Addressing the Mike Brown Rumors

If Joe Girardi can be fired from the Florida Marlins after winning coach of the year, Mike Brown can get the axe too.

This is Cleveland, people! Anything is possible. I could see Mike Brown gone tomorrow as much as I could see Wedge still here in 3 years.

@Ike,

I think there will be an inordinate amount of pressure on Brown to WIN the Finals next year. Considering the Cavs reached the Finals 2 years ago, just being there wouldn’t be considered progress in my opinion.

I want to go on record of saying getting rid of him is an incredible stupid idea. He fuddled around for a couple years offensively, and then let his offensive coordinator step up. When he did that, that sealed the deal for me. Brown is not the problem. I think this offseason needs no huge changes (ok maybe a few player related ones), but nothing that isn’t already obvious. Brown is not an obvious problem (actually, he’s not a problem at all).

Do. Not. Get. Rid. Of. Coach. Brown.

The only way that Brown should get fired is if a marquee coach comes available. We don’t want to end up like the Pistons or the Suns or the Mavericks and fire the coach and then watch the team disintegrate without his presence. There aren’t a lot of coachs out there that are better than Mike Brown that are on the market.

@Scott: Nice cross promotion there.

Sorry, I meant game 5, not 6 above.

im with you clown baby. my point is only that this series was VERY close and could have easily gone either way. they were a miracle shot from getting swept and orlando was really 2 miracles shots away from losing 4-1. dont forget, if hedo misses his last shot in game 2 the cavs win and they dont need lebrons miracle shot. im only trying to point out that the series was really close and all this talk about brown getting totally outcoached would never have come up if a few things went down a little differently. its not like the cavs were blown out of arena.

Craig is exactly right. Here is a long way of driving that point home. This is a post from the same guy within the organization that I referenced earlier. He says he spoke to Gilbert there is absolutely no reason not to believe him…..

I decided to get on the phone while I’m out on the scouting trail, and try and bring some sense and understanding to the rumors that are circulating throughout the sports world in regards to the head coaching job with the Cavaliers.

I have said some things in my post Orlando series comments, that have conveyed some issues with Mike Brown’s coaching in that series, and that issues had arisen amongst some of his staff, as to his philosophy during that series.

These critical comments and evaluations have, without question, continued throughout the Cavaliers in-house evaluations that have been going on, and are continuing to go on during this time period. Part of which I even have been involved, and my opinions heard and evaluated within that mix.

So, I can say all viewpoints are being brought to the table, and I have backing for my viewpoints amongst many in the organization.

Mike Brown has been critiqued to a level he has never experienced before as head coach of the Cavaliers.

One basic and strong underlying truth remains constant throughout all levels, and amongst all people with varying viewpoints …and that one constant was that our team simply was a matchup disaster when put against the Orlando Magic.

We may have people in the organization, of which I am one, that don’t feel Mike Brown put us in the best position to win this series, and neglected to try certain avenues which ultimately could have been tried or attempted. But even those of us who share those thoughts and opinions have to concede that they weren’t strong options, and would have included using personnel at the very end of our bench.

So, that is telling in the sense that it is understandable why Mike Brown ultimately decided to stay with what he did, other than go deeper into his bench to try and find a more favorable matchup with those way down the totem pole.

But, we have conflicting reports coming out of various media outlets, and I need to bring some clarity to them.

The question is, how can one report from someone say all these things that might conclude that the Cavaliers might be contemplating a coaching change, and others deny that they have any truth and that nothing will happen and Mike Brown’s job is secure.

Well, here’s the real deal.

Sam Amico does have solid sources within the Cavs organization, and he has heard of the issues that have come to light in the Cavs post season evaluations. They truly have been highly critical of Mike Brown and have put him on the spot as far as him having to explain in detail why he chose to go the routes that he did, and his reasonsings.

One strength of this organization is that they don’t shy away from openly bringing issues out in the open and talking them through. It’s one of the key reasons we are as successful as we are, quite frankly.

