For the second time in the last four years, the Cleveland Cavaliers fired head coach Mike Brown on Monday.
“This is a very tough business,” team owner Dan Gilbert said in a news release. “Mike worked hard over this last season to move our team in the right direction. Although. There was some progress from our finish over the few prior seasons, we believe we need to head in a different direction.”
Brown coached the Cavaliers from 2005 until 2010, when he was fired by the organization for the first time. He then succeeded Phil Jackson as coach of the Lakers during the lockout-shortened 2011-2012 season. Brown was fired by the Lakers just five games into the 2012-2013 NBA season.
After the Cavaliers brought him back in April of 2013, Gilbert admitted that firing him the first time was the wrong move, saying, “When you have the benefit of hindsight, it was a mistake. We’re happy that we get to rectify any position we took back then by Mike being available right now.”
Now, just one year later, Brown is out again, and it appears that the team is in the exact same position that it was four years ago.
The Cavs, after entering the season with high expectations, struggled in the woeful eastern conference last season, finishing with a regular-season record of 33-49.
The team also announced Monday that interim general manager David Griffin will stay with the Cavaliers and take on the role of full-time GM. Griffin replaced Chris Grant, who was fired midseason in February.
“Our ownership group is looking forward to David Griffin leading the basketball side of our business. We interviewed several strong candidates for the GM position including Griff,” Gilbert said. “We chose David as our GM because we believe he is the best person to lead our franchise at this critical time and into the future. David brings over two decades of experience. He knows the ins and outs of this league as well as anyone and is also an outstanding talent evaluator.
“We already saw some progress in the short time David led our basketball side in the latter part of this past season. Clearly, we have substantial work ahead of us and I am confident that Griff will play an essential part of the growth and success of our organization.”
Current Chicago Bulls assistant coach Adrian Griffin has already emerged as a strong candidate for the head coaching position.
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