GTFOHWTBS: Lakers Fire Coach Mike Brown After Realizing He's Terrible
Well Lakers fans, whatchu gonna do now?
The Los Angeles Lakers fired coach Mike Brown on Friday, after Brown coached the team to a disappointing 1-4 record. According to reports, after initially considering using the team’s upcoming six-game homestand to evaluate Brown, team management changed their collective minds and came to a unanimous decision that the team wasn’t heading in the right direction and fired Brown, effectively immediately. After acquiring Steve Nash and Dwight Howard in blockbuster trades this summer, the Lakers obviously felt that 1-4 was not acceptable and cut their losses. The problem is, they should have seen it coming. While Mike Brown is an exceptional eyeglass model, he’s a terrible coach and somehow, it took the Lakers 5 games and 2 large acquisitions to see that.
The Lakers are off to the worst start in the Western Conference and are also carrying the league’s largest payroll at over $100 million. Yup 100 MILLION! And due to that, they will most likely be forced to pay the league’s $30 million luxury-tax at season’s end. With the dollars involved, there was no way they could afford losing. So when you look at the money, Brown had to go. But with that said, it took a luxury tax, a 1-4 start and two high profile acquisitions for the Lakers to can Brown? GTFOHWTBS!! Did the Lakers not look at any footage from Browns tenure as Cleveland Cavaliers coach? Correct me if I’m wrong but during that time, the Cavaliers won exactly nothing. Yes, they made it the playoffs annually, but after beating scrub teams like the Washington Wizards, continually got smoked by stronger Eastern Conference teams. Yes, they also made it to the Finals, but were spanked. So, Lakers, HIRING Brown was your mistake. Brown was a coach that didn’t play to his team strengths. Brown was a coach that didn’t make adjustments. Brown is a coach that installed a new offense, with a new point guard and center and then said it would take until MARCH of the following year for the team to gel. Looking into Brown’s eyes, his team could see that he was in over his head and with that, management said GTFOH.
With Brown gone, Lakers Assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff will coach the Lakers Friday night at home against the Warriors. Let’s hope he isn’t the team’s long term answer. Bickerstaff has coached many a terrible team including stints with the Denver Nuggets, Washington Bullets/Wizards, Seattle Sonics and Charlotte Bobcats. Not exactly a list of former NBA champions. But with that said, who can they possibly bring in at this point in the season that will take them back to the Finals….Perhaps Phil Jackson??
We’ll see.
