Sources Say: Mike Brown Fired

[heathmalc]

Mike Brown. Most Cavalier fans want to see him fired. Some are so adamant about it that they have said they wont watch they Cavs if he comes back next season; even if LeBron stays.

First, any fan who thinks like that, isn't a real fan anyway. A true fan of the Cavaliers will watch and root for their team regardless of the circumstances. Those of you around during the early 80's, who were fans then, know what I am talking about. Those of you who weren't around during that time - just know that there isn't a team in league history that was run worse. It was so bad, in-fact, that the NBA had to institute rules that specifically were the direct result of the Cavaliers' owner's dealings. Yet, despite this, their were fans. True fans have hope even when there appears to be nothing to hope for.

But, back to Mike Brown. Does he have problems with in-game adjustments? Yes. Has he allowed certain factions to cloud his judgment? Yes. Did he has problems with settling on a rotation for this past post-season, and after the trade deadline? Yes. Is all of this his fault? No.

Fans look for a scapegoat whenever something doesn't go according to plan. LeBron cannot be the scapegoat. Shaq, Jamison, West, Parker, and every player except Mo Williams is considered secondary role players. Therefore, the only player that fans can point at is Mo Williams. However, his short-comings are well documented, so using him is not good enough. That being the case, Mike Brown is the next logical scapegoat; and Ferry after him.

I have an analogy for everyone, that may help people to understand the situation better. I am a semi-professional blackjack player, as well as writer & artist. However, I don't have the $ to be a full-time blackjack pro. Mike Brown is very, very good at this basic strategy in NBA-terms. Despite what many of you think, he is one of the very best in the league. During regular play in blackjack, you have a set of rules that you follow, depending on what cards you are dealt and what the dealer has. There is very, very little need to adjust this strategy during regular play. During the NBA regular season, there is very little adjustments that are needed, and a coach and team play their basic strategy, and try to perfect it through repetition during the season. The more seasons a team has together, the better they become at this strategy. In the NBA, this is referred to as "Chemistry."

In Blackjack there comes a time when adjustments to the basic strategy is needed. This is especially true for people who are familiar with card counting (Ace/5 or Hi/Lo being the most used). When a certain amount of hi cards or lo cards have been played, a player will adjust his/her play/bet accordingly. These adjustments allow the player to maximize their potential winnings. In the NBA, the playoffs require adjustments. These adjustments are due to shortened benches (less hi/lo cards), match-ups (specific card adjustment), and other, less important adjustments. In blackjack, it is absolutely essential for a player to memorize the basic strategy... otherwise, everything else goes out the window. Card counting is very hard, and involves memorizing certain situational plus and minus card-adjustment. In the NBA this would be in-line with playoff adjustments; It is difficult to master - for any coach. Phil Jackson, for instance, was considered a poor tactician and horrible game-planner. However, in his 2nd year after replacing Collins in Chicago, those views were minimized, as they won a championship. After winning two more consecutive rings, Phil was regarded as one of the top coaches in the league...his faults nearly forgotten. 4 years later, and 3 additional rings later, he was considered the top coach in the league. Since that time, he has only added to that reputation. Larry Brown is an even better example. Larry, like Brown, was considered a great in-season coach, but a coach that couldn't make adjustments to win the whole enchilada. From 1972 to 2002, Larry Brown made the EC finals ONE time. During that time he never made it past the second round with that one exception. In 2003, Larry won the title with the extreme under-dog Detroit Pistons. Looking back on his career, many have said that Larry just never stayed with one team long enough, his longest being with the 76ers...which is when he finally broke through the 2nd round to the EC finals. Two years later, he won the title with the Pistons, went to the EC finals the following season, then left the team.

Becoming a great coach does not happen overnight for any coach. There are flashes in the pan, but none sustain it without a LOT of experience. Mike Brown over-achieved his first 3 years, and under-achieved his last two. But look at why this may have happened: During those first 3 seasons the Cavaliers maintained 80% of their core until the Larry Hughes trade. Therefore, Mike had his basic strategy ingrained into all of the players, and with a relatively weak bench, those players played 88% of the minutes in the regular season and nearly 97% in the post-season. By contrast, the last two seasons have seen no less than 2 different starters in the line-up (40%) and this past season it was 3 new starters (60%). That is MAJOR turn-over. Mike Brown has not perfected in-game adjustments, and because of this, and the fact that he had to reteach his basic strategy to an almost entirely new starting line-up, it made for difficult rotation decisions. That being the case, the Cavaliers were able to do well during the regular season despite any of these shortcomings. Yet, when the playoffs came, Brown's lack of adjustment ability, and indecision on rotations, really hurt the team, and caused dissent within the locker-room and on the floor.

