Almost every day, former Cavaliers coach Mike Brown is reminded that he's not in Cleveland any longer — and it has nothing to do with sunshine, palm trees or the ocean. Invitations from Academy-Award-winning actor Denzel Washington and appearances on TMZ have become part of his life.
Jim Urquhart, Associated PressFormer Cavaliers coach Mike Brown has found coaching in Los Angeles is a far different world than Cleveland. CLEVELAND, Ohio — Almost every day, former Cavaliers coach Mike Brown is reminded that he's not in Cleveland any longer -- and it has nothing to do with sunshine, palm trees or the ocean. It started almost as soon as he was introduced as coach of the Los Angeles Lakers last May 31.
One of his first invitations came from Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington, a longtime Lakers fan who asked the new coach to come to his home to watch the NBA Finals. Brown's schedule didn't allow for the visit.
About a week ago, the coach was rushing to catch the team's charter flight to Portland, Ore., when he was pulled over for speeding. The California Highway Patrol officer recognized the coach and let him off with a warning. As soon as Brown was aboard, the team's vice president of public relations approached him, telling him he had just gotten a call about the traffic stop from TMZ, the celebrity entertainment news service, and wondered if the Lakers had any comment.
"In my six years in Cleveland, I probably had two or three speeding tickets, and I don't think that even made it in the West Life news," Brown said, laughing, in a telephone interview Thursday.
PD fileThe Browns are the guardians for former Regina star Nirra Fields, who now plays for Mater Dei High School in California. "The attention that you get as the Lakers coach is incredibly different. Every little thing that we do is a headline."
Brown and the Lakers will play host to the Cavaliers tonight. Brown admitted coaching against the team he led for six seasons will be weird, but not as weird as it would have been to coach against the Cavs in The Q. Because of the lockout-shortened season, the Lakers will not visit Cleveland this season.
"When we got the schedule, as a family, the first thing we looked at was when we were going to go to Cleveland and play the Cavs," said Brown, who still has many friends in Cleveland and on the Cavs, including General Manager Chris Grant, one of his best friends. "That would have been a lot weirder for me than coaching out here. That emotional attachment is still there. It will be a little awkward, a little weird. But not as bad as if we were back there playing."
The lockout proved to be a blessing in disguise for Brown and his family. For the first time in his 20-year coaching career, he was able to help his wife, Carolyn, relocate their family and resettle their children at legendary powerhouse Mater Dei High School.
Elijah, a junior who played basketball at St. Edward, is averaging about 10 points a game as a sometimes starter and sixth man for the Monarchs, who are 14-2 and ranked 22nd in the nation. Cameron started at left guard on the top freshman football team and was one of the five offensive linemen who shared the team's Player of the Year award for the 10-0 team. He also is a backup center on the top freshman basketball team.
In addition, the Browns are guardians for former Regina star Nirra Fields, who is averaging 22 points for the girls basketball team at Mater Dei, also 14-2 and ranked 12th nationally. She just committed to UCLA.
While those players are doing well, so are the ones who get paid to play for Brown. After starting 0-2, the Lakers are 8-4 with a four-game winning streak and have accepted the changes in offense and defense Brown has made.
Cavaliers at Los Angeles Lakers
Tipoff: 10:30 p.m., Staples Center, Los Angeles.
TV/radio: Fox Sports Ohio; WTAM AM/1100.
Notable: Talk about your daunting assignments. The Cavaliers draw one of the Western Conference's elite on the second game of back-to-backs and third game in four nights. The Cavaliers were sluggish and uninspired in their first back-to-back scenario this season -- a 92-77 loss to Toronto. And the Raptors don't have Kobe Bryant. The Lakers superstar has scored 40 and 48 points in his past two games. If the Cavs have any advantage, it's that the Lakers might get caught looking ahead to Saturday's showdown with the new-look Clippers.
-- Tom Reed
"These guys have been great," Brown said. "They've done a terrific job in the short amount of time we've been together. They've responded well in practices. They've responded well in shoot-arounds. I've kept them for 2 1/2 to 3 hours at shoot-around, if not longer, and they haven't complained one bit."
Much was made of the fact that superstar Kobe Bryant didn't come out in support of Brown's hire last summer, but Brown said the two met and talked before the lockout and he knew Bryant was behind him.
"He asked me if I wanted him to come out and say something to the public," Brown said. "I told him, 'As long as I know that you and I are good, which I truly felt, I have no worries. I'm OK with the speculation. It makes for a good story. I can ignore that noise. It's not a problem.'"
Brown is great at blocking out anything he views as a distraction. So whether it's Jack Nicholson or the Kardashians vying for face time at Laker games, he barely notices.
"I have an uncanny way of taking everything at face value and blocking out stuff that I don't want to think about or get involved in," said Brown, who has been impressed by Byron Scott's Cavs and rookie Kyrie Irving. "There's a ton going on around me, but I feel like I do a pretty good job of keeping all of that blocked out of my thought process.
"I've got two worlds. There's my coaching world -- where I think about coaching and winning -- and when I'm not doing that I try to hang with my family and try to be a good husband and father. That's it."
Brown likes Irving: Brown coached the Cavs' last overall No. 1 pick. He likes what he sees from the current one. "Kyrie has a chance to be really good. You see some things he's doing instinctively for such a young age and the only thing you can say is 'Wow.' Hopefully, he'll be the face of that franchise for his whole career."
Times, players change: Just four current Cavs played under Brown: Anderson Varejao, Daniel Gibson, Anthony Parker and Antawn Jamison. Gibson rarely earned significant playing time under Brown, but he was happy his former coach landed with the Lakers. "He's a great coach and a great person, and when they see what he brings to the table defensively and what he brings in terms of effort and getting guys to play hard, it will work."
Tighten up the D, Kyrie: Scott has been happy with Irving's progression, but he sees ample room for improvement on the defensive end. "He understands that's something we are going to keep harping on until the season is over," Scott said. Irving tends to relax and "take plays off" when his man does not have the ball. Irving concedes he's sometimes guilty of watching the ball instead of offering help or tracking his man.
Praise for the defense: Scott said the 6-2 Gibson is his best perimeter defender despite often surrendering 3 or 4 inches to his man. Gibson's quickness and "tough-as-nails"approach help compensate for the lack of size.
Plain Dealer reporter Tom Reed contributed to this story.
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