Note From The Underground

Brownout in Beantown

After Dee Brown was shipped to Toronto last week, you can be sure he didn't send Boston coach Rick Pitino any going-away gifts. Sources say that Brown was one of the few Celtics who dared to speak up to Pitino about the way he disparages his players. In fact, a few weeks before the trading deadline, the two men engaged in a shouting match that ended with Pitino's tossing Brown from practice. While the coach notified the other Celtics involved in the Toronto deal—Chauncey Billups, Roy Rogers and John Thomas—that they were about to be traded, Brown found out from reporters.