Many of you believe that without LeBron, that Brown would prove to be a horrible coach. I disagree. If Brown was so horrible, and it was simply LeBron, then why is it that until Brown became coach that the Cavs best record was only 42 wins? Do not try and tell me that it was because of the great additions of Larry Hughes, Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall (Jones & Marshall came off the bench anyway). Those players sucked here, and have either retired or sucked at the team(s) they went to after leaving us. NO... The reason we won is Brown. He instilled a philosophy into the team, and had easy rotation decisions because of a lack of any bench. In his first season, the Cavaliers nearly toppled the Detroit Pistons, after being down 0-2...and coming back to win 3 straight, before losing the last two. The next year, with the basic strategy in-place, and a small in-season deal (Flip Murray), the Cavs toppled the Pistons and went to the Finals. His 3rd season was when Larry got traded, and the Cavs took the Celtics to 7 games before losing a thriller. The last two seasons has seen high turn-over, with better talent... but less chemistry, and less understanding of the basic strategy. We lost because we have not had the time together that is needed. The Cavs team has not learned the basic strategy to the point that it is 2nd nature. Yet, with more talent, the Cavs were able to win during the regular season on that alone. Mike is not the problem. It may "appear" that he is, but he isn't.

Ferry (or the new GM KiKi?) needs to put a young center with the team, and decide Mo's fate... then stick with that team, making only SMALL changes during the season...if a great opportunity presents itself. Allow this team to bond. Jumping up and down together with smiles is not bonding. That is called excitement. If LeBron comes back, give him the players he will be playing with for the next 5-6 years, and quit changing. Allow Brown to do his job by keeping the core team the same. NO COACH can be successful when their team is continuously changing.

Mike Brown is NOT the problem here people. And, whether you want to hear it or not, it is true. The Cavaliers will be doing themselves a HUGE dis-service if they let Brown go!

And for those of you who think that Ferry is the one that is pushing to keep Brown... you are wrong. Ferry likes Brown... but Brown was hired by Dan Gilbert BEFORE Ferry was hired. The rumors out there that are saying that if Brown leaves that Ferry will refuse to resign...that is BS! The person that likes Brown the most is Dan Gilbert...not Ferry.

[JonFromVA]

fwiw, Danny Ferry (like all the folks we talked to for the GM spot) signed off on the Mike Brown hiring. He agreed to join the team but asked for the official signing to be delayed so he could wrap up the draft prep he'd been doing with the Spurs.

[chrice]

I actually think it's the opposite way around. Most people feel that he was a bad coach to begin with, but having the luxury of Lebron on the team masks a lot of short comings of Mike Brown. Offensively, Mike Brown has no idea what he's doing. The half court set looks like 5 individuals playing with the same uniform. Cavs defense is good, but not great. Lebron's help defense masked a lot of that as well. When it comes to rotations and matchups, he has no idea how to adapt. It should have been blatantly obvious to him that Delonte and Hickson were more effective in the lineup, but he kept to his usual roster throughout the playoffs. I would have also liked to have seen more Gibson during the scoring droughts.

[jngshin]

The firing has 99% to do with Lebron in some way.

[heathmalc]

ESPN has released an article by Ric Bucher saying that coach Mike Brown has been fired after five seasons with the Cavaliers. According to Ric Bucher's article, the Cavaliers had a Sunday - midnight deadline, to make a decision on Brown, who if had been retained past that hour, would have been guaranteed his entire 2010-2011 salary of $4.5 million dollars.

As most fans already know, yet are reminded by Bucher in his redundant style of reporting, the Cavaliers will need to search for a new coach without LeBron, or if he plans on coming back - with his input; but unless hired quickly, the Cavs will be without a coach for the NBA draft and through the most demanding period of free-agengy.

The ESPN article can be found at: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5213917

Personally, I think this is a mistake, unless it was the only way to keep LeBron... in that case, you do what you have to do.

[TheOUTLAW]

Brown was almost fired last year, no way was he going to make it through another season where the team was considered to have underachieved. I don't think it's a mistake at all as long as they can get someone decent to replace him. The team went about as far as he could take him.

