The Los Angeles Lakers have just fired head coach Mike Brown. He was jettisoned less than 48 hours after Lakers’ owner Jim Buss gave him a vote of confidence which means that either Jim Buss lied to all of us or he had a sudden serious change of heart. The coach was given his walking papers and his belongings were neatly placed in a sturdy brown box after 6% of an 82-game NBA season.
The fact of the matter is that the Lakers job was too big for Brown.
Some may feel that it was a quick hook. However, it was a unanimous hook. The collective thought was that the suddenness of the decision probably shocked every player wearing a purple and gold jersey. The writing was on the wall though. #FIREMIKEBROWN has been a trending twitter topic for a while.
The Lakers took the high road in their statement regarding the firing. General Manager Mitch Kupchak said, “This was a difficult and painful decision to make. Mike was very hard-working and dedicated, but we felt it was in the best interest of the team to make a change. We appreciate Mike’s efforts, contributions and wish him and his family best of luck. [Soon to to, Former assistant coach] Bernie Bickerstaff will coach tonight’s game.”
From the above statement, it seems that Lakers’ ownership and management have a contingency plan in place. It is difficult to believe that the organization would fire its head coach without having an idea who will replace him. The team will immediately start a national head coaching search, but there is a good chance that it actually started in the pre-season. However, firing Mike Brown today means that, with the lack of progress shown, this action should have happened months ago.
The big question now for the Lakers is “who is the next head coach?”
The names on the Lakers short list are: • Phil Jackson • Mike D’Antoni • Brian Shaw • Jerry Sloan • Nate McMillan • Jeff Van Gundy. If you read the tea leaves, it sounds a lot like a Phil Jackson return could be in the works. It would be great to see him get the band (former assistant coaches) back together and return.
A Mike D’Antoni-lead team would be exciting to watch and would remind several people of “Showtime” from the 80’s. It would be very interesting if D’Antoni was the head coach and Nate McMillan was the defensive coordinator.
The pink elephant in the room is the question of what went wrong? Several have decided to pile on the Princeton offense and the reality is that the Lakers will scrap it. They are a team that has a $100-million payroll built to win now that had a defensive-minded head coach with a team NOT playing defense.
The players are just as much at fault as Brown for not executing the game plan. They never got better defensively — not getting back in transition, limiting their turnovers or even playing hard for him. The team played with no energy and limited effort it appeared that the player’s hearts were just not into it. There is no disputing the fact that when Mike Brown accepted the head coaching job with the Los Angeles Lakers, he walked into an impossible situation and into shoes too huge to fill.
Mike followed in the footsteps of Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson, winner of 11 NBA championships as a coach and one as a player. Brown was initially tasked with guiding a star-studded Lakers team, eventually swept by the Dallas Mavericks, to a championship in a truncated season without a normal training camp. He guided that team to the second-round of the NBA Playoffs, losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
History tells us that whoever steps into the position of following a legend has a difficult task. When coaching legend and basketball icon John Wooden stepped down as the head coach of the UCLA Men’s Basketball team after the 1974-1975 season, his successor was Gene Bartow, who coached the program from 1975 to 1977. Bartow went 52-9 overall and 24-4 in-conference. His two postseason appearances resulted in a third place and a Sweet-16 berth, but unfortunately for Coach Bartow, not another championship.
Gary Cunningham coached the program from 1977 to 1979. The team went 50-8 overall and 29-3 in-conference. His two postseason appearances resulted in a Sweet-16 berth and elite eight finishes. Unfortunately for Coach Cunningham, not another championship. Larry Brown coached the program from 1979 to 1981 and went 42-17 overall and 25-11 in-conference. This resulted in NCAA Finals and a round of 32 appearances, but again… unfortunately for Coach Larry Brown, not another championship.
To date UCLA has yet to find someone to fill John Wooden’s shoes.