I know it’s early in the NBA season, but I will say that the Cleveland Cavs have been a huge disappointment thus far. With the Cavs being in position to make a pitch to LeBron James in free agency they are looking like a joke rather than being a formidable team in the East.
With Mike Brown reuniting with the Cavs it created excitement. Now, I know that Mike Brown won a lot of games as a Cavs coach, but he had No.23 on his team. Now that No.23 is in Miami wearing No.6 I don’t see why Cavs fans were excited about Brown.
Prior to Brown, Byron Scott was the coach for the past three seasons, his record was a total of 64-166, but I felt they should have kept him around. Scott’s record was pretty bad, but in all fairness he really didn’t have much to work with. In his first year he didn’t have LeBron James, and in year 2 and 3 he had a very inexperienced team. With Byron Scott’s history I thought he would have been a great fit with this years Cavs team. That never happened, and he was sent out of the door.
This off-season Mike Brown was hired by the Cavs. Yes this is the same Brown who was fired by the Cavs after the 2010 season. Mike Brown has had the luxury to coach guys like Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James at all of his coaching stops. Brown has never coached without a megastar on his roster other than this season.
It comes to no surprise that the Cavs are struggling mightily this season, due to the lack of superstar help. This team does feature Kyrie Irving, but he is no Kobe Bryant or LeBron James. Mike Brown is a coach who relies heavily on his superstars due to him having a 3rd grade offense. LeBron and Kobe were able to make others better, and got their numbers as well, but the offense was still dormant.Mike Brown’s defensive strategies have always been great, but he doesn’t have the players to fit his defensive system. Kyrie Irving broke out last season under Byron Scott, and is struggling under Brown. Kyrie’s numbers are down all across the board (See Below).
2012-2013 45.2 1.8 4.7 39.1 4.2 4.9 85.5 0.6 3.1 3.7 5.9 3.2 1.5 0.4 2.5 22.5
2013-2014 40.1 1.5 4.8 30.5 3.9 4.9 79.5 0.8 2.6 3.4 5.9 3.2 1.0 0.2 2.5 20.6
I know people have been hard on Uncle Drew, but Brown is the main reason for his early season slump.
Mike Brown was named coach of the year twice, and I am a firm believer that those were LeBron James’s awards. Mike Brown is a great defensive mind, but he should be an assistant coach rather than a head coach.
This season is early, and with the Eastern Conference being so bad the Cavs have time to make the playoffs. Whenever Mike Brown decides to get Bynum involved early and to make life easier on Kyrie Irving the Cavs will be in better position. Until then I wouldn’t bank on it, and since history repeats I see this marriage being over as quick as it was rekindled.
