The coach wants to prove he is a winner again.

The team wants to prove to the city that it is worthy of a long-term embrace, much like the past franchise that called the Queen City home.

Larry Brown and the Charlotte Bobcats need each other. Brown and Charlotte were unaffiliated just days ago. But in a matter of a few hours and a phone call by the most famous name in basketball – Bobcats partowner Michael Jordan – the two were joined in what is going to be a happy marriage between a coach starving to perfect his craft once again and a franchise that is past the honeymoon stage with its city.

This marriage will work, and the fruits of its union will result in the Charlotte Bobcats advancing to their first NBA playoffs.

And it will happen next season.

Charlotte plays in the NBA's Eastern Conference, made up of the league's weakest three divisions. It is a conference where mediocrity is rewarded with playoffs berths – this season the lowly Atlanta Hawks advanced to the postseason, if that gives you any indication – and 45-win teams are given the titles of world beaters.

The Bobcats have the structure of a playoffs-ready team. They are young and athletic, and they boast talents such as Emeka Okafor, Jason Richardson, Adam Morrison and Gerald Wallace. They lack only in the toughness and attention to detail – Brown will bring both.

The Bobcats have never hired the coach they needed. Bernie Bickerstaff babysat the organization as its head coach for the first three seasons. Sam Vincent, who was fired Saturday, was a rookie coach not quite ready for the pros.

Coaching makes a difference in the NBA. Brown changes things for the better just about everywhere he goes.

Indiana. San Antonio. The Los Angeles Clippers – yes, those shameful Clippers.

He brought an NBA title to Detroit in 2004.

The only place Brown did not win and change a losing atmosphere is New York. He lasted only one season there. The Knicks missed Brown so much that they won only 23 games this season.

That failure eats at Brown. That's why he is willing to help these Bobcats, a 32-win team last season, push a little further. Brown, a North Carolina alumnus, is back in a state that has always embraced him. He will coach former Tar Heels Sean May and Raymond Felton. Mentor Dean Smith will be just a few hours away, undoubtedly watching his pupil.

Jordan needs Brown, too. His Airness has won championships and sold sneakers like no other person on earth, but he is no hall of famer when it comes to his front office duties.

It's the perfect time for Brown to be coach, to bring his winning ways to Charlotte. It's time to put fans back in the seats and bring excitement back to the city, just like it was in the 90s when the Hornets made the Charlotte Coliseum the city's hottest ticket.

The coach, the one who changes area codes more often than Liz Taylor changes husbands, is home.

Brown's honeymoon destination next season?

The NBA playoffs.

Sports writer Jessie H. Nunery can be reached at 407-9951 or jhnunery@coxnc.com