Choo Moves Up, Tribe Falls Down
May 22, 2010While We’re Waiting… LeBron Trade Options, Tribe Social Deck, Buckeye Transfer
May 23, 2010Within 24 hours of when the Cavaliers were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in Game 6 on May 13, Sports Illustrated reported that Mike Brown had been fired as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. That report was May 14. It is now May 22. Mike Brown is the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
We’re still waiting, and in the interim, Mike Brown’s loyalists within the organization have apparently provided a vigorous defense of the embattled head coach.
In the furious reaction to the shocking and demoralizing early exit, and the prompt feelings of panic and desperation to cling to a future with LeBron in Cleveland, fans and experts alike assumed that the first order of business would be the axing of Mike Brown. While the SI report was indeed premature, most felt that the firing would happen, if not later that weekend, certainly early this past week. Owner Dan Gilbert said that everyone associated with the team received a failing grade this postseason. LeBron was substandard but Mike Brown received the brunt of the fan’s reactionary anger. But Gilbert did not instantly react to the failing grades by canning Brown. Instead, he engaged in, and continues to do so, a thorough investigation of what happened and evaluation of each actor going forward. Brown remains under review but it appears there are some strong voices within the organization arguing for his retainment.
When the season ended in such a shockingly horrific manner, an avalanche of blame was tumbling towards Mike Brown. It would have been the popular and easy decision to fire Brown before the team got on the plane in Boston. It also would have been easy for everyone in the organization to turn their gun towards Brown and lay the fault at his door. This would seem to be the quick and easy way to at least begin seeking answers for what happened this May.
The subject of Brown’s status had been put on the backburner as the week progressed and LeBron mania exploded. Then, yesterday morning, Brian Windhorst tweeted that no decision would be made on Brown this week and that LeBron had not made his opinion known and was leaving it up to the organization – an organization with some fiercely loyal advocates for Coach Brown. It prompted Eric Freeman to write that maybe Mike Brown will stay in Cleveland after all. Windhorst addressed LeBron’s reticence:
In addition, multiple sources say, LeBron James has not called for Brown to be fired as some have assumed.
Though the two had a rough finish to the season — with James and Brown differing on rotations, substitutions and some game strategy — James does not want to have the reputation as forcing a coach out. It is believed he will leave the decision up to owner Dan Gilbert and Ferry.
With those issues in the air, sources said, the Cavs have tabled discussions on Brown’s future until next week after a series of postseason meetings wrapped up this week.
While he may not overtly be calling for Brown’s ouster, I wouldn’t expect James to walk into the evaluation meetings, a la Jimmy Chitwood and utter:
“I don’t know if it’ll make any change, but I figured it’s time for me to start playing ball…But, there’s just one thing… I play, Coach stays. He goes, I go.”
But perhaps a Chitwood style ultimatum has been handed down by General Manager Danny Ferry. Ferry is a Brown loyalist and has admired the Cavs coach since their days together in San Antonio. It has been speculated that Ferry, who has a healthy nest egg from his playing career and an expiring contract, may walk off into the sunset. A future where James controls the coaching hires may make this decision easier.
It is never prudent to fire a coach without having some sense of who his replacement will be – particularly the coach with the best record in the league over the past two seasons. But the uncertainty of the Cavaliers coaching position hinges on, as with every other franchise evaluation, the free agency decision of LeBron James.
So the Cavs remain in limbo about the future and Mike Brown holds on. It’s difficult to make a coaching change and plan for the future when your team’s future hinges on one decision that results in two extremely different basketball teams. It’s been rumored that Danny Ferry would not be a part of an organization with John Calipari on the bench. Chris Broussard has reported that Cavaliers would be willing to offer Phil Jackson somewhere between 12-15 million dollars. If Jackson wants to remain with the Lakers, he will have to take a 5-7 million dollar pay cut according to owner Jerry Buss – something he may not be willing to do. I do not see the Cavaliers ending up with Jackson.
But I also don’t see Mike Brown in their future. While he holds onto his position with factions in the organization firmly behind him, Dan Gilbert must make the proactive choice to make a switch at the head position where the failures at the most important part of the season have led to a bitter ending for the past two years. It’s the easiest and most intuitive move in a situation where the owner cannot accept the status quo if he plans to re-sign his most valuable asset. At this point, however, Brown’s firing is clearly not a formality and the sides taken up for and against his cause within the organization will create consequences felt throughout the club regardless of whatever move is made. He has held on longer than most anyone ever imagined.
24 Comments
Here’s a question I think is important to ask.
If you let your head coach go, would anyone else offer him a head coaching position this season or the next?
If the answer is “NO,” then I think it’s time to move on.
I do appreciate Mike Brown’s belief in his system. But it’s that stubbornness that hurt this team in the past two offseasons. I think this team was the winningest team over the past two years in spite of Mike Brown. Just like in college football talent alone can win you games in the regular season. But, when it comes down to crunch time in the postseason the teams success depends on the coaches gameplan and willingness to adapt to what is being shown.I say adapt as in halftime adjustments not the adapt we see from Mike Brown. Usually two games later.
As fun as 60-win seasons are, this team’s success is judged by postseason performance. Like Gilbert said, this team received failing grades this postseason.
I’s pretty sure Gilbert’s presser was last Friday. And he said he would evaluate for the next 7-10 days. So I don’t expect Mike Brown to have his job Monday afternoon.
Where the team goes after Brown is gone is unknown. But, I trust Gilbert and Ferry to make the right choice. The only choices I see as unacceptable is retaining Mike Brown or hiring John Calipari.
Calipari is a failed NBA coach and he can’t rely on his recruiting practices to bring in stud players. Caipari has issues with morality and that is evident with his Derrick Rose cheating scandal and the way he leaves programs, UMASS and Memphis, as the axe falls on his recruiting practices.
I would stomach Calipari if I have no other choice, but I will not watch this team if Brown returns.
Problem is, I see Brown getting a job pretty quickly. It’s the NBA, where retread coaching hires happens.
So Danny Ferry is willing to tie himself to Brown so tightly that he’d rather leave than see him go? That seems petty to me. What would Ferry do then, tell the team he goes to next that Brown comes with him as a package deal? That doesn’t make sense.
Either way, Brown does need to go. Good regular season coach, but he does not have what it takes to win championships, as he’s proven the last few years.
Jack- I think if Brown is let go, he’d take some time off just so he could still get paid by Gilbert. Most coaches do that including Avery Johnson. Would Brown get hired by another team eventually? Probably, he was successful and I could see a team like Sacramento, Memphis or Atlanta bringing him in to help get them over the top or into the playoffs. Just not this next season.
I believe you need to wait for LeBron to make his decision. What quality coach will come here if LeBron leaves? If LeBron stays try to get Phil Jackson or Larry Brown. If he leaves we need to rebuild and Mike Brown can at least teach defense and keep the team respectable.
Mike Brown would definitely work again very soon, even Doug Collins got another job, and Brown is a better coach than him. I still think Brown is a good coach, one of the better ones in the league. I do not know who the Cavs could hire that would be better, but at the same time, I kind of recognize that maybe its best to part ways. Kind of a crappy situation
I’m just sick of this story. This and Lebron James. Will he stay, will he go / be fired ? Just make a decision.
I think Jim’s got about the right play.
Total blow-up would be a waste. If Lebron leaves, there’s a lot of good pieces in the organization, and it may not be as easy to rebuild as some may think. (How often does a “Lebron James” enter the league? Once every 15 years? How often is he going to land on the Cavs and not some other team? Don’t hold your breath.) Really, we don’t even know if Ferry knows how to build a team without a Lebron James.
I have a feeling that Mike Brown (or Mike Woodson – Atlanta is crazy) can make ho-hum players competitive through defense. I’d rather suffer through .500 ball than a back-to-the-drawing-board approach.
Maybe it’s me but if Brown can’t fullfill expectations with a team featuring THE BEST PLAYER ON THE PLANET, why should we believe he can succeed otherwise? I keep thinking back a couple seasons ago when Phil Jackson was asked if he could run the triangle through Bron and big Z and he simply covered his mouth to stifle a laugh…ah, what couldve been….. :’ (
Historycat as fan, May 14: I want Mike Brown’s head on a platter!!!
Historycat as owner, May 22: We’re going to take a systematic, rational approach as to the future of our organization.
I’m glad Gilbert’s the owner. We need to build for the future not sway in the wind of public opinion. I agree with the calm, measured steps Gilbert is taking.
History, I am glad that Gilbert didn’t make an emotional decision following the season. but you can not say that Mike Brown deserves another year. We can point to his coaching decisions as the reason this team was knocked out this year.
@ Jim…. you hit it on the nose. i believe its all on lebron… WHEN he comes back, im being optimistic but brown will be out, but if lebron leaves then i dont really see a point with us going through the process of getting someone new
anyone else find it strangely ironic that “The Chosen One” has not yet made a decision where he wants to play next year?
*rimshot* cant choose…not choose’n…haha…
ok ok maybe thats just funny to me…
FIRE MIKE BROWN, CLAP, CLAP, CLAP-CLAP-CLAP. Guy stinks, has no leadership skills at all. The Mo Williams presser laugh… just awful. That’s exactly what Brown sounds like during timeouts! A bumbling idiot… The pro coach options out there right now are weak. After re-signing LeBron, lets get the kid a top college coach he’ll listen to and respect. A Roy Williams, Jay Wright, etc. He responded so well to Krzyzewski during the olympics.
You can’t fire Brown until you know what Lebron is going to do. And by that time, it may be too late. If Lebron wakes up on Monday and decides to resign with Cleveland, Brown is fired that afternoon IMHO. I don’t think all the blame is on Brown but there’s enough at his feet to get fired. When it falls on the coach and the superstar player, and someone needs to pay, you can bet it won’t be the superstar player.
Nice writeup B.
The Choosey One.
Torn on this. The players quit in the playoffs which Brown cannot control. At the same time his refusing to not sit Shaq and let the team run Boston out of the building makes no sense. It was like he forgot they did that in Boston in February and in Game 3 of the series or something.
Mike Brown has lost his players and can’t deliver a title, it’s time for a change.
Not only that but his lack of knowledge on the offensive end of the court along
with his questionable use of players doesn’t help. The problem is who would
replace him.
Brown may be the explanation for great regular seasons, not the explanation for lousy post-seasons.
y’know, maybe.
I’m going to treat this like a Boston open thread, as what is left of the Cavs’ season is in Boston’s belly. Maybe the explanation for the Cavs post season, this year, is Boston (Perkins?). They are doing the unthinkable to Orlando.
I don’t consider what BOS is doing to ORL unthinkable. In fact, I thought CLE would do the exact same thing. What they’re doing isn’t rocket science, either; they’re going one-on-one with Howard down low and staying home on the shooters, which is how to beat them. CLE had the team to do that, with Shaq handling Howard and Jamison to match up on Lewis (a much more favorable match-up than with KG). The only problem I thought CLE would have is PG. Nelson is being ripped to shreds by Rondo, but he would have a much easier time defending Williams or West.
Of the people asking whether watching BOS rip ORL makes CLE fans feel better, it actually makes me even more furious.
Kind of ironic a year ago Ferry supposedly built his roster to face Boston only
to lose to Orlando. A year later Ferry builds for Orlando only to lose to Boston
DOH!
The only positive from what Boston is doing to Orlando now is D12 is not even
remotely playing to the caliber of the 2 time MVP.