The Wrong Move for the Cavaliers

Can’t anybody keep a secret these days?In a development that has dwarfed the considerably entertaining Eastern Conference finals, reports out of Detroit say the Cleveland Cavaliers have tapped Pistons coach Larry Brown to be their new team president. The deal wasn’t supposed to be consummated until the season ended – Brown is still coaching Detroit, after all – but news this good rarely stays confidential for long.Right now I’m trying to figure out which piece of information is less surprising: That Brown would suddenly jump ship on an employer, or that the Cavs would bungle a major front-office decision.Let’s start with Brown. His cranky interview on Tuesday deriding the reporters who broke the story so stank of hypocrisy that you could smell it through the TV. As great a coach as he is, his actions virtually define the term “exit strategy.” Nets fans know this all too well, as Brown committed to coach Kansas in 1983 even though he was still under contact to New Jersey. Then-owner Joe Taub canned him for the offense with just six games left in the season. Nothing has changed about Brown in the two decades since then – only the spots where this nomad has temporarily pitched his tent.It’s apparent that the Cavs weren’t the only team Brown was talking to, either. Earlier this year, he let slip that he knew 76ers coach Jim O’Brien was going to be fired and replaced with Mo Cheeks. Brown used to coach the 76ers and one of his proteges, Billy King, is still the general manager there, but I’m sure the Pistons still weren’t thrilled to see him consorting openly with one of their rivals.The Brown side of the story, of course, has been well documented. But what’s slipped the attention of most basketball observers is what an idiotic move this is for Cleveland. Proving he has more money than sense, new Cavs owner Dan Gilbert decided to make a big splash by hiring Brown to direct the franchise. In addition to the trust issue – how do you work with a guy who will have one foot out the door from the day he arrives? – hiring Brown presents a myriad of additional problems:* THE JOB Brown isn’t a personnel guy. He’s a genius when it comes to Xs and Os, a great teacher, and a solid motivator – all of which make him a wonderful coach. But when it comes to evaluating talent and sizing up long-term potential, his trademark impatience usually gets the best of him.Brown has had personnel input in only one job – Philadelphia – and that team quickly crumbled under a series of bad contracts handed out to middling veterans who Brown had inexplicably fallen in love with. With the Cavaliers badly needing to develop more young talent, this could prove disastrous.* THE PLAYERS Did I mention LeBron James was on this team? Brown coached James in the Olympics and stapled him to the bench so that his beloved Allen Iverson could get all the minutes. One gets the impression James won’t be too excited to see Brown calling the shots for his team.* LEBRON, PART II Cleveland’s biggest long-term priority is to make sure James signs with the team three years from now, when he can become an unrestricted free agent. Considering Brown’s track record, does anybody think he will stay in this job for three long years? Chances are, he will be heading out the door right around the time James is deciding whether to stay in Cleveland.If Brown leaves the front office in disarray, that could be the catalyst for LeBron to bolt. Come to think of it, Brown joining the Cavs could be the best thing that ever happened to the Knicks.* THE COACHES As team president, Brown will create the same problem Isiah Thomas does with the Knicks: The coach will constantly be looking over his shoulder lest Brown want to take over. That makes it a less secure situation for newly hired Mike Brown (no relation), and for whomever else Larry might decide to hire if the other Brown can’t cut the mustard.* THE LOCATION Reports say Brown’s deal with the Cavs allows him to live in Philadelphia and conduct most of his business from there. This goes down with the fans about as well as a mosh pit at the Philharmonic, and it’s much harder than it seems to run a franchise remotely. The last GM to try this, Michael Jordan, was an abject failure.* THE COST Not only will Gilbert be paying top dollar for his new team president, but he also may have to face tampering charges from the Pistons. While Detroit did grant Cleveland permission to speak to Brown, there has been some suspicion that negotiations were already well underway by that point. Knicks fans will remember that a similar scenario cost the Heat a no. 1 pick when Pat Riley slithered out of New York nearly a decade ago.* THE HELP If all the reports are to be believed, Gilbert made three hires this week: Larry Brown as president, Mike Brown as head coach, and Milt Newton as general manager. Notice a trend here? Nobody has any experience in his job. Larry Brown hasn’t worked in a front office before. Mike Brown hasn’t been a head coach before. And Newton is the greenest of the three. He played for Brown at Kansas and but only has two seasons of NBA front-office experience, none doing anything remotely as important as a general manager.So it’s not like Brown has an experienced team around him while he learns the ropes. Everybody from the owner on down is learning on the job.Of course, Brown could always pull the plug on his dalliance with the Cavs. He has the option of backing out of the agreement in the coming days, because he can’t formally sign the contract with Cleveland until he’s resigned from the Pistons at season’s end. That could come this weekend, or it could take another three weeks if the Pistons make the Finals. Either way, Brown might have a moment of clarity between now and then, realize that he’s setting himself up to fail, and leave the Cavs at the altar.That wouldn’t be a bad thing for the Cavs. One understands Gilbert’s intentions – he wants a big-name president to sell James on the idea that he should stay in Cleveland. But it’s far more important that the president do his job of surrounding James with enough talent to compete. For that job, Gilbert unquestionably hired the wrong man.

The Wrong Move for the Cavaliers

The Wrong Move for the Cavaliers

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