by Nathan Coleman

After the Boston Celtics knocked Cleveland out of the playoffs, talk of LeBron James leaving seemed to take up more of the news than Jesse James’ affair on Sandra Bullock.  The irony is that instead of the team’s star player leaving, the head coach was fired instead.

Anybody can defend Mike Brown by saying he won coach of the year in 2008-2009, he had more regular season wins than any other coach, and he made it to the playoffs numerous times.  So why, oh why would anybody want to get rid of him?

“He didn’t win a championship,” said sophomore Abed Ammar.  “And that’s what LeBron was set to do.”

Mike Brown was a good regular season coach.  He did his job by telling his team to give LeBron James the ball and to just watch from there.  Granted, it seemed to work during the regular season.  Playoff ball is a totally different beast.  Everyone on the floor needs to produce and to play with extreme heart and confidence in themselves.  This is where Brown failed: the playoffs.

“He definitely could have done a better job in playoffs in a lot of different aspects like calling timeouts when he should have been and gathering his team.  But I think it’s more of an issue of who’s actually on the team,” said senior Megan Carr.

During the Boston Celtics series, when the Celtics played like a team on a mission and the Cavs well, didn’t, what did Brown do on the sidelines?  He did absolutely nothing to help his team or give them a lick of confidence.  Brown could not adjust to the game-play of Boston or even Orlando in last year’s series.

Cavs fans may be saying that he did not have much to work with.  LeBron is not as lucky as Kobe Bryant to have an all-star cast around him.  And to that I would say agreed.  Granted, Brown could not mold together a solid team with the money he had to handle; however, coaching isn’t always about bringing all-stars to the table.  Coaching is about getting the absolute best out of every player on that floor.  Coaching is about adjusting to situations that are new or uncomfortable and Brown failed to do that.

Who is going to replace Brown?  That question is still up in the air.  Coach K from Duke is a prospect but unlikely in leaving his Blue Devils and the Cameron Crazies behind.

“Well, whoever they pick, they shouldn’t just try to cater to LeBron,” said social studies teacher Mr. Michael Mast.

Phil Jackson is also on the wish list, but I believe he is more of a long shot than Coach K.  There are a few prospects though that may do the job.  Byron Scott is a likely candidate who was a former NBA player and coach of the year in 2007-2008.  Mark Jackson is also being looked at which would be a good fit for LeBron in my opinion.

Everyone has their opinion on the off season move of the Cavaliers; however, there is one opinion that I hold close to my heart.

“I don’t know who Mike Brown is but what I don’t like is when I buy a jersey and that athlete gets traded and my kids won’t wear it anymore,” commented Mrs. Michelle Becker.