1:54pm: The Lakers have officially sent out a press release announced their decision to dismiss Brown.
"This was a difficult and painful decision to make," said GM Mitch Kupchak. "Mike was very hard-working and dedicated, but we felt it was in the best interest of the team to make a change at this time. We appreciate Mike’s efforts and contributions and wish him and his family the best of luck."
Meanwhile, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports tweets that the Lakers will ditch the Princeton offense, which was a major factor in the team's decision to replace Brown.
12:36pm: Bernie Bickerstaff will coach tonight's game for the Lakers, but the team will conduct a national search for Brown's replacement, tweets Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times.
Meanwhile, Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game tweets that one candidate, Mike D'Antoni, recently had knee surgery and is laid up for six weeks. According to Ken Berger of CBS Sports though, that wouldn't stop D'Antoni from taking the job if the Lakers wanted him (Twitter link).
12:27pm: The Lakers have "made it clear" that buying out the remaining $11MM+ on Brown's contract and investing in a new coach won't be an issue, says Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter).
12:19pm: A Lakers assistant, likely either Bernie Bickerstaff or Chuck Person, is expected to assume the head coaching reins on an interim basis, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Ken Berger of CBS Sports also throws Steve Clifford's name into the mix, though he says Person has the edge (Twitter link).
12:15pm: Mike D'Antoni has been a "prominent name" discussed by the Lakers as they consider Brown's replacement, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
12:02pm: The Lakers have fired head coach Mike Brown, a source tells Sam Amick of USA Today. Brown's agent Warren LeGarie confirms to Amick that the Lakers head coach has been dismissed.
A report earlier today suggested that a poor showing on the Lakers' upcoming homestand would jeopardize Brown's job. However, after a 1-4 start to the season, the 42-year-old won't even receive the opportunity to coach the first of the team's six upcoming home games tonight against the Warriors.
The move comes less than 48 hours after Brown received the "dreaded" vote of confidence from executive VP Jim Buss, who suggested the team would exercise patience when evaluating the coach's performance. While a new coach has yet to be named, it doesn't seem as if the Lakers would make such a move without a replacement in mind, as Zach Lowe of Grantland tweets.
The decision to let Brown go just five games into the season comes as something of a shock — despite the early-season struggles, I would have guessed the Lakers would give Brown at least another week or two to right the ship. And Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (via Twitter) that GM Mitch Kupchak was pushing ownership to do just that, encouraging the team to give Brown more time before firing him. However, making an change early in the year rather than waiting until later in the season should give the players plenty of time to adjust to the new coach's system and style.
It really dnt matter who da La coach is bcuz ima always b a La fan
woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow!
Bahahahahahahahaha Bring in Jerry Solan
We need Phil baaaaaaaaaaaaac
As a Knicks fan I PRAY they hire D’Antoni. I’d love nothing more than for them to meet him in the Finals.
so the knicks are in the finals already wow lol
Is it any different than putting the Lakers in the Finals? Knicks
have the deepest team in the Eastern conference. If Melo continues to
play the way he’s playing as a leader I don’t see why not – and for the record I’ve said this from the beginning. Nash is old and currently injured and Howard has back/attitude issues and now they’re coach-less, I see no reason why they earn a spot
but the Knicks don’t.
Sports Illustrated (and Magic Johnson) thinks they’re contenders and has them going to the ECF, I’ll take their opinion over the joke that is ESPN.
if anything the thunder and spurs have better chances then the lakers. as much as i hate the heat until someone from the east beats them in a playoff series you have to say their the favorite to make it the nba finals. im interested to see how the knicks play when amare is back
Well, I can’t disagree there. Over the last 10 years the Spurs are probably the most underrated team in sports. Now with the addition of Green and Leonard they look like they may just continue being the silent assassins in the playoffs. And the Heat are really the only team I don’t know if the Knicks can beat out of the East (though the Celtics always scare me a bit). I honestly thought they would never win a championship because of the lack of a true center or true quality PG. I’m still curious to see if they can replicate what they did last year since teams like the old Celtics and the Pacers gave them all they could handle.
Every year people always discount the spurs and they just prove everyone wrong. East is much easier this year with the bulls not having derrick rose bulls will be lucky to get 6-8 seed. pacers lost granger for 3 months and are struggling already they are looking like a 6-8 seed also. celtics are average right now but they will get better as the year goes on. nets im not buying into. so really its 1. heat, 2. knicks, 3. celtics 4. pacers/bulls since one of them has to win the division 5. 76ers 6. hawks 7. bulls/pacers who ever doesnt win division 8. nets
Ought to get rid of Eddie Jordan too.
an article that has comments thats new