5.24.2010

An NBA Record (61-21) Wasn't Enough For Now Fired Mike Brown To Stay In Cleveland

NBA.com Reports:

The lead was going to be about Mikhail Prokhorov this morning, but Mike Brown was fired by the Cleveland Cavaliers late, late Sunday night, which ESPN first reported and I got confirmed at 3 a.m.

It's unfortunate, but it wasn't surprising, not after the Cavs got run out by the Celtics in the second round, two rounds before they were supposed to be in the Finals. With everything at stake this summer with LeBron James, such an implosion couldn't occur without someone paying the price, and because there's no one left to trade, and no cap room to sign a big-time free agent, this was the last card the Cavaliers had left to play. There is only one question Dan Gilbert, who gave Brown the news Sunday in Detroit -- where Brown was watching his son play in an AAU tournament and where Gilbert lives -- can ask James Monday: Who do you want? Phil Jackson? Larry Brown? Pat Riley? Give me a name and I will try to get them.

As I told you last week, Jackson may have told L.A. reporters that he was 90 percent certain he would coach the Lakers next season or retire, but someone who is very close to Jackson said that he would be watching what happens this summer like everyone else, and that he has not ruled out anything. Which would, logic dictates, include coaching somewhere else, like Cleveland or Chicago, if James is on board -- as long as the money is right. (I doubt the Bulls would get any kind of hometown discount.) We know that Brown is still undecided about where he will call home next year, and Riley made it quite clear after the Heat's season ended that he's tanned, rested and ready if the right free agent comes calling.

For his part, Mike Brown will go right to the top of almost everyone's search list, unless he wants to take a year off and enjoy his severance. A head coach who pays attention to defensive detail, sprouts from the Popovich Tree and boasts a .643 regular season winning percentage won't be out of work long.

Now, as Casey Kasem used to say, on with the countdown, which includes a wrap of the preraft camp in Chicago, and why I think John Wall and Gilbert Arenas can play together in Washington. But first comes the Big Russian and how he's about to turn the Nets into Manchester United.
The Nets Go Global

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