Former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown was set up to fail, writes Kelly Dwyer on Ball Don't Lie Yahoo.com blog. With LeBron James(notes) running that franchise as he saw fit, and the nebulous triptych that was the Brown/Danny Ferry/Dan Gilbert rotation alternately making half-decisions and crossing wires the wrong way, Brown just didn't have a chance. Win a championship or...
Former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown.Former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown was set up to fail, writes Kelly Dwyer on Ball Don't Lie Yahoo.com blog.
With LeBron James(notes) running that franchise as he saw fit, and the nebulous triptych that was the Brown/Danny Ferry/Dan Gilbert rotation alternately making half-decisions and crossing wires the wrong way, Brown just didn't have a chance. Win a championship or take a hike. Perhaps Brown should have won a championship.
Well he didn't, and maybe that is the main reason why Brown was let go, right? Dwyer writes what Brown has done is not why he was ousted.
But "his fault" never played in part in this dismissal. Because this was James' call. Brown needed to go, no doubt, but he needed to go just because a hypothetical 2010-11 pairing with LeBron James would be just too untenable for all involved. And by "all," I mean James. He is The Light.
Think about that. This guy is a free agent and he influenced a team's head-coaching position to the point where someone loses a job. There are other, legitimate, factors behind Brown's necessary dismissal, which we'll get to in a bit, but the fact that Brown was dumped because of the anticipated whims of a player who won't even be under contract in five weeks is just astonishing.
The Cavaliers, writes Dwyer, got rid of the most successful coach in team history long after most teams have set to interviewing and hiring new coaches, based on the expected preferences of LeBron.