"I told the coaches to step aside and said, 'Bron, you take over the huddle.'"

[abraxas]

This team wouldn't be where it is today without Brown.

The defense is what it is because of Mike Brown. He brought the system in here, he turned defense into our identity. He still has the final say on all matters."

I completely agree with this. There is no way we'd be where we are today without MB making over this team as a defense-oriented team. He did this. He deserves all the credit.

I am no fan of bashing players or coaches when we lose a couple games and we're all freaking out. I tend to believe that seasons are long, players/coaches are human, and we must be patient. But I also don't want to be in denial when I am observing something that feels alarming to me.

I think there are enough things with MB over the past couple years that many people on this forum have valid concerns. I believe that with our increased versatility and more capable squad (10 deep minimum), MB's shortcomings are now more apparent than ever. I believe there comes a point when coaches get stuck in a system or philosophy and what used to work well stops working so well. And that point, stagnancy, or worse conflict ensues that gets the whole system stuck as well. A few years back, we were overachievers riding the LBJ train. MB admitted readily that all he had to do with set up a solid defense and then watch LBJ go. That worked as well as it did, but last year I think we all started to observe troubling signs/trends. It all culminated in the ORL series and has been even more apparent this year.

I think it is fantastic he takes input from all areas. The system in place today is successful and hopefully it turns this team into a Dynasty....Mike Brown isn't an idiot like everyone wants to make him out to be. He is a great coach, I'm glad Gilbert hired the right guy.

I also love that MB takes input from all sides. Until recently, I thought this was one of his best strengths. But recently, I've questioned if this based more on his own insecurity with performing at a top level. I can relate to this personally - when I started out teaching, I wanted my classes to be open discussions, and take as much input as possible from my students. I thought this increased the learning. I still do. But I also understand when it is time for me to step in and manage effectively so that the learning is happening, and we are not just spinning our wheels, as entertaining as that may be. Looking back, I think I felt unprepared to perform in certain situations and so I relied on others as a crutch. Now it is still my overall philosophy, but I adjust accordingly. My main problem with MB is that he does not seem to be adjusting accordingly.

That is why I believe he seems so stuck and lost at times during games. I have no problem with him telling the coaches to step aside and letting Lebron lead last night, I think that can be a great technique. But if it's covering his own inadequacies and insecurities - which I think the whole Z dilemma may have pointed to - I do have a problem with that as we look to win a championship this year and build a dynasty with Lebron.

By the way, for those of you that read Shooting Stars, this is pretty much what Coach Dru confessed to happening to him during Lebron's junior year. He admitted feeling insecure in his coaching abilities and therefore put his faith in his guys to lead the way and stepped back and allowed to them to basically sabotage themselves, until the summer going into LBJ's senior year Coach Dru decided enough was enough, he was going to step it up and put them into their place, but mainly trust in his own abilities as a coach of that team...and he lead them through a very challenging year (not so unlike our challenges so far this year) to a perfect season (ignoring the forfeit). There's a lot to learn from that I think.

 

[AvonCavsFan]

Mike Brown could piss in Lebron's cherios at halfcourt before a game and some of you would spin this as a brilliant move.

Mike Brown is a very average, very LUCKY coach (how "good" would he be with Lebron?). Some of you point to his defensive "brilliance", well where was that against the Magic last year?

The last year Silas was here, our defensive numbers were very similar to MB's first year here. Did it get better since, obviously...but do any of you think that my be because the young players matured into better NBA players??..I am guessing any coach that came in would have had the same defensive improvements...and it is tied to the players, not the system...go look at 2007, our defense during the year was WORSE than Silas's last year here, why is that? Because of injuries to key players AND the big trade at the deadline.

"But MB preached defense"...blah blah blah...all coaches (except maybe D'Antoni) preach defense. Look at the Bobcats roster, the Bucks roster, etc...Bobcats are better on D and the Bucks are right there with us.

The best move this season has been to start JJ and have Andy go back to the 2nd unit..and our head coach was AGAINST this. Hell he thought it was a good idea to play Z and Shaq together..and I am not convinced he was TOLD not to do this anymore as well.

