Mike Brown Fired in Cleveland. Is Lebron James to Blame?

Posted by By Sports Session at 24 May, at 12 : 19 PM Print

Mike Brown is out as the coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, he was fired overnight on Sunday and now the Cavs are looking for a coach.  Now this is not just a normal firing of an NBA head coach, it’s not like Brown won 12 games with the team this season.

Brown was a very successful regular season coach. He was probably the best coach that the Cleveland Cavaliers have ever had, and presided over a team with the NBA’s best record two seasons in a row.  I know that isn’t necessarily a hard feat considering the only players you can name when you hear Cleveland is Brad Daugherty and Mark Price, I am sure there were some others who were good but I can’t think of any.

Many will speculate as to why Mike Brown was fired, but the obvious reason is the playoff record.  The Cavs felt they had a championship caliber team with Lebron, and they made it to the finals when their team was not that good.  But these past few seasons with expectations high they came up small against the Orlando Magic last season, and the Boston Celtics this season.

That was the obvious reason, the less obvious and unknown theory will indicate that LeBron James was instrumental in Brown’s dismissal.  We all know Lebron can get anything he wants from Cleveland, and that would include Mike Brown’s head if he asked for it.  I am not sure about Lebron’s involvement here though, I think Mike Brown dug his own grave (more on that in minute).

You can look at this one of two ways, either the Cavaliers have talked to Lebron and he said a condition of him coming back would be Mike Brown is no longer coach.  That scenario is not likely because all the chatter is that Lebron is still undecided, and the Cavaliers are second or third in the running for his services.

The other scenario is that James has given the Cavs a sign that he will not re-sign with the team, and they are preparing for life post Lebron James.  This would mean brining in a coach who has experience building a team with the cupboard bare in Cleveland now with James not coming back.

With all of that being said, there is one thing that is clear.  If Lebron James loved Mike Brown so much then he would still be the coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.  That means Lebron was indifferent towards Brown, or he did not care for him as a coach enough to voice his opinion to the organization.

Brown is of course mostly to blame for his dismissal, I have never been a fan of coaches who let the star player do his own thing and only coach the rest of the team.  Very often it seemed that Mike Brown was coaching everyone except Lebron, this approach has traditionally never worked and the teams always underachieved.

Phil Jackson and Pat Riley never deferred to their star players, they coached them, motivated, and got in their face when need be.  Hitching your wagon to a player means that when that player decides he does not want to carry the team anymore, you are helpless as a coach to do anything about it.

He needed to show Lebron how to be a winner, he came from San Antonio who and won titles with the Spurs.  Brown will hopefully learn from this wherever he lands as a coach, but it will be an interesting decision to see who the Cavaliers bring in.  If it is a big name coach who has won titles that may be a good sign for them that James will indeed be back with the team.

Front Page Features NBA boston celtics, brad daugherty, Cavaliers, cavs, championship caliber team, cleveland cavaliers, head coach, lebron james, Mark Price, Mike Brown, Mike Brown Fired, NBA, orlando magic, San Antonio