Teams said to have Brown on their radar

As of yesterday, the Memphis Grizzlies were the only team to have asked the 76ers for permission to talk to Larry Brown, said Michael Preston, the Sixers' director of public relations.

That doesn't mean other teams aren't interested. A Brown confidant who asked to remain anonymous said yesterday that there was interest in seeing the 66-year-old Sixers executive vice president return to coaching.

"I know for a fact that there are two teams solidly in and two others that are putting out feelers," the source said.

The two teams showing interest, the source said, are Memphis and the Charlotte Bobcats.

Brown went to Chicago to interview with Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley yesterday. And Charlotte executive Michael Jordan told the Charlotte Observer last month that he would consider hiring Brown.

As for how the meeting with the Grizzlies went, Joe Glass, Brown's longtime agent, said: "As a rule, I never comment on any meetings. If there is information, I prefer it come from the parties involved."

Glass did say that Brown missed being on the sidelines.

"He wants to get back into coaching - that is something you can conclude," he said.

In a story posted yesterday on the Commercial Appeal newspaper's Web site, Heisley said, "I wouldn't be talking to Larry Brown if I wasn't interested, but I wouldn't be having a process if I was interested in just one person."

After being burned in his last job by the New York Knicks - if earning $28 million for one year's work is considered burned - Brown has told friends that he would not jump into any situation.

- Marc Narducci