Something To Prove

The Los Angeles Lakers broke the news today with the announcement of their new head coach, Mike Brown. The Lakers organization and Mike Brown agreed to an 18 million dollar four year contract that would put him as the 22nd head coach for the storied franchise. Brown outplayed former Rockets coach Rick Adelman, Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy, and the favorite heir to Jackson's former job, Brian Shaw. 

With the turmoil and the downfall of the Lakers in the post season, we can't help but think that the Buss' were addressing defense by signing Brown. Mike Brown was an assistant to Gregg Popovich with the Spurs that featured David Robinson and Tim Duncan. Together they won the NBA title in 2003. In his tenure there, Brown was their defensive coach. He was the anchor for David Robinson and Tim Duncan on the defensive end, which he also applied with Z and Varejao in Cleveland. So definitely he'll have his hands full with Gasol and Bynum to co-exist in defense for the Lakers. After his stint in San Antonio, he went to Indiana as an assistant with Rick Carlisle before he landed his first head coaching job in Cleveland.

His 5 year tenure in Cleveland was more than impressive, although sometimes unappreciated. Brown led his team to the NBA Finals. He also had two 60+ winning seasons, that featured an impressive 66-16 record in the 08-09 season. He won the NBA Coach of the Year that year, too.  The Cavs became top 5 defensively and offensively percentage wise. With LeBron James as his cornerstone, he turned this lost franchise to relevance. He brought out the best in his role players and players we never heard of was heard because of him. When the Cavaliers was down, he picked them up, molded them into his basketball prowess, discipline, principles, and even though he only got LeBron and no other clear option aside from him, the Cavs contended and improved every season. He became the Cavs' winning-est coach with an 272-138 (.663) record, fifth all time. 

But even with all the accomplishments, Brown and the Cavs never won the title. Even with the best record in the NBA, with LBJ winning back-to-back MVP's, the Cavs just failed in the post season. Somehow, the basketball Gods just never gave them luck in the post season, which unfortunately led to LeBron bringing his talents to Miami and Brown getting ousted by Cavs' Owner Dan Gilbert.

Now, Mike Brown gets a crack at it again. After spending a year in ESPN as an analyst, he's back again in the sidelines. With these Lakers, he'll get a superstar, a hall of famer hungry for redemption, in Kobe Bryant. He'll get three seven footers in Gasol, Odom, and Bynum. He has a natural defensive player in Artest, and a bench that needs to live up to their full potential. Whether there will be tweaking in the roster or not this offseason for the Lakers, Mike Brown has his hands full. He's got more talent to work with the Lakers than when he was in Cleveland. More importantly, he'll be able to address the Lakers biggest hole, Defense. We all saw how the Lakers were dissected by the Mavs in the playoffs. It'll be interesting to see how the Lakers adjust to Brown's system defensively and offensively next season. 

For Mike Brown, this is his second chance. A chance to redeem his career as a coach. Cleveland may or may not point the blame on him for their downfall. But one thing's clear for him, he bled and laid it all for Cleveland.

This time with a team hungry for redemption, Brown and the Lakers will take a shot and prove that they're still relevant in basketball.