Lets just say I think a few million people could sit on our sideline and let Malone coach the offense, Hunt coach the defense, Ferry to say who plays and let Lebron take over the huddles.

 

[JayDub]

This happens all the times in sports. Sometimes the message of your star player and leader is more impacting than the coach. When the coach constantly preaches attention to details and hustle it loses its affect after awhile. When the best player in the NBA exhibiting in the game all the things the Coach has been preaching, his words are going to carry much more weight than the coaches at this point. It was actually a good move by MB and I'm not even a fan of his.

 

[KI4MVP]

Mike Brown is a very average, very LUCKY coach (how "good" would he be with Lebron?). Some of you point to his defensive "brilliance", well where was that against the Magic last year?

I assume you mean without. How good would pop be without Duncan? How good would Red be without Russell. All of the coaches people consider great had their success with great players.

Look at Riley, several championships with Kareem and Magic, but nothing with Ewing, nothing with Alonzo, then quit on the team, only to come back when he saw the chance to win one with Shaq and Wade. Riley took over a team who had already won a championship together, and only got the job when their current coach had a bike wreck. How differently would be be viewed as a coach if his only coaching jobs were the knicks and his first time coaching the Heat.

And the problem against orlando is it takes two or three days off to make any real adjustments.

The last year Silas was here, our defensive numbers were very similar to MB's first year here. Did it get better since, obviously...but do any of you think that my be because the young players matured into better NBA players??..I am guessing any coach that came in would have had the same defensive improvements...and it is tied to the players, not the system...go look at 2007, our defense during the year was WORSE than Silas's last year here, why is that? Because of injuries to key players AND the big trade at the deadline.

you're guessing wrong. From day 1 there was 1 target for the defense - to have the defensive system in place in time to play the pistons. It took everything he could do from day 1 of training camp to get us ready to compete against the pistons.

Look at the pistons series that year after we had a break to make some adjustments. We held them to 77, 72, 84, 84 and 79 points. Do you think we even remotely had a chance to do that with Paul Silas?

And in 2007-08, our defense in the playoffs was lightyears ahead of any defense under Silas.

 

[williemayshayes]

In 4 and 1/4 years of MB, I think I can speak for both his supporters and detractors by making this observation;

It's high time the team changed his official title; because since his strategic "awakening" in 2008, he has not been the traditional head coach. He is in many ways the very first baseball-style "manager" in the history of the league. Offense? He doesn't diagram it, doesn't scheme it, doesn't operate it. Kuester and Malone have. Defense? Schemes it, but doesn't diagram it or run it during the games. Melvin Hunt does that. Huddles? He doesn't even do that all the time either...when the matter at hand is strategic, it's Malone. When it's a matter of leadership and motivation, it's LeBron.

So what in the hell does he DO in his capacity as the face of the coaching staff? Simple. He is singularly responsible for setting the theme and direction for how he wants his teams to operate. And then getting all individuals involved, on the same page. We all know by now what that "direction" is, in 2 years of championship-level ball; committed rebounding, suffocating team defense, ball movement and spacing in half court sets, and using defense to generate transition offense. Basic, I know...but its a self-explanatory strategy with no frills or gimmicks. And MB has implemented this theme throughout the team's on-court operation, during and between games...and everyone is on board 100%, most importantly LeBron.

As far as what he does during the game, the main role he has IMO is ironically the SECOND most criticized part of his tenure - rotation management. Substitutions as the vehicle to project a particular style of play onto the court.

If anyone hasn't caught on by now...everything I just described above eerily projects onto baseball as the typical manager's role. Lineup management, bullpen management, set the theme and direction, and get all the hitting, pitching, base coaches, etc. on the same page. Manage pinch hitters, defensive alignment, baserunning (as much as possible), etc.

More on the topic of this thread, another thing that MB (and Phil Jackson before him) have done in the tradition of the baseball manager is enable his leaders to actually lead...and get the hell out of the way when they're locked in.

