Two Games In, the Cleveland Cavaliers Need to Fire Coach Mike Brown

Last year, Cleveland Cavaliers’ coach Mike Brown was the NBA’s Coach of the Year, and led his Cavs to the Eastern Conference Finals.

And now, after only two games, he’s got to go.

It’s early, sure. Tuesday’s 95-89 defeat at the hands of the Boston Celtics and yesterday’s 101-91 fall to the Toronto Raptors aren’t actually the reason. There are still 80 games to play, and the Cavs will win plenty of them.

The 0-2 record does, however, serve to remind us of the gaping tactical flaws that haunted Quicken Loans Arena last year. The Cavs need a strong offensive system to take the best advantage of LeBron James without overloading him, and they’re just not doing it.

It lends the feeling that coaching is holding back these Cavaliers, and that they won’t bring home the Larry O’Brien trophy until they’ve made a change.

The Cavs have had a good, solid defensive culture the past few years, and that’s very much a product of Mike Brown. He’s a terrific defensive-minded coach, and the Indiana Pacers made two strong playoff runs with him as associate head coach and defensive coordinator before he came to Cleveland.

But Brown lacks on the offensive end. Last season much of the offensive coaching was handed to assistant coach and offense wizard John Kuester by December. The result was the Cavaliers’ best season ever, with 66 wins. Kuester is gone now, however, and has become the head coach of the Detroit Pistons.

Even in the Cavaliers’ first game of the season, LeBron was kept on the floor for 45 minutes. He played 40 against Toronto, and his triple-double still wasn’t enough. Even superheroes get tired, and James can’t handle such a load forever.

Of the four elite teams in the NBA (Lakers, Celtics, Magic, Cavs), Cleveland is the bottom of the pile in terms of roster talent depth. The Lakers are loaded, the Celtics have stars at every position, and the Magic have dramatically strengthened their bench this year. The Cavs, though LeBron James is the best player in the league, have two rapidly-aging centers; PF and SF are thin behind Anderson Varejao and LeBron; and Mo Williams isn’t quite the veteran true point that they could really use.

That said, the Cavs’ roster is capable. They added some much-needed depth and defensive length by bringing in Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon. Shaq still has some juice left, Mo can shoot, and Delonte West provides some help at the point.

It’s tempting to say that where they lack offensively is in execution. But that’s not the case—in watching the Cavs play, you’re not seeing a lot of broken plays, failed pick & rolls, or sloppy ball-handling. What you’re seeing is a 1-on-5 offense, where LeBron is relied on far too heavily, and not every player is engaged in the offense on every possession.

And against 90% of the Cavaliers’ opponents, that’s okay.

The Cavs went 63-10 last year against teams not named the Lakers, Magic, and Celtics. The sheer dominance of LeBron James, with a little help from his friends, was enough to consistently beat almost all the teams in the league. But when it came down to a chess match, a battle of tactics against opponents they couldn’t beat with raw talent, the Cavs were a dismal 3-6.

We saw it under a magnifying glass, as well, when Cleveland was clearly outclassed by Orlando’s offensive scheme in the Eastern Conference Finals. Mike Brown was clearly shown up by a short, sweaty man named Stan Van Gundy.

I’ve likely already been blown off as a loony for calling for a coach’s head this early in the season. Things may very well get better: Shaq may figure out his role, Delonte West will be back, Anthony Parker will become the wing defensive stalwart to take that load off LeBron, and the Cavs could very well still perform better than last year’s record-breaking team.

But if you’re still reading, maybe you agree that this feeling has existed since 2007, even with constant roster upgrades. While they’ve played well, they’ve gone to pieces when played against teams with top-tier coaching.

And that has little to do with the roster.

Perhaps the solution isn’t firing Brown; maybe it’s bringing in a new, aggressive assistant coach to run the offense. Cleveland’s bottom-up improvements haven’t won a ring for the King, but maybe they need to make some changes at the top.

If they ever hope to bring a title to Cleveland.