Mike Brown on the hot seat
Thu, Jan 3, 2008 By Tariq Ali
After successful two seasons with 50 wins each and leading the Cavaliers to their first playoffs in 2006 and to the NBA Finals last season, Chris Sheridan of ESPN.com thinks Mike Brown is on the verge of loosing his coaching job.
“When you put a few factors together — he did not receive a contract extension after leading the team to the NBA Finals last season; he is one of the league’s five lowest-paid coaches; his authority was publicly challenged by Damon Jones and Ira Newble ”
Tell us what you think? Do you agree with Chris Sheridan assessment?
espn “analysts” and “columnits” are a bunch of idiots……they dont know what they are talking about half the time and only focus on the major programs – - usc, new england sports, etc etc……i don’t think he is/should be on the hot seat…….
I really think that’s not true cleveland teams can win the championship and start bad then everybody want there head. We are already a farm city everytime we get somebody good we always give them away. Look everybody want to get rid of DEREK ANDERSON, already you as cleveland fans DON’T WANT TO WIN.
I think Mike Brown’s effectiveness needs to be evaluated. Brian Windhorst reported that several times during the game LeBron was getting on teammates in the huddle and during one timeout, Mike Brown didn’t even talk, LeBron led the huddle. It’s ok to have your superstar setting the tone but sometimes I wonder if that is more out of necessity. Mike Brown is a nice guy and communicates well with the players. He has never been a head coach before, not in High School, College or the Pro’s. I think that while Mike Brown may be adequate he is not one of the better coaches in the NBA.
It is so easy to blame the coach when the team is not doing well. But we got to evaluate the coach’s resume before getting emotional over few losses at the beginning of the season.
Mike Brown took the Cavaliers to the playoffs for the first time since Lebron came to the NBA. We had two coaches before Mike and we came close to getting there but never did. You can easily say we have Lebron and he is the reason we are winning. That is true but before we take any credit away from Mike Brown, let’s look at few things:
1- We had Lebron James before Mike Brown and we never got to the playoffs.
2- Defense is what got us to the Finals last
season and almost beat Detroit the season before that. Lebron’s defense is getting better every season since Mike Brown arrived.
2- We had a really really bad summer and a hard schedule to begin the season. Training camp is very important for players and the coach so they can develop a rotation and a system.
3- The team were 9-2 without Lebron before this season. I guess you can’t credit Larry Hughes for that one!
4- In the playoffs, Mike Brown out coached veterans coaches, Saunders(almost got him fired in Detroit) and Eddie Jordan.