In some ways, the "head coach" title is kind of fitting for MB...because literally the "head" designation implies his status as an overlord of sorts over the coaching staff. Of course, the term has come to mean somebody who directly projects a particular strategy, on a possession to possession basis, on both ends of the floor. MB is not that, so let's not hold him to the same standard. I think both MB's supporters and his detractors can get on board here.

 

[AvonCavsFan]

I assume you mean without. How good would pop be without Duncan? How good would Red be without Russell. All of the coaches people consider great had their success with great players.

Look at Riley, several championships with Kareem and Magic, but nothing with Ewing, nothing with Alonzo, then quit on the team, only to come back when he saw the chance to win one with Shaq and Wade. Riley took over a team who had already won a championship together, and only got the job when their current coach had a bike wreck. How differently would be be viewed as a coach if his only coaching jobs were the knicks and his first time coaching the Heat.

And the problem against orlando is it takes two or three days off to make any real adjustments.

Yes, I meant without Lebron...I never said Riley was great. I actually believe the head coach is the most over rated position in the NBA. As for needing two or three days, we had at least 10 days in between our last game of the 2nd round and the first game against the Magic. We played them 3 times in the regular season. He had plenty of time.

ou're guessing wrong. From day 1 there was 1 target for the defense - to have the defensive system in place in time to play the pistons. It took everything he could do from day 1 of training camp to get us ready to compete against the pistons.

Look at the pistons series that year after we had a break to make some adjustments. We held them to 77, 72, 84, 84 and 79 points. Do you think we even remotely had a chance to do that with Paul Silas?

And in 2007-08, our defense in the playoffs was lightyears ahead of any defense under Silas.

Look I am not saying Silas was a great coach, and there is no way to know if we could have done that with him or not. My main point is that I am saying that our defensive improvements had as much to do with the players maturation as the new coach. And EVERY coach preaches defense, this is not something new that Mike Brown came up with...and don't always look at total points, part of Mike Browns philosophy was to take 24 seconds on offense to limit possessions as well.

And I do think that whatever coach would have been here would have had similar or better success. This is an opinion and neither of us can prove the other wrong.

 

[Clevelandfan15]

When Rick Adelman was available, i wanted to get him. He always builds deep teams and is a master at making adjustments. He usually has a good game plan for teams.

Mike Brown is getting better but he has to win a title soon (possibly this year)

 

[The Oi]

Rick Adelman is definitely an excellent coach for the reasons you named above. I don't see the Rockets being dumb enough to let him go, especially with just how well he's doing with a team that has no stars left on it.

I just wonder if Mike Brown is indeed fired, if Mike Malone is the next head coach of the Cavs. I'd guess it would be someone promoted from within the organization and already has a proven comfort level with LeBron, as well as a defense first mindset and ability to make in-game adjustments.

If those all describe Mike Malone, then there's your next Cavs coach.

 

[KI4MVP]

As for needing two or three days, we had at least 10 days in between our last game of the 2nd round and the first game against the Magic. We played them 3 times in the regular season. He had plenty of time.

We had a sound strategy heading into the series. What we weren't prepared for was multiple players on their team playing better than anyone could have expected. Two examples

Howard shot foul shots better than he ever has. You don't expect a .594 foul shooter to have consecutive games of 14-19, 7-9, 8-13, 12-16.

Rashard Lewis, a .397 three point shooter (who we now know was cheating by taking steroids) shot .484 from 3, including a game winning in game 1 and a game tying 3 in game 4. He didn't shoot that well against Phily, Boston or LA.

these are the kinds of things that if you take a couple of days off to really make adjustments, you can counter, but it's hard to get these changes in when you play every other day. Especially when travel is involved after for 3 of the 5 one day breaks. Give us an extra day to get ready for game 4 and we probably win that one.

 

[JayDub]

We had a sound strategy heading into the series. What we weren't prepared for was multiple players on their team playing better than anyone could have expected. Two examples

Howard shot foul shots better than he ever has. You don't expect a .594 foul shooter to have consecutive games of 14-19, 7-9, 8-13, 12-16.