[vct33]

I'd be very, very surprised if he ever coached a team again for more than two seasons. He's just not a good coach. He was lucky to have had the opportunity to ride LBJ's coattails. That alone will trick other teams in to hiring him but he'll never be successful.

[heathmalc]

Brown was almost fired last year, no way was he going to make it through another season where the team was considered to have underachieved. I don't think it's a mistake at all as long as they can get someone decent to replace him. The team went about as far as he could take him.

That is exactly why I believe this to be a mistake: I'm not convinced that there is a coach out there, who is willing to - A) come out of retirement/leave or B) Come to the Cavs without knowing about LeBron's future - , which leaves the Cavs with a coach who may have even more coaching faults than Mike Brown had. We'll see.

"After a long and deep analysis of all of the factors that led to the disappointing early ends to our playoff runs over the past two seasons, we concluded that it was time for the Cavaliers to move in a different direction," Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert said.

"The expectations of this organization are very high and, although change always carries an element of risk, there are times when that risk must be taken in an attempt to break through to new, higher levels of accomplishment. This is one of those times."

[gflem]

I believe that Heath having coach Brown's back was the final straw. When Ferry and Gilbert saw heath supporting the idea of keeping Brown they knew he had to go. Immediately. The contract thing had nothing to do with it, although I am sure some will say the deadline was the main factor, we here all know different.
Now if Heath could just go to bat for Larry Dolan maybe we could fix the Indians too.

[mg]

So if Calipari is the next coach does that mean LeBron is staying and Ferry is also leaving?

[Pula_86]

It is funny to me that I was posting last year that Mike Brown should be fired and this team would not improve until he was gone. Those that "moderated" this board changed the title thread in support of Mike Brown. I guess time makes asses out of all of us.

The last thing the Cavs should do is consider hiring Callipari. How quickly everyone forgets his last tenure in the NBA. One of the worst coaching performances I have ever seen. This guy only wins in college basketball because he cheats. While no one can directly implicate Calliparii since he works through handlers, it is not surprise that every school he has coached at has been in trouble with the NCAA.

At the top of my coaching wish list is Jeff Van Gundy and Avery Johnson. The Cavs need to hire a coach and not wait for LeBron's approval. A lot of the problems with this organization has been that LeBron has gotten way too much input on key decisions. LeBron may be a talented player, but he is a terrible GM. It is time to let the professionals do their job. Step up to the plate Danny Ferry and earn your money.

[Mezotarkus]

I wonder if as a result of this decision the Cavs already know where Lebron's mind is about returning to Cleveland. Surely they have had dialogue with Lebron. If he was noncommittal as was reported about whether they fired Brown or not that is not a good sign or at least a sign he is leaning towards leaving. If they asked Lebron if he had any recommendations for a replacement and he was noncommittal also that would also solidify this point.

[B Mac]

It is funny to me that I was posting last year that Mike Brown should be fired and this team would not improve until he was gone. Those that "moderated" this board changed the title thread in support of Mike Brown. I guess time makes asses out of all of us.

Some of us dont need time.

[gflem]

I still say Fratello would be a good choice. Avery Johnson okay as well. Who is Lebron going to listen to if he stays? I wouldnt want a coach who wont stand up to a franchise player. We just fired that guy, because obviously it doesnt work.
I would rather go with a guy who has enough experience to know what battles to fight and when to back off a little. I dont know if Avery has enough time on the bench to have acquired that knowledge or is his personality will allow him to handle Lebron.
Obviously if Lebron leaves it makes all of the above moot. However, according to wiretap the team wont be making a decision before July which may take most of the available experienced coaches out of the pool.

[kiwibrindle]

got to be someone that LBJ would respect and listens to. K, Cali, his high school coach, JZ all make the list

[kiwibrindle]

You guys will all laugh but Charles Barkley would not be a bad coach for the shock value and press it would bring from the media. It is a business.

[throwd]

lenny wilkins

[throwd]

and i truly hope its not calipari....dood cant coach, only recruit

[Benedict_Boozer]

Lebron will want a marquee coach. The people he is compared to, Kobe now, Michael Jordan, etc. all played for HOF coaches. Bringing in a guy like Avery Johnson does nothing for us IMO.

I think Mike Brown had to be let go, but the market is dry right now with coaches. Not sure who we can realistically get that is much better than Brown was...