When I originally heard the names Rick Adelman, Brian Shaw, Jeff Van Gundy, Mike Dunleavy and Mike Brown with regard to being named the next head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, I would’ve thought the likelihood of each of those gentlemen winning the gig would be in the order in which I just listed them. If being named coach of the Lakers were a lottery, I thought Mike Brown would’ve had the least amount of ping pong balls bouncing around. So I guess this means that David Kahn thinks the way L.A. chose their new coach is rigged?
In my opinion, Mike Brown is as unlikely a head coach for the Lakers as I can think of. I’m not saying he’s a bad coach. I’m just saying that I’m still somewhat shocked. Perhaps he is too. But you never know. Give him a chance. For a franchise like the Lakers to hire him, you’d think they saw enough in him.
In five years in Cleveland, he won Coach of the Year and in his last two seasons, he coached the Cavs to back-to-back 60 win seasons. Yeah, he had LeBron James on the roster, but that’s still a nice resume. Winning percentage-wise, he’s also the 5th winningest coach in NBA history. He’s probably the most successful coach to have gotten fired in recent memory.
Yesterday when it was announced that he is the newest coach, I couldn’t wait to hear from him. During last night’s ESPN coverage of Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, the crew interviewed Coach Brown. He seems like a very nice guy, but whenever I watch him speak, I want to laugh for some reason. Here’s Coach Brown’s very first interview as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers:
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook
