Kori Ellis
09-30-2005, 05:10 PM
Executive Chatter with Mike Brown
By BRANDON GLENN
4:08 pm, September 30, 2005
http://www.crainscleveland.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050930/FREE/50930029/1002&Profile=1002
There’s no pressure on Mike Brown. Well, maybe a little pressure.
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ new head coach is only expected to lead the team back to the playoffs for the first time since 1998, integrate three new starters into a team that collapsed in the second half last year and persuade the maligned franchise’s perceived savior, star forward LeBron James, to stick around once his rookie contract expires in three years.
Considering this is his first head coaching job at any level, that may be asking a lot, but Mr. Brown no doubt feels he’s up to the challenge after spending the last five seasons with two of the league’s strongest franchises, Indiana and San Antonio.
And he’d better be ready for a challenge, because, like the Cavs, the Eastern Conference’s three powerhouses — Detroit, Indiana and Miami — all made fairly significant off-season additions to their rosters, although conference champion Detroit was the least active.
But Mr. Brown’s legacy in Cleveland will almost inevitably be tied to Mr. James. If the team experiences enough success to convince the immensely talented Mr. James to stay in his home state and sign a long-term deal with the Cavs, many fans feel that the franchise’s first championship could follow.
Mr. Brown was born in Columbus, though he spent most of his formative years in Germany and Japan, moving around while his father was in the U.S. Air Force. He played basketball at the University of San Diego, before beginning his career in the NBA as an unpaid intern with the Denver Nuggets in 1992.
Mr. Brown sat down with Crain’s Cleveland Business: On The Web to discuss his expectations for the Cavs this year, the lowest points in his 13-year NBA career, and what he sees as the Cavs’ biggest weakness.
Aside from the new players, what will be the biggest differences fans will notice between this year’s Cavs vs. last year’s Cavs?
The thing we’re trying to establish here is a culture — a culture of winning, a culture of having good guys around, guys that are great in the community, guys that are humble, guys that care about one another, care about the organization.
People ask me all the time, “What are you going to do different than last year?” I wasn’t here last year, so it’s hard for me to compare the two. I just know what I want here this year, and that’s based on my past and previous experiences, where I’ve been that I’ve had success in.
A culture with those things in mind is what I want to establish here. If we’re able to do that. the fans will feed off of that and enjoy it.
I hear all this talk about 'We’re going to play better defense. Mike Brown’s a defense guy.' How do you instill that attitude with the team and get those results on the floor?
Again, I have a system that I took a little bit from my days with (former NBA coach with Seattle Supersonics and the Denver Nuggets) Bernie Bickerstaff. I took a lot from the days when I was with (San Antonio Spurs head coach) Gregg Popovich, and kind of formed my own philosophy or my own system on the defensive end of the floor. When I went to Indiana as associate head coach, (head coach) Rick Carlisle made me the defensive coordinator, so I came in with a philosophy, told Rick what it was about, and he gave me some ideas to incorporate in it, and I either did or I didn’t. That added to it.
We had a lot of success on the defensive end of the floor when I was running it in Indiana. A lot of it, in my opinion, had to do with the system. Not only the system, but I thought our guys bought into it and accepted it. They trusted it, and from that standpoint they gave effort. With the system and the belief and the effort, that helped translate into a better defensive team statistically than what it was in previous years. Those things are important on that end of the floor if you want to be a better defensive team.
So what do you stress on defense? What do they need to do in your system that they might not do in other systems?
Execute. I don’t think it’s matter of “We do this and somebody else does that.” We have a system. Everybody has a responsibility, defending the basket or defending the ball. If the ball moves, all five guys move, not just one guy. Everybody’s on a string. We’re going to get repetition behind it all, so that it’s second nature to guys. The ball moves here, and all five guys move. It’s second nature. Guys are reacting to it instead of thinking about it and then doing it because you can’t be a step late in this league.
More than anything, like I said, it’s not necessarily what I do, it’s how we do it, how hard we do it, and how much we drill it. We’ll get a lot of those three things.
