Both have had the luxury of coaching the best player in the league at points in their careers. Both have faced the challenge of bringing a championship to a city starved for a winner (the Bulls were terrible before Jordan arrived). I’m not defending Mike Brown’s faults- he has many, and I’m certainly not saying that he’s on the level of Phil Jackson. Mike and Phil are at far different stages of their careers, so that comparison would be unfair, but to deny that there are similarities would be shortsighted.

Having below average and/or unproductive players on your bench affects the team on ANY given night…

I think there are players out there who want to win, and if that is the case, where better to win than in a weaker conference next to the best player on the planet? I say Ferry should go find a couple of these sorts of players. It wouldnt cost us that much.

Here is why your arguments don’t hold water:

1. Here’s the biggest reason, above the obvious, that you can’t use Phil Jackson as an example of why the Mike Brown criticism is unfair. TEX WINTER! Phil Jackson was smart enough to realize that he needed Tex Winter. Even after he became a legend after winning 6 titles in Chicago, he brought Winter to LA to win 3 more. Mike Brown, on the other hand, keeps reassuring Cleveland fans that things are just fine the way they are. So, every time we lose a big game because we are wasting the best offensive weapon in the game, I will get all over Mike Brown’s case beacuse its ABSURD that we don’t have an offense at this point in Lebron’s career and Brown’s tenure. Is it unfair to say Mike Brown isn’t a good coach just because he has Lebron? I can’t even begin to buy the argument as long as Brown and Ferry hold to the company line that Brown doesn’t need anybody to help on the offensive end. It’s complete crap and we as fans are paying the price.

2. Cap flexibilty doesn’t affect what you do with any team on any given night. I understand your point but I’m saying that one a night to night basis, generally (not JUST looking at say the Knicks) the more money an owner is willing to put into a team, the better off the coach will be.

3. Your examples don’t prove your point. Dallas has the highest payroll in the league and Boston is now in cap jail for years. The only reason they can keep adding guys is because they are good teams in desirable cities so all the Alan Houston rule guys want to go play there.

NOW, to say that having no salary cap flexibility and no draft picks doesnt affect a coach… well, I dont think we’re in agreement there. Mike would have liked to make some additions and fixes to the roster the last few years, and thanks to Paxson’s dumb trades and Ferry’s dumb signings, his roster has pretty much been set. Basically, you’re stuck with these guys, so do the best you can. Teams like Dallas and Boston tweak their teams almost weekly.

I’m not saying Brown is destined for the Hall, but he gets a bad rap.

Let’s not get too carried away. First of all, you don’t see too many people on this board calling for Mike Brown’s head. Most of us realize that it would be preposterous to fire a coach after he just took a moribund franchise to the finals. Lebron or no Lebron, he gets his fair share of the credit for that one.

That being said, I have news for you. Mike Brown is one dimensional. You would be hard pressed to find anybody that would tell you that he really knows his stuff on both ends of the floor. He’s a defensive coordinator in a sport that allows one guy to do both the O and the D.

Also, when you’re trying to make a point (and truthfully, I get your point), don’t say ridiculous stuff. For example, an “overloaded salary cap” doesn’t inhibit a coache’s ability to win. It just means he has an owner willing to pay a ton of big money guys. While it hurts flexibility, it doesn’t inherently limit a coaches ability to win. I doubt Mike Dunleavy would feel burdened if Donald Sterling all of the sudden started trading for max players and “overloaded” the team’s cap.

Finally, of course a good coach needs talent to win. But dude, Phil Jackson has 9 titles. You could let Mike Brown coach the Eastern Conference All-Stars for 15 years and I doubt he’d win 9 titles. Phil Jackson had great players but he’s also a very good coach. I don’t know if I can say the same about Mike Brown. It’s just so hard to know how many of the Cavs wins are automatic because they have the best player in the league in assassin mode every night. I don’t know the answer to that question but I do know that Mike Brown has had a few years to master this whole “offense” thing and hasn’t made a lot of progress. I’m not calling for his head, but I also wouldn’t start making Phil Jackson references.

Seriously, watching Flip work the sidelines last night made me feel guilty for getting on Mike Brown’s case. Flip coached another dominant player in his prime (KG), surrounded him with some good teams, and never won anything in almost a decade. Then he came to a Detroit team with four all-stars (Deserving or not, they made the team) and hasn’t done anything with it. If I had to give a slogan to Flip Saunder’s career, it would have to be “Flip Saunders: Nobody can do less with more.”

On one other note, I was struck last night by how much I wished Boobie Gibson was back. I willadmit that I have been the first guy to roll my eyes when Cavs fans have played the “Everything will be alright once Boobie is healthy” card with this team over the last few weeks. My logic has been that one good shooter doesn’t cure a flawed team. But, here is what I will say in defense of everyone that has been playing that card. I walked into to Q last night for only the second time since game 6 of the Pistons series last year (the other time was game 3 of the NBA finals but I’ve pretty much decided that never happened. We beat the Pistons and then the NBA decided they should cancel the finals and wait until the Cavs were really ready). Anyways, being back in that arena, I couldn’t help but think of how in that game, Boobie completely destroyed the Pistons. Basically, as long as he was on the floor, the Pistons were either going to die by the 3 or by Lebron. You couldn’t stop the Cavs with both of them out there. Obviously, he caught fire in that series but it proved that he can be a difference maker. We need him back spotting up on that wing. That will help this team (until Brown decides to sit him for 24 straight minutes after he comes off the bench and scores 9 quick ones on 3 of 3 shooting).

Finally, how come I didn’t get a call about the apparent Lance Allred signing? I was sitting there starring at him like an IDIOT all night last night with no idea what was going on. So, today, I went to the Cavs website to learn that we just signed a guy that’s averaging 16 POINTS on 51% SHOOTING. WOW!!!!! Lebron finally has a sidekick. Bravo Mr. Ferry, Bravo.

RIP Billy and Kaniel. We’ll never forget you.

“Mike Brown is too one-dimensional”
“Mike Brown is clueless on the offensive end”
“Mike Brown should be fired or we’re screwed”
“Mike Brown is wearing a bad suit”

No coach wins without talent. The way you people argue, Phil Jackson must be the most overrated coach in basketball history, because evidently without Jordan, Scottie, Shaq, and Kobe, he would have had a .200 career winning percentage.

So we agree that LeBron helps Mike Brown’s winning percentage? No KIDDING, Sherlock! But let’s be a little more realistic. The man has brought this team awfully far along, won 50 games in 2 straight years, taken a good but not great team to the NBA Finals, and done all of this with an overloaded salary cap and no draft picks. He has gotten the most out of what he has.

Remember this as well, the Cavs core is still awfully young, and this team is still beating teams like Boston, Detroit, and carrying a winning record vs the Western Conference. This season has been more turbulent than any I can remember, and Mike has carefully guided us through it all. Criticism is inevitable and often fair, and it comes with the territory as an NBA coach, but give the man his due. Things could be much, MUCH worse, especially this year.