Brown is loyal only to his self-absorbed odyssey

The hypocrisy of Larry Brown inevitably succumbs to the prospect of an improved won-lost record.

There is always a next team in Brown’s self-absorbed odyssey because of the ample number of incomplete franchises.

His coaching record is impeccable, even if his principles are sometimes wanting.

He implores his team to play the right way, while he conducts job searches the wrong way. Brown could not tolerate his actions in another.

Brown batted his eyelashes around the Knicks in January, knowing full well the repercussions. He termed the coaching position of the Knicks a dream job. He must have meant the Willis Reed/Dave DeBusschere Knicks of yesteryear, for the Knicks of today are hard to stomach, constrained by both personnel and salary cap issues.

Brown never has met an offer that did not appeal to him on some level. He is addicted to the first date and the subsequent follow-ups, so long as the fireworks are bursting in the air. He is in it for the chase, the initial sweet-nothings.

The thrill soon abates, as the newness descends into ordinariness, and he goes back on the prowl.

He won an NBA title in Detroit, which should have provided a more lasting tonic to his restlessness.

But his eyes already were wandering just three months into the season following the championship.

The Pistons played at a high level in the postseason in spite of him, as if to demonstrate they were more than their coach.

Brown would have been labeled a “distraction” to the Pistons if his script were not so predictable.

His word games came to glaze the eyes of those obligated to chronicle them, both because of his nuances and monotone.

He said the Pistons would be his last coaching stop. Honest. He said it again and again and not because anyone was buying it. He kept saying it because it was an essential part of the buyout process. He is being let go in a way, with three years left on a five-year contract, although he is the one who has orchestrated the parting.

We often lament the lack of loyalty among players.

Washington is just getting over the unexpected departure of Larry Hughes, who professed his devotion to a franchise on the upswing until selling his wares to the highest bidder.

At least with Hughes and the bejeweled lot, their peak earning years are limited and their capacity to see the big picture uneven.

Brown is 64 years old, certainly old enough to be beyond this insatiable pursuit to be wined and dined.

He is acknowledged as one of the game’s best coaches ever, which should be praise enough. He already has been inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame, and his mantel displays a gold medal and championships in the ABA, NBA and NCAA.

And yet, in the sunset of his coaching career, he is again backing out of another commitment.

This is the unseemly dimension of his portfolio. He is programmed to leave a franchise in a lurch.

He asks his players to subjugate their individual needs for the good of the team, and for whatever reasons, his players usually respond. It is one of the peculiar dynamics of his coaching career, for players usually do not respond well to the disingenuous. And Brown never subjugates his individual needs, as his lawyers endeavor to wrangle the largest parting gift possible from the Pistons.

It is bad enough that Brown stepped out on the Pistons and tried to tiptoe around it in the playoffs. Now the Pistons are obligated to pay for his bad form.

Brown eventually will resurface with his eighth NBA team and provide a fix of sorts because that is what he does.

Get to it, Isiah Thomas.

The thought of Brown imploring Stephon Marbury to play the right way would be a measure of sweet justice.