Is there any aspect of your personality that you want to impress upon the team?
The biggest thing I want to impress upon our guys is that I’m going to be fair, but I’m also going to hold people accountable. From that standpoint, hopefully the guys will respect me. I’m going to show them respect, so hopefully they’ll respect me. They’ll believe in me and the coaching staff, and make this an easy transition for us and for them.
Talk a little about starting off with the Nuggets as an unpaid intern, how that came about, what you were doing with them, and did you ever have moments where you asked yourself, 'What am I doing? I’m a 22-year-old and I’m not getting paid.'
I was going on one of my last trips playing basketball at the University of San Diego. I was in my fourth year, and stopped by my head coach’s office before heading to the airport and saw a magazine on his desk. On the cover was a picture of Bernie Bickerstaff, who at the time was with the Seattle Supersonics. I picked it up, read the article.
Lo and behold, he played and went to school at the University of San Diego before going into the NBA. I asked my coach at USD at the time, Hank Egan, who’s my lead assistant here, “Do you know anybody in the league who I can get an internship with in the summertime?” He said, “I know Bernie Bickerstaff.” I think he named a few other people, (including) Larry Brown. So when he said “Bernie,” I said, “Can you call him and see if I can intern?” He said, “Yes.” He made the call and Bernie agreed to let me come out. Going in, I knew it was an unpaid internship.
I was just happy to be around (former Nuggets coach) Dan Issel and Bernie Bickerstaff and get a pair of new sneakers and a T-shirt and sweatshirt that said “Nuggets.” I was fired up. I was first one in the office, last to leave. I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t have anything else to do.
At the end of the summer, he offered me a job as a video coordinator. I turned it down because I had a semester left of school. He said he’d hold the job for me. Then he gave me a check for the summer for $1,500.
I thanked him. I told him I’d be back. I went back, finished up school, then drove back out the 15th of December 1992.
From there, I just enjoyed being around the game of basketball so much. Even though my first year’s salary was 15 grand, I thought they were overpaying me.
What do you see as the Cavs greatest weakness right now?
If you look at statistics, they weren’t great defensively. A lot of people say, “They need to shoot the ball better or they were a poor three-point-shooting team.” That is true statistically, but they did score enough points and their overall percentage was very good. Offensively, I thought they were fine last year. We’ve added some more offensive weapons this year, but what people aren’t talking about is, I think we’ve added some guys who can play defense, too.
For me, we have to get better on that end of the floor. We can’t average 96 points a game and give up 95.5, because that’s going to translate into a .500 season. We have to average 93, 94 points a game and give up 90 or 91 a game. When you start getting that point differential, not only that but the opponent’s field goal position percentage differential compared to yours. You’re shooting 44%, 45%, and they’re shooting 41%, 42%. To me, that translates into wins.
What would you say was the lowest point of your NBA career and what did you learn from it?
Twice I almost got fired.
Once in Denver when Bernie Bickerstaff left to be the head coach of the Washington Wizards. He left halfway through the season at the All-Star break and we had a new GM and head coach come in. I didn’t know them. I hadn’t been in the league that long. I was in a vulnerable position, in terms of whether or not I was going to be there. Going through that period, it helped me become a stronger person in this business because I survived it.
The second time was when I was in Washington and Bernie got fired. Jim Brovelli and I took over and coached the team the rest of the year. It was the lockout season. At the end of the season, again, I survived it, and it turned into a long-term deal for me.
Surviving both those periods of transition helped strengthen me, helped give me confidence. It helped me believe that no matter what happens, somehow, some way, I was going to be OK as long as I continued to work hard, treat people right and tried to do the right thing.
Is there any piece missing from the team? For example, you might say, 'I’d like to have a guy who can fill-in the-blank?'
With (backup forward) Anderson (Varejao) getting hurt, anytime we can get quality big guys in here, with some toughness and some grit, that will always help improve the basketball team. I’m excited with the guys that we have here, but Anderson was a lively body that we’ll miss until he gets back. Replacing him would probably be the first priority. Other than that, from what I know right now, I’m happy with our group of guys. You ask me this question six months from now, I might give you a different answer.
