When former cavs coach Mike Brown was hried by the Los Angeles Lakers, all I could say was "OH-OH". \
If Brown couldn't lead Lebron James to a championship in Cleveland, how could he do so with Bryant who has won already five rings ?
I guess we have our answer now.
It isn't that Mike Brown is a good coach.
If wasn't for Mike Brown's attention to detail when it comes to defense, Lebron James wouldn't have become one of the top defenders in the league.
Brown's problem was that he followed a Hall of Fame coach in Phil Jackson in a city of Los Angeles, where winning is the only thing that counts.
While in Cleveland, the fans understood it would take time to build a winner, the Lakers, much like the Yankees are a win now organization.
Brown was and is a better fit for floundering teams like the Wizards or the Pistons, where he would have been given the time to implement his coaching philosophy.
The fact that Brown took the Lakers job so fast after his Cleveland firing is very reminiscent of Eric Mangini who took the Cleveland Browns job after leaving the Jets.
Neither Brown or Mangini were gone long enough from the game to learn from what got them fired in the first place.
In Brown's case it was lack of offensive strategy, which the Lakers tried to fix by adding Eddie Jordan and Princeton offense, which was a little too too late for Coach Brown in LA-LA land.
But in reality, was it really Mike Brown's fault?
After Phil Jackson's departure, Kobe wanted former assistant Brian Shaw to take over and why not?
Shaw's transition still would have been a pressure cooker following Jackson, but he already knew the players and he probably would have retained Jackson's championship winning triangle offense, which would have kept Kobe happy as well as Metta World Peace and the rest of the Lakers in contention.
Yet, the Lakers, especially Jim Buss (who has as much sports executive experience as I do) wanted to get rid of all things Phil Jackson, when they hired Brown.
As Forest Gump said, "Stupid is as Stupid Does."
Even if hey can get their hands on Shaw or if Phil Jackson is healthy enough to coach again, Oklahoma City Thunder is younger, faster, more powerful and along with the ammunition from the James Harden trade, can reload at anytime.
Are Lakers dead? No way. As long as Kobe Bean Bryant around, the Los Angeles Lakers always have a chance.
The problem is, has their year and half experiment with Mike Brown already closed their championship window?
Take a look from the LA Times:
"The Lakers have fired Mike Brown as coach after the team's 1-4 start, according to a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly about it. Brown was barely a month into his second season with the team, which struggled badly amid high expectations. ..."This was a difficult and painful decision to make," General Manager Mitch Kupchak said in a statement. "Mike was very hard-working and dedicated, but we felt it was in the best interest of the team to make a change at this time. We appreciate Mike's efforts and contributions and wish him and his family the best of luck.""
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