
"Gar has never come to me and said, 'Hey, Randy, I want you to be a spy in Fred Hoiberg's locker room.' That doesn't even sound right. Gar and Pax (executive vice president John Paxson) would never ask me to do that. And Fred Hoiberg knows that. It is disrespectful for Gar to say, 'Randy, how you doing?' and I don't respond just because I'm a coach.
"Even if a player was to say something (private) to me inside those walls, Gar and Pax wouldn't even put me in that position (to share it). I have good relationships with the entire team."