Mike Brown fired (again) as head coach of the Cavaliers

Mar 30, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown watches in the first quarter against the Indiana Pacers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Cavaliers decided to officially promote interim general manager David Griffin to GM on May 12. During Griffin’s stint as GM he brought in center Spencer Hawes via a well-executed trade, as the team ended the season with a 17-16 mark. Another move, made in the opposite direction of the Griffin announcement, also came on this particularly gloomy Monday in Cleveland. Storms lined the coast of Lake Erie, but the biggest one was brewing in the Cavaliers media room. It came in the form of a press conference announcing bringing Griffin on board and released Mike Brown from his head coaching duties. Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports made the announcement public with this tweet:

After one season, in which Brown coached the team to a 33-49 record (good for 10th place in the Eastern Conference, the Cavs ownership decided to end his second stint with the Cavs. Brown holds the best winning percentage (62.0 percent) among Cavaliers coaches in franchise history. On April 24, 2013 of last year the Cavs brought Brown on board again after firing him three years prior, giving him a deal costing $20 million-plus over five years. Those five years were shortened, most likely because of the team’s porous start and a third straight season without playoffs. Cavs owner Dan Gilbert had this to say about the firing of Brown:

"This is a very tough business. It pains all of us here that we needed to make the difficult decision of releasing Mike Brown. 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. We wish Mike and his family nothing but the best."

It’s important to note that Chris Grant, who was fired as GM during the 2013-14 season, was in charge of bringing Brown back on board. With Grant now out of the picture and Griffin in the driver’s seat, the Cavs will try to start over new again with a somewhat different regime. Griffin will now be at the head of free agency and drafting duties, something that Grant struggled with immensely during his four years as general manager. Griffin will also be in charge of conducting the search for Cleveland’s new head coach and will make the ultimate decision in that search. A few names have already surfaced as candidates for the job:

Make sure to check back on Right Down Euclid for analysis of the Brown firing and possible moves that the Cavaliers could make in the near future.