Sacramento Kings hire right guy in former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown

The Sacramento Kings have signed former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown.

Former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown will apparently take over the reins in Sacramento, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The addition of Brown is a good move, and see’s the former Cavs coach given his first head coaching opportunity since he left Cleveland.

The Cavaliers have seen some good coaches come and go throughout the years. They may have their next good coach on staff in current head coach J.B. Bickerstaff. He’s a smart, defensive-minded coach, that has his players set up their offense through their defense. Stoppages, transitions, and the like are key ways to push the ball forward. He coaches his teams not too unlike Browns, the first Cavaliers head coach to ever take the franchise to the NBA Finals.

Brown led the Cavs from 2005 to 2010 to great results before getting fired and replaced with Byron Scott. Scott was then replaced by Brown, who has then fired once again and then was replaced by David Blatt.

Brown never should’ve been fired the second time, he was given a quick out after the team, presumably, failed to live up to their expectations. Yet, as Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson were the stars of that team, a disappointing season was all you could hope for.

Now, however, Brown has another shot at success.

The Sacramento Kings should favor the coach over the players

Too often NBA teams try to build a franchise around players and not around systems. That works for spurts, but it isn’t the sign of a well-run team. Look at the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat. They don’t replace coaches when the players don’t fit, they replace the players because they know the system works.

Brown’s system works. He was able to take a non-jump shot hitting, LeBron James, and his rag-tag team of Misfit Toys to the NBA Finals. Yes, James had a lot to do with that, but so did Brown. The players couldn’t hang on in the league on any other team, yet in Brown’s system, they excelled. James played the best defense of his career, and scrap pieces became key parts.

Brown is among the best in the game, and he spent the last six years learning from his offensive counterpart; Steve Kerr. Meaning, that if anyone can improve Brown, it’s Kerr.

The Kings should not hesitate to move on from the De’Aaron Fox’s of the team if they can’t commit to a defensive first approach. Even though guys like Darius Garland aren’t great on defense, Garland buys into it and sells out. Fox doesn’t have to turn into Jason Kidd or Gary Payton, but if he can at least try, that’ll make Brown’s system all the much more efficient.

The Kings finally have a head coach who knows how to install a system, and if they buy-in as well as the Ira Newble’s and Drew Gooden’s of yesterday’s game, then the Kings may finally snap their playoff drought.