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Former Pacers assistant named Cavs coach
Owner Dan Gilbert stopped by the Cavaliers' gift shop in Gund Arena on Thursday morning to pick up a few last-minute welcoming gifts for Mike Brown, his newest employee. One was a $20 Cavaliers clock.
"Contrary to popular opinion, we're going to give him more time than people think to be head coach of the Cavaliers," Gilbert said at a news conference introducing Brown. Maybe. But it appears to be only a matter of time before a more prominent Brown (Larry) comes to Cleveland, too. Tick, tock, indeed. One of the NBA's most respected assistants at Indiana, Mike Brown officially became Cleveland's 17th coach — and star LeBron James' second as a pro — on Thursday. Brown received a four-year $10 million contract and inherited a team that fractured late last season and missed the playoffs again. While he wasn't the only Brown on people's minds, the personable 35-year-old flawlessly handled some awkward questions during his first public moments as Cleveland's sixth coach in six years. With reports and rumors rampant that Detroit coach Larry Brown will soon join Cleveland as its president of basketball operations, Mike Brown was asked if he feared working under a man who could one day replace him. "If Larry Brown does come here or doesn't come here, I'm not concerned about that," he said. "My job is to coach this basketball team, and that's what I'm focusing on." Gilbert acknowledged for the first time that Cleveland's ownership group, after receiving permission from the Pistons, discussed a front-office position with Larry Brown, but that no offer has been made. Several media outlets have reported that Brown, who has three years left on his contract with Detroit, has already agreed to come to Cleveland. "No deal has been struck," Gilbert said. "He has not committed — yet. There is no deal with Larry Brown. There is no deal on the table. There is no deal off the table. There is no deal partially on the table. "We've got to let the man be, let him coach the Pistons. After the season is over and he gets his health checked out, if he can't coach, we'll be glad to sit down with him and discuss a potential deal." Once the Pistons' season ends, the 64-year-old coach will have a health problem addressed before deciding his next career move. Brown insists his preference is to continue coaching the Pistons, but the fact the club allowed the Cavs to speak with him would indicate that Brown's days in Detroit are numbered. Larry Brown, however, reiterated Thursday night that his first priority is to remain a coach. "I want to coach. That's my goal," he said before Detroit played Miami in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals. "When the season's over, I told them that I was going to go to be checked and if I could coach, I was going to continue to do that. ... If I can't coach, I don't know what I'll be allowed to do, so I don't want to even speculate on that." Gilbert seems willing to wait for Brown before deciding whether or not to restructure his front office. If Brown comes to Cleveland, Gilbert may not hire a general manager as expected. If Brown does not join the Cavs, Gilbert may implement a hierarchy similar to those in Indiana and Miami, which have a GM and vice president of basketball operations. There are other possibilities, and they all seem to hinge on Larry Brown's health and impulsiveness. One thing is certain, though: Gilbert has his coach. He interviewed "10 to 12" candidates for the Cleveland job, a list of coaches that included Phil Jackson, Flip Saunders and Eric Musselman. From his first meeting with Mike Brown, Gilbert came away feeling that this was someone he shouldn't let get away. "Mike's a winner," he said. "There's no other candidate we talked to that I would have hired over him. There is no one going where he is going." Mike Brown's lack of head coaching experience didn't turn Gilbert away. In fact, it drew him toward Brown, who spent the past two years as Rick Carlisle's top assistant with the Pacers. "I think potential, passion and talent are more important than experience," Gilbert said. "When you look at the last 20 or 25 NBA champions, over half of them were won by coaches who were in their first head coaching job. If you can get a guy who is ready to blossom and become the next great coach in the NBA, that's the way to go." Of the many glowing endorsements the Cavaliers got about Mike Brown, one carried more clout than others. "LeBron does his own due diligence," Gilbert said. "He said, 'Oh, yeah, everybody loves Mike.'" Brown, a father of two and the league's second-youngest coach behind New Jersey's Lawrence Frank, began working on his relationship with Cleveland's superstar on Wednesday night with a phone call to James. "I asked him, 'LeBron, what do you like to do? Do you like to bowl or would you like to go to dinner? I'd like to get together real soon. He said, 'Coach, I'm going to an amusement park real soon, do you want to come?' I forget he's a kid." Some would say Cleveland's coach is, too.
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