By BRANDON GLENN
4:08 pm, September 30, 2005
http://www.crainscleveland.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050930/FREE/50930029/1002&Profile=1002
There’s no pressure on Mike Brown. Well, maybe a little pressure.
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ new head coach is only expected to lead the team back to the playoffs for the first time since 1998, integrate three new starters into a team that collapsed in the second half last year and persuade the maligned franchise’s perceived savior, star forward LeBron James, to stick around once his rookie contract expires in three years.
Considering this is his first head coaching job at any level, that may be asking a lot, but Mr. Brown no doubt feels he’s up to the challenge after spending the last five seasons with two of the league’s strongest franchises, Indiana and San Antonio.
And he’d better be ready for a challenge, because, like the Cavs, the Eastern Conference’s three powerhouses — Detroit, Indiana and Miami — all made fairly significant off-season additions to their rosters, although conference champion Detroit was the least active.
But Mr. Brown’s legacy in Cleveland will almost inevitably be tied to Mr. James. If the team experiences enough success to convince the immensely talented Mr. James to stay in his home state and sign a long-term deal with the Cavs, many fans feel that the franchise’s first championship could follow.
Mr. Brown was born in Columbus, though he spent most of his formative years in Germany and Japan, moving around while his father was in the U.S. Air Force. He played basketball at the University of San Diego, before beginning his career in the NBA as an unpaid intern with the Denver Nuggets in 1992.
Mr. Brown sat down with Crain’s Cleveland Business: On The Web to discuss his expectations for the Cavs this year, the lowest points in his 13-year NBA career, and what he sees as the Cavs’ biggest weakness.
Aside from the new players, what will be the biggest differences fans will notice between this year’s Cavs vs. last year’s Cavs?
The thing we’re trying to establish here is a culture — a culture of winning, a culture of having good guys around, guys that are great in the community, guys that are humble, guys that care about one another, care about the organization.
People ask me all the time, “What are you going to do different than last year?” I wasn’t here last year, so it’s hard for me to compare the two. I just know what I want here this year, and that’s based on my past and previous experiences, where I’ve been that I’ve had success in.
A culture with those things in mind is what I want to establish here. If we’re able to do that. the fans will feed off of that and enjoy it.
I hear all this talk about 'We’re going to play better defense. Mike Brown’s a defense guy.' How do you instill that attitude with the team and get those results on the floor?
Again, I have a system that I took a little bit from my days with (former NBA coach with Seattle Supersonics and the Denver Nuggets) Bernie Bickerstaff. I took a lot from the days when I was with (San Antonio Spurs head coach) Gregg Popovich, and kind of formed my own philosophy or my own system on the defensive end of the floor. When I went to Indiana as associate head coach, (head coach) Rick Carlisle made me the defensive coordinator, so I came in with a philosophy, told Rick what it was about, and he gave me some ideas to incorporate in it, and I either did or I didn’t. That added to it.
We had a lot of success on the defensive end of the floor when I was running it in Indiana. A lot of it, in my opinion, had to do with the system. Not only the system, but I thought our guys bought into it and accepted it. They trusted it, and from that standpoint they gave effort. With the system and the belief and the effort, that helped translate into a better defensive team statistically than what it was in previous years. Those things are important on that end of the floor if you want to be a better defensive team.
So what do you stress on defense? What do they need to do in your system that they might not do in other systems?
Execute. I don’t think it’s matter of “We do this and somebody else does that.” We have a system. Everybody has a responsibility, defending the basket or defending the ball. If the ball moves, all five guys move, not just one guy. Everybody’s on a string. We’re going to get repetition behind it all, so that it’s second nature to guys. The ball moves here, and all five guys move. It’s second nature. Guys are reacting to it instead of thinking about it and then doing it because you can’t be a step late in this league.
More than anything, like I said, it’s not necessarily what I do, it’s how we do it, how hard we do it, and how much we drill it. We’ll get a lot of those three things.
Is there any aspect of your personality that you want to impress upon the team?
