Now with Brown set to take over the ranks of one of sports most loved, hated and storied franchises, maybe this is exactly what the doctor ordered. Or not. But with a single-and-ready-to-mingle Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum (for now) and Kobe Bryant, he is instantly equipped with a vastly better core of players than he ever had the luxury of while in the Midwest.
The main thing for Brown, and this is going to be damn near impossible not to, is not allowing let the shadow of Jackson to overwhelm him. He’s not going to win 11 rings nor will he adopt a cool nickname like “The Zen Master.” He’s not going to receive that overly large high chair or get a chance to bang the owner’s daughter. What we will all be able to say about Brown is that he coached this generation’s two biggest superstars and that’s saying something. I’m not sure what exactly, but it is something.
Only time is going to tell if this’ll go down as one of the great coaching hires of all time or one of the most infamous. It’s best just to let fate or destiny take its course anyway. You know what’s ironic about this entire fiasco though? Brown was officially fired by Cleveland on May 25, 2010.
Talk about coming full circle.
Previously: What’s Next For The Los Angeles Lakers?
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not a bad move at all. As long as he doesnt let kobe run over him…..
I dunno. I think he knows the game. I don’t think he can coach.
They did brian shaw dirty and this is a stupid move. the team is too old to come in and just change shit around. brian shaw was the perfect head coach for this situation. so cal as a whole is pissed.
Yeah, he definitely knows the game. That’s for sure. But knowing the game and being the coach of the LA Lakers are two completely different monsters.
A very interesting hire to say the least.
“As long as he doesnt let kobe run over him…..”
^^^mann that is exactly why they got him. ha ha ha hey at least the Lakers will be in the playoffs for a couple more years
“thats it, thats all, solo, single, no more no less”
@Chris Cool
I couldn’t agree more. Brian Shaw was the heir apparent to Phil and wouldve fit in perfectly considering the leader he was when he was part of the team. Why they did him dirty like that is beyond me.
This weekend Kareen Abdul Jabbar will buy Brian Shaw a beer and they will yell “Eff Jerry Buss!” till they pass out.
In other news…
The Lakers’ roster is littered with really stubborn cats who are rich and have anywhere form 2-5 rings. It’s gonna be hard for Mike Brown to walk in there with no rings and get dudes who were barely listening to a guy with 12 rings near the end to listen to him about doing something most all dudes hate—playing defense.
Fair or not, Brown always had the public perception of being LeBron’s assistant head coach. Prolly not fair at all, but I think alotta guys will challenge him on that alone, especially given that they play with Kobe–a guy that’s as hard to be a teammate of as we’ve seen in decades.
The Lakers also have other problems Brown can’t fix. Athletically, they’re not a good defensive team anymore. Guys are older, less dependable…
Nobody knows which Odom will show up from night to night. Gasol was never a great defender even in his younger days. Fisher’s gettin’ beat like a drum by every PG under 30…
It’ll be interesting for sure.
I agree. I thought Shaw was the right decision because he is most comfortable with the team, which is important when you’re dealing with veteran players,
It’s understandable they wanted to bring him in for his defensive mind b/c that’s where LA needs help, but it’s also like throwing him into a fire. They’re obviously going to have to get another PG since Fish is on his last leg (Raymond Felton, maybe?) and then there’s the question of Bynum’s future.
He’s got a new gig, but it’s got more question marks than exclamation points right now.
we all have to understand that some of these guys are not going to be there next year too. If he can get and keep Kobe;s respect then he;s good. Also it;s kind of crazy not to consult with the superstar when hiring a coach…….
@Black Canseco
there are several really good poinys made in your comment
no doubt that
Y’all lunchin:
[www.complex.com]
Im not upset nor pleased with the Brown signing…I really wanted Shaw personally or if we were going to bring in an outsider, then Adelman was my preference, but Mike Brown? Really? A few interesting things to note:
Kobe was “surprised” by the news about Brown and also a bit stunned that he wasn’t part of the decision-making process. Kobe before had been a solid backer of assistant Brian Shaw for the head coaching position and still reportedly remains in Shaw’s corner. ([eye-on-basketball.blogs.cbssports.com])
Now Im not saying I wanted Kobe to pick who our next coach was, but it’d probably be nice to keep the guy posted. Our lead scout was also let go, Ronnie Lester, with the draft upcoming. I think it is safe to say that Dr. Buss has passed down the reigns to his son, Jim Buss. I don’t want to put blame on Jim but it looks like hes trying to change things up and make his impact felt a little too much.
Also, Pau and his girl are still together apparently (at least according to Pau in his exit interview), but you shoulda seen the kind of heat Shannon Brown was getting for supposedly sleeping with Pau’s girl, dude denied it via twitter in hopes of easing the wolves.
Im interested to see what comes of Shaw and the rest of the staff. I hope they all stay on board and help Brown out with the guys or else this could be the beginning of a shitty end
Oh, and in regards to the Daniel Gibson being the only guy to go over 30 for the Cavs in the postseason in 5 years, I think I get what you are trying to say but thats a terrible statistic to show it through. If you want to look at the Lakers over the past 5 years, outside of Kobe, only Pau has gone for over 30 in a playoff game. There are very few teams in the NBA who in the past 5 postseasons have more than 2 guys who have gone off for over 30 in a single playoff game.
Kobe gone push this dude outta town like he did Rudy T. and bring Brian back. Least I hope so. They just did that nigga dirty.
Laker fans…don’t know what to say towards the decision of head coach. I, like others of you, wanted Shaw to coach the team. Just made more sense to everyone, but only time will tell. On another note, its time that more people realize that Kobe is not what he is. Even he is delusional, thinking that he should still be the #1 option. Really don’t see him willing a team to victory anymore. Too many times i’ve seen him take just as many shots to get just as many points. Maybe its time to go back to the old days and play inside out again and not just let him do whatever he wants. You guys have 2nd best post game in the league and I think that you guys can overtake Memphis next year for #1 if you guys follow through. Just my humble opinion though but what do I know…I’m a fan of the Heat lol
The Buss situation looks like the Steinbrenner situation once George handed the reigns over to Hank. Like I said, I still think the Lakers “core” is fine. It’s putting pieces around them to make a run at another title that’ll be the issue.
@GameOver – True. It wasn’t meant to come off as if every playoff team has two or three guys that can go for 30 every night. It’s only a certain amount of shots for each game. But Pau being the legitimate #2 is pretty much settled upon so I’m sure he hit 30 about a good 4 or 5 times as a Laker. During the LeBron/Brown years in Cleveland, there really was no set #2 guy. People thought Mo Williams, but he never lived up to that billing. Antwan Jamison? Lol nahh. What I was trying to say that over that time the only other player to score 30 was one person and it happened one time. It sounds confusing, I know lol. Hell, I’m not sure how many times anybody scored over 20. I read somewhere a few months back that out of 60 or so playoff games he coached, someone other than LeBron scored more than 20 like 13 times.
@J. Tinsley
I had a feeling that was what you were getting at. I still don’t think BronBron’s supporting cast was THAT bad. They had one of the best defensive units for several years running and his last two seasons in Cleveland had some pretty good offensive numbers too; they had a better offensive efficiency mark than the Lakers did in ’09-’10. What it was was that outside of LeBron and flashes from Mo Williams, you didn’t really have anyone else on that squad while BronBron was there who could run the offense or consistently penetrate or consistently get his own shot. So the guys constantly ran everything through Bron and it made them look one dimensional when in reality they were 1.5 dimensional (I still thought their offense was mediocre despite what the stats say). I remember seeing it in an article a couple years ago that BronBron was a part of (scored or assisted) over 60% of his teams offense for the whole regular season (which was the highest if not the 2nd highest since Allen Iverson I believe). Thats fuckin insane.
(I still thought their offense was mediocre despite what the stats say).
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Oh hell yeah. It’s easy to get it confused that Cleveland was this offensive powerhouse because of LeBron’s numbers over the years. In reality though, they were mediocre like you said. And, especially the last two years, it wasn’t that his supporting cast was HORRIBLE. I mean, don’t get me wrong they weren’t above average either. They just chose not to show up at the worst possible times. Prime example – Game 6 vs. Boston.
The Lakers’ roster is littered with really stubborn cats who are rich and have anywhere form 2-5 rings. It’s gonna be hard for Mike Brown to walk in there with no rings and get dudes who were barely listening to a guy with 12 rings near the end to listen to him about doing something most all dudes hate—playing defense.
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Hahah so true.
As the biggest Laker-hater I know, I don’t even wish the move on the ‘Show. I said for the last 2 seasons that he was in Cle that he is way overrated. I think there’s a difference between being a defensive TEAM and having a few defensive players. I think Brown possessed the latter. There were no real plays drawn. There wasn’t really any team defense played. To me, this just seemed like the biggest slap in Brian Shaws face.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this move comes back to haunt the Lakers seeing as they pretty much slapped Brian Shaw with this dirty move! With their luck Shaw will sign on somewhere else & then they get beat by said team as karma or it will come back some other way! Mike Brown isn’t a bad coach but he isn’t a great coach either which is what a team the caliber of the Lakers needed!
I give this a resounding “Meh”. Clears the way for the Thunder for the next few years though.
all I’m saying is, they better at least hire that man a good offensive coordinator or else the lakers will be running Mike Brown’s famed “ISO” lol
the lakers will be running Mike Brown’s famed “ISO” lol
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Hahaha that was the punchline of a thousand jokes at the bar last night.
Congrats, Coach Brown. Another job where he can take a nap on the sidelines & while his megastar does the heavy lifting.