When issues exist, they get addressed openly, and not swept under the rug so as to avoid hurting fragile egos.

Mike Brown is a strong man, with his ego in check. He’s very willing to take on issues that are coming at him right now, and he’s handling them all with great character.

Now, amidst all this, is Mike Brown’s job in jeopardy ?

While I can say that there is smoke to this fire, in that division of thought does exist amongst some key members of this team’s top decision makers as to the decisions that were made and not made during the Orlando series, the one most key person’s opinion on the matter is one that goes by the name of Lebron James.

Lebron James himself, DID have issues with some of the decisions that were made during the Orlando series, BUT, they don’t even come remotely close to being of the level to put Mike Brown’s job in jeopardy.

This is what I was told just prior to getting on here and writing this piece, by the most important man in the organization …our owner.

Lebron is still fully behind Mike Brown as head coach of this team, and with that being said folks … expect to see Mike Brown as our head coach for as long as Lebron is here. He’s behind Mike Brown despite the issues that even he had with him during the Orlando series.

But, I will say that the organization is handling all of this very very professionally. Hearing out all sides of all issues that exist in their post mortem evaluations after our season concluded, painfully, in Orlando.

So, although Sam Amico did have some justification for what he wrote in terms of their being some very critical opinions of Mike Brown that have come to the forefront during recent meeting in Independence, changing the head coach isn’t part of the itinerary as I see it, moving forward this offseason.

Just thought it was important that I get some clarity out for you guys right now before things get out of control on the rumor front.

well brad they won the championship the year after that!(or maybe two years)

Anyway, I don’t think that brown should get fired and i definitely dont think that he’s totally responsible. It’s a team sports so everyone has his share of responsibility in this one. from the owner to the players and that inludes LeBron James. So Mike brown could have done things better, but let’s face it he did not have the right personnel. Which coach has never been outcoached??? Even Pat riley has, even Phil Jackson has(last year finals). Mike Brown has done a terrific job and the cav’s front office shouldnt throw that away…yet.

Mike (#7 and 18),

I like Brown and don’t want him fired and I agree with your point that the series was very close the whole way. But isn’t the fact that the Cavs lost more of the close games than won proof that MB got outcoached. I mean, if the Cavs got swept by double digits, then you say orlando was more talented or peaking or whatever. But when the games are close, that’s when coaching matters the most, right?

first, im not saying brown wasnt outcoached. i disagreed with some of the moves he made. secondly, whether a game is close or a blowout isnt necessarily indicative of whether or not someone got out-coached or not. if they get swept by double digits, that could certainly be due to bad coaching decisions at least in part. a close game certainly can come down to good coaching, but it also comes down to execution. the execution wasnt always there by the cavs players in those close games. thirdly, look at games 1 and 4 in particular. at the end of game 1, brown set his defense and rashard made a pretty ridiculous three pointer. after that, he set up an offensive play which got a wide-open (WIDE OPEN) look for delonte west and he missed it. thats not bad coaching per se – thats delonte missing a wide open game winning shot. if it was set up for Z to take it, then id be scratching my head. in game 4, i thought the defensive set was peculiar with wallace on rashard but rashard still hit a tough last second shot, and he got open due to a questionable moving screen set by dwight howard (refs??). just before that, the cavs had pretty solid defense and pietrus took a really bad three that he missed, there was a long rebound and delonte had it on his fingers until Howard knocked him from behind (refs???) and it went out of bounds. he gets that board, the cavs probably win game 4. in that OT, nobody seemed to want to play hack-a-dwight. i highly doubt Brown told the players not to foul dwight but rather just give him easy dunks. thats awful execution by the players to just let dwight get his easy open dunks. at the end of game 2, i thought lebron should have been guarding hedo when he made his last second shot. we all know what happened after that.

all im saying is that had the cavs won or lost this extremely close series, he would have still made some questionable decisions. all in all, he had a great coaching season. since they lost (barely), everything gets blown out of proportion though.

Well said Mike.

And man, couldn’t Rashard Lewis have laid some eggs in our series??