I have long been one of Dan Gilbert’s biggest fans. He loves his team like an owner should and would stop at nothing to bring the city of Cleveland a championship. He wears his emotions on his sleeve and you always know where he stands. He is similar to any of us striking it rich and buying our favorite team. I have long dreamed of what it would be like to own the Indians and how I would act as an owner.
For years I have wanted him to make a bid on the Indians and bring that sort of enthusiasm with him. He engages his fan base and values their opinions. But now I am starting to rethink all of that….
The Cavs are rehiring Mike Brown. I was shocked when I heard this yesterday and it really got me thinking. While Mike Brown is a very good NBA coach, I’m not sure what kind of message it sends to the fan base about the state of your franchise. Mike Brown 100% deserved to be fired three years ago. The Cavs finished back-to-back seasons with the league’s best record and no finals appearances to their name. Any other coach in any other city would have been shown the door. The Cavs weren’t just beat in the playoffs, they were out worked and out coached. Mike Brown deserved to be fired.
That however may not have been WHY he was fired. The Cavs were willing to do whatever it took to keep LeBron and parting ways with Brown may have been part of that. Whatever the reasons were, Mike Brown was let go.
Three losing seasons later, the Cavs have brought him back. Who knows the reasoning why. The Cavs are in full on rebuild mode with some very nice pieces to build around. Brown is a very well respected coach who has a winning pedigree. He could take this team to great places, but that may not be why he’s back. Maybe Gilbert and he developed a great working relationship or maybe Dan Gilbert was wrong when he fired him. Regardless, it has me a bit worried.
Was the Brown firing an emotional decision to keep LeBron? The re-hire says to me that the organization was dead wrong when they fired him. What kind of message does that send to the fans? It’s almost refreshing that they are realizing the mistake they made and attempting to correct it. But have we just wasted the last three years as fans? Some of these questions may never be answered, but I certainly hope that if it was a mistake, that it has been corrected.
I have a ton of respect for Mike Brown as a head coach; I just think it makes the organization look pretty bad rehiring a guy they fired three short years ago. On the other hand, it’s nice to see that if they felt they were wrong, they did their best to fix mistakes from the past. Let’s hope that the success he had during his previous tenure can be built upon and surpassed in this one.
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