Rashard Lewis, a .397 three point shooter (who we now know was cheating by taking steroids) shot .484 from 3, including a game winning in game 1 and a game tying 3 in game 4. He didn't shoot that well against Phily, Boston or LA.

these are the kinds of things that if you take a couple of days off to really make adjustments, you can counter, but it's hard to get these changes in when you play every other day. Especially when travel is involved after for 3 of the 5 one day breaks. Give us an extra day to get ready for game 4 and we probably win that one.

They definitely played very well. I think there were adjustments that could have been made but they really shot lights out vs the whole series and the frustrating thing was they had help from nobodies like Alston.

I can't disagree more from a strategy coaching standpoint on that series. Changing or reacting to styles is far easier in the playoffs because you're playing the same team every night. They have laptops where they can watch the games right after it was played anywhere. On planes, buses etc. If you can't come with a solid strategy after being able to watch a team play for two rounds prior to you then you're completely inept. Compared to the regular season where you see a different team every time you play game planning is almost useless. It's more about doing the things you do well.

 

[KI4MVP]

you can certainly make some adjustments with a day between games, but anything significant requires more time because you want practice time with the players, something hard to do much of when you have a travel day on your day off.

Mike Brown has done outstanding with the multi day adjustments. Those are difficult for the other team to counter until there is another multi-day break.

 

[Surge]

I always watch the games on TNT and ESPN, and when they go to the "Sounds of the Game" I always wondered why they NEVER play Mike Brown saying things in the huddle.

I guess it's because he doesn't???

 

[MoFlo]

You can't use the argument "oh, where would Mike Brown be without LeBron" because as was stated, all head coaches have won with stars.

The team who wins doesn't necessarily have the best player, but has the coach that fits best with their team.

A coach who fits with their stars' personality, who knows how to coach a star, knows how to keep the guys meshing well on the court, and knows how to involve different players into his system both offensively and defensively & have them buy into it.

 

[Joe Henderson]

It's high time the team changed his official title; because since his strategic "awakening" in 2008, he has not been the traditional head coach. He is in many ways the very first baseball-style "manager" in the history of the league.

More on the topic of this thread, another thing that MB (and Phil Jackson before him) have done in the tradition of the baseball manager is enable his leaders to actually lead...and get the hell out of the way when they're locked in.

In some ways, the "head coach" title is kind of fitting for MB...because literally the "head" designation implies his status as an overlord of sorts over the coaching staff. Of course, the term has come to mean somebody who directly projects a particular strategy, on a possession to possession basis, on both ends of the floor. MB is not that, so let's not hold him to the same standard. I think both MB's supporters and his detractors can get on board here.

This is right on the money. I think Mike Brown, more than anything, considers it his job to get the best out of everyone. And he usually does. Sometimes he needs gimmicks like this to do this, sometimes he uses substitutions and the allocation of playing time, but most of it probably goes on behind the scenes.

so tell me, who is the best leader? the guy who is really good at what he does and controls every aspect of the process, or the guy who knows how to pick the best team and enable them to perform at the highest level without always being involved. Tell me, which guy is Warren Buffet and which guy is the one who runs your neighborhood coffee shop?

 

[AvonCavsFan]

If Mike Brown were indeed a great leader I would agree with some of you..but the simple facts are the best moves we have made this year, he was against.

Wine and Gold Quote...........

Also, on issues involving Delonte West, JJ Hickson, Shaq, and even Lebron have all had fingerprints of the influences of the front office overriding the head coach on all of them.

.........

Each issue above:

He did not want to start Hickson...he was wrong.

Since Delonte is on the team and active, I am assuming he did not want Delonte to be active..and the way he has spoken about it that is the vibe he has given off.....he is wrong on this issue also, we will NEED Delonte to win a title.

Lebron James is the leader of this team, and I guessing Lebron is who went to Ferry to get JJ to start and play more. Danny Ferry has been pulling some strings behind the scenes...at this point MB seems like a figurehead more than anything at this time.

Is he the worst coach in the league, no....one of the best, absolutely not...he is somewhere in the middle.