The biggest thing I want to impress upon our guys is that I’m going to be fair, but I’m also going to hold people accountable. From that standpoint, hopefully the guys will respect me. I’m going to show them respect, so hopefully they’ll respect me. They’ll believe in me and the coaching staff, and make this an easy transition for us and for them.
Talk a little about starting off with the Nuggets as an unpaid intern, how that came about, what you were doing with them, and did you ever have moments where you asked yourself, 'What am I doing? I’m a 22-year-old and I’m not getting paid.'
I was going on one of my last trips playing basketball at the University of San Diego. I was in my fourth year, and stopped by my head coach’s office before heading to the airport and saw a magazine on his desk. On the cover was a picture of Bernie Bickerstaff, who at the time was with the Seattle Supersonics. I picked it up, read the article.
Lo and behold, he played and went to school at the University of San Diego before going into the NBA. I asked my coach at USD at the time, Hank Egan, who’s my lead assistant here, “Do you know anybody in the league who I can get an internship with in the summertime?” He said, “I know Bernie Bickerstaff.” I think he named a few other people, (including) Larry Brown. So when he said “Bernie,” I said, “Can you call him and see if I can intern?” He said, “Yes.” He made the call and Bernie agreed to let me come out. Going in, I knew it was an unpaid internship.
I was just happy to be around (former Nuggets coach) Dan Issel and Bernie Bickerstaff and get a pair of new sneakers and a T-shirt and sweatshirt that said “Nuggets.” I was fired up. I was first one in the office, last to leave. I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t have anything else to do.
At the end of the summer, he offered me a job as a video coordinator. I turned it down because I had a semester left of school. He said he’d hold the job for me. Then he gave me a check for the summer for $1,500.
I thanked him. I told him I’d be back. I went back, finished up school, then drove back out the 15th of December 1992.
From there, I just enjoyed being around the game of basketball so much. Even though my first year’s salary was 15 grand, I thought they were overpaying me.
What do you see as the Cavs greatest weakness right now?
If you look at statistics, they weren’t great defensively. A lot of people say, “They need to shoot the ball better or they were a poor three-point-shooting team.” That is true statistically, but they did score enough points and their overall percentage was very good. Offensively, I thought they were fine last year. We’ve added some more offensive weapons this year, but what people aren’t talking about is, I think we’ve added some guys who can play defense, too.
For me, we have to get better on that end of the floor. We can’t average 96 points a game and give up 95.5, because that’s going to translate into a .500 season. We have to average 93, 94 points a game and give up 90 or 91 a game. When you start getting that point differential, not only that but the opponent’s field goal position percentage differential compared to yours. You’re shooting 44%, 45%, and they’re shooting 41%, 42%. To me, that translates into wins.
What would you say was the lowest point of your NBA career and what did you learn from it?
Twice I almost got fired.
Once in Denver when Bernie Bickerstaff left to be the head coach of the Washington Wizards. He left halfway through the season at the All-Star break and we had a new GM and head coach come in. I didn’t know them. I hadn’t been in the league that long. I was in a vulnerable position, in terms of whether or not I was going to be there. Going through that period, it helped me become a stronger person in this business because I survived it.
The second time was when I was in Washington and Bernie got fired. Jim Brovelli and I took over and coached the team the rest of the year. It was the lockout season. At the end of the season, again, I survived it, and it turned into a long-term deal for me.
Surviving both those periods of transition helped strengthen me, helped give me confidence. It helped me believe that no matter what happens, somehow, some way, I was going to be OK as long as I continued to work hard, treat people right and tried to do the right thing.
Is there any piece missing from the team? For example, you might say, 'I’d like to have a guy who can fill-in the-blank?'
With (backup forward) Anderson (Varejao) getting hurt, anytime we can get quality big guys in here, with some toughness and some grit, that will always help improve the basketball team. I’m excited with the guys that we have here, but Anderson was a lively body that we’ll miss until he gets back. Replacing him would probably be the first priority. Other than that, from what I know right now, I’m happy with our group of guys. You ask me this question six months from now, I might give you a different answer.