Author: JEC (Page 22 of 46)

At least one person thinks the Cavaliers are making a mistake by hiring Larry Brown as the team’s president. ESPN’s Marc Stein says Brown should be ashamed of himself for letting the rumors of his new job encroach on Detroit’s current title run, but he also says the Cavaliers should be “flat-out freaked out by the path they’re apparently choosing.” Harsh criticism indeed. Here’s more:

“[Dan] Gilbert’s obsessive pursuit of Larry Brown as the man to run the Cavs’ front office and assemble a title-contending team around LeBron James ? and not coach it ? warrants the loudest possible criticism.

For it’s one of the most ridiculous ideas I’ve ever heard … and that’s excluding all the issues of propriety.

Larry Brown cannot be an effective personnel chief in the NBA. He can’t be. He won’t be. He sours on players far too quickly to be a level-headed talent evaluator. He is chronically, famously fickle.

Clevelanders are concerned that LeBron might bolt in free agency in a few years?

If Larry is their general manager, Gilbert and the locals are advised to be far more concerned that Brown might try to ship LeBron somewhere before next February’s trade deadline.

That’s no joke. That’s Larry. That’s how he is.”

While I highly doubt Brown will be looking to deal LeBron once he takes over, Stein makes several legitimate points throughout his article, claiming the Larry Brown hiring will be detrimental to Mike Brown’s development as a head coach (“…if the Cavs start slowly, how long do you think it’ll take before fans or media types or Larry himself starts wondering ? loudly ? why the elder Brown isn’t doing what he does best? Coaching.”) while also pointing to the shaky relationship between LeBron and Brown, stemming from last year’s Olympics. Stein goes on to say that the reason Brown finally won a championship with the Pistons is because GM Joe Dumars wouldn’t give Brown any control over front-office matters.

This is definitely an interesting — and somewhat unsettling — read from a columnist whose writing is consistently compelling and accurate.

An Eastern Conference executive says Pistons coach Larry Brown has agreed to become the Cavaliers’ President of Basketball Operations, according to the PD. Because Brown, who still has three years remaining on his contract with Detroit, will be moving to the front office instead of another head-coaching position, Pistons GM Joe Dumars is unlikely to require compensation from the Cavs.

Of course, this could all fall apart since the deal won’t become official until after the Pistons are eliminated from the playoffs, but assuming everything goes as planned, pairing Larry Brown’s considerable experience with first-time head coach Mike Brown, who will reportedly be introduced to the media Wednesday or Thursday, makes a whole lot of sense. I’m sure having Larry Brown in the front office will put a little added pressure on Mike Brown, but the elder’s health issues would seem to make it very unlikely that he’ll return to the sidelines anytime soon.

Now the question becomes, who’s the next GM? The same PD article says the Cavs are looking at Milt Newton, Washington’s director of player personnel, and former Cavaliers forward Danny Ferry, currently the director of basketball operations for San Antonio. Danny Ferry? Well, as long as we don’t have to trade Ron Harper for him….