When Phil Jackson announced he was stepping down after this season, I and many others assumed that his top assistant Brian Shaw would end up taking over the team. Apparently his viability as a candidate for the job was overstated by the media (shocking, I know), and the Lakers have zeroed on two options:
- Mike Brown, formerly of the Cleveland LeBrons
- Rick Adelman, formerly of Houston and many other franchises
Update: Devon says Brown to the Lakers is close to a done deal.
Brown is the #1 choice with Adelman waiting in the wings as the backup should Brown not accept the terms the Lakers offering. Not surprisingly, after paying Phil Jackson half the GDP of California to coach over the past several years, the Lakers are not looking to break the bank with this new hire.
Hiring Brown is an interesting choice. He is a former the Coach of the Year, he’s led a team to the best record in the league, and he’s had some playoff success. He also presided over Cleveland’s ignominious playoff exit last year and earned a reputation as being a mere puppet in the world of LeBron.
My initial thought on this is that, while it’s a ballsy move by the Lakers, I like it. Brown is a disciple of Gregg Popovich, one of the best coaches in NBA history, and he also has been a head coach on a high profile team with a high profile star before — two experiences that are necessary for taking over a Lakers’ ship that will always be high profile and that now must deal with an aging icon. No matter who is the coach, that is going to be tricky.
We see it in sports all the time: young coach gets chance; young coach has some success; young coach gets fired; young but now older coach gets second chance; young but now older coach succeeds having learned lessons from his first gig. Who knows if Brown’s second act will follow this trend, but I think he has done enough to show that he has the potential to do so.
It’s not a slam dunk, but considering what the Lakers are willing to pay right now…I like the hire of Mike Brown, if it comes to fruition.
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