Mike Brown (basketball, born 1970)

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Mike Brown
Mike Brown NBA cropped.jpg
Personal information
Born (1970-03-05) March 5, 1970 (age 54)
Columbus, Ohio
Nationality American
Career information
High school Würzburg American High School
(Würzburg, Germany)
College Mesa CC (1988–1990)
San Diego (1990–1992)
Coaching career 1992–2014
Career history
As coach:
19971999 Washington Wizards (assistant)
20002003 San Antonio Spurs (assistant)
20032005 Indiana Pacers (assistant)
20052010 Cleveland Cavaliers
20112012 Los Angeles Lakers
2013–2014 Cleveland Cavaliers
Career highlights and awards
As coach:

As assistant coach:

Michael "Mike" Brown (born March 5, 1970) is an American basketball coach. He is the former head coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has also coached the Los Angeles Lakers, and is widely regarded as a defensive specialist.

He began coaching the Cavaliers in 2005 and turned the Cavaliers into one of the top defensive teams in the NBA, guiding them to the 2007 NBA Finals. Brown was honored as NBA Coach of the Year for leading the Cavaliers to a team record and league best 66 wins in 2009, and 61 wins, again a league best, in 2010. However, after losses to the Orlando Magic in the conference finals in 2009 and the Boston Celtics in the 2010 conference semifinals, he was fired after failing to win an NBA title with the Cavaliers. He succeeded Phil Jackson as the head coach of the Lakers in 2011 before being fired after the start of the following season. He returned to the Cavaliers for the 2013–14 season, but was once again fired following the season.

Early years

Brown was born in Columbus, Ohio, but spent periods of his childhood overseas. His childhood nickname was "Spud" a reference to his similarities to the popular Mr Potato Head doll. He graduated in 1988 from Würzburg American High School in Würzburg, Germany, where he excelled in basketball and football.[1] After studying and playing basketball for two years at Mesa Community College, Brown went on to the University of San Diego, where he played two seasons for the Toreros and graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree.[2]

Professional career

Video and scouting

He began his career in 1992 as an unpaid video intern with the Denver Nuggets, and eventually spent five seasons with the team as a scout and video coordinator.[2]

Assistant coach

In 2000, Brown was hired by Gregg Popovich as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs. While with the Spurs, Brown's teams won at least 58 games each season. He also was the head coach for the Spurs' summer league teams in Boston and Salt Lake City.

After winning a championship with San Antonio in 2003, Brown was hired as assistant coach to Rick Carlisle with the Indiana Pacers. He helped lead Indiana to consecutive playoff appearances including a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2004. Brown followed Ron Artest into the stands and was instrumental in getting him back to the locker room during the massive brawl between the Pacers, Detroit Pistons, and Pistons fans at the Palace at Auburn Hills on November 19, 2004.[3]

Brown's record as an assistant coach is 341–201 (.629).[2]

Cleveland Cavaliers

In June 2005, Brown replaced Brendan Malone for his first head coaching job with the Cleveland Cavaliers, becoming the second youngest coach in the league behind only Lawrence Frank of the New Jersey Nets.[2] He was often referred to as "Potato Head" by fans, in reference to the popular toy.

On June 2, 2007, Brown's Cavaliers defeated the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals and advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history. However, they were swept in four games by his former team, the San Antonio Spurs.

On February 1, 2008, Brown was named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for January 2008.[4]

In 2009, Brown was named coach of the Eastern Conference All-Star team,[5] making him the second coach in Cavaliers history to coach the All-Star team, joining Lenny Wilkens who coached the East team in 1989.

On April 20, 2009, Brown was named NBA Coach of the Year after guiding the Cavaliers to a franchise-best 66–16 record.[5]

On May 13, 2010, Brown and the Cleveland Cavaliers were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the Conference Semifinals of the 2010 NBA Playoffs. With this loss, the Cavaliers became the first team in NBA history to accomplish back-to-back 60+ win seasons and not advance to the NBA Finals.[6]

Brown was fired on May 24, 2010.[7][8] In December 2010, he began working with ESPN as a studio analyst.[9]

After leaving Cleveland Cavaliers, Brown became the assistant coach on his son's team at Westlake Lee Burneson Middle School in Ohio. In doing so he turned down an offer to serve as an assistant at St. Mary’s College in California. "I’m a glorified equipment guy who gets to chest-bump and high-five the players," Brown said. "The kids still call me coach." [10]

Los Angeles Lakers

On May 25, 2011, Brown agreed to be Phil Jackson's successor and become the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. He reportedly agreed to a 3-year deal, with a team option to renew his contract for a fourth year.[11] On May 31, 2011, he was officially named the Lakers' new head coach.[12] The 2011–12 season was shortened to 66 games by the lockout that season, and the Lakers were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs.[13]

Before the 2012–13 season, Brown decided that the Lakers would use a version of the Princeton offense.[14] Shortly afterward, the Lakers acquired All-Stars Steve Nash and Dwight Howard, giving them a starting lineup of five former All-Stars with a combined 33 All-Star game appearances.[15] Although immediately considered top title contenders, the Lakers struggled to adjust to the changes in both system and personnel, and were winless in eight preseason games.[16] The team's travails continued into the start of the regular season with the team losing four of its first five games, and on November 9, 2012, Brown was fired.[17] Nash had played just ​1 12 games due to injury, Howard was playing but recovering from back surgery, and Kobe Bryant had been playing with an injured foot and was unable to practice.[18] The team was still adjusting to the new offense and committing a high number of turnovers; the defense, a specialty of Brown's, was also vulnerable.[13][19] The Lakers, however, had an urgency to win and were not compelled to wait given their aging stars, Howard's pending free agency the coming summer, and owner Jerry Buss's deteriorating health.[18][20] Brown's dismissal after five games was the third-fastest coaching change in NBA history.[21] Assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff served as the Lakers' interim head coach until Mike D'Antoni was hired to take over on November 20, 2012.[22]

Return to Cleveland

On April 24, 2013, Brown was rehired by the Cavaliers, replacing Byron Scott.[23] Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert was quoted saying that firing Brown the first time was a "mistake." For the first time as a head coach, Brown's team posted a losing record over a 82-game season as his team was marred by injuries and reported infighting amongst players. On May 12, 2014, he was relieved of his head coaching duties by owner Dan Gilbert for a second time and replaced with David Blatt on June 21, 2014.[24]

Head coaching record

Legend
Regular season G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win-loss %
Post season PG Playoff games PW Playoff wins PL Playoff losses PW–L % Playoff win-loss %
Team Year G W L W–L% Finish PG PW PL PW–L% Result
Cleveland 2005–06 82 50 32 .610 2nd in Central 13 7 6 .538 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
Cleveland 2006–07 82 50 32 .610 2nd in Central 20 12 8 .600 Lost in NBA Finals
Cleveland 2007–08 82 45 37 .549 2nd in Central 13 7 6 .538 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
Cleveland 2008–09 82 66 16 .805 1st in Central 14 10 4 .714 Lost in Conf. Finals
Cleveland 2009–10 82 61 21 .744 1st in Central 11 6 5 .545 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
L.A. Lakers 2011–12 66 41 25 .621 1st in Pacific 12 5 7 .417 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
L.A. Lakers 2012–13 5 1 4 .200 (fired)
Cleveland 2013–14 82 33 49 .402 3rd in Central Missed Playoffs
Career 563 347 216 .616 83 47 36 .566

References

  1. WAHS Yearbook 1988 - Senior Photos
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 NBA.com, Mike Brown
  3. http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7612311/view/full/an-oral-history-malice-palace
  4. Mike Brown, Byron Scott Named Coaches of the Month, NBA.com, February 1, 2008.
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  7. Mike Brown fired
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  9. Mike Brown joins ESPN as analyst, ESPN
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  24. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11112991/david-blatt-new-coach-cleveland-cavaliers

External links

Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons