It is all coaching - that is the only problem the Cavs have

I agree with your assessment of Phil Jackson, and I know if he were coaching the Cavs, he would be playing taller defenders at the guard positions cuz Mo and Delonte are just too small to defend…he also would probably put Varejao on Garnett since Garnett is torching Jameson…

I agree that Brown is a BIG problem on this team and is the main reason why the Cavaliers can’t win, NOT the fact that the Cavaliers don’t have enough talent around LeBron.

Brown kept putting Parker on Rondo because of his height, but he was no more effective in containing him than Mo. Brown should have used West more; while West is small, West has very good lateral quickness and would have been able to stay with Rondo much more than Parker did or Mo did.

Additionally, Brown made poor use of his bench. This was no different in Game 6. Here is the playing time for all Cavs players in Game 6:

Starters:
Williams: 46:31
Parker: 28:40
Neal: 24:07
James: 46:12
Jamison: 29:48

Reserves:
Varejao: 26:44
Ilgauskas: 14:53 (this may have been the high-mark for “Z,” believe it or not)
West: 13:57
Moon: 8:57
Hickson: 0:10
Gibson: 0:00
Green: 0:00
Powe: 0:00
Telfair: 0:00
Williams: 0:00

Is there any question that Brown is NOT a good coach? Some actually want to make the argument that LeBron doesn’t have enough talent around him. LeBron had enough talent, but Brown didn’t use half of it.

“Z” is an experienced, outside shooter who provides size and could have presented a different look to the Celtics, plus would have allowed Shaq to be fresher. I doubt “Z” came back to the Cavaliers after the Jamison trade to mostly sit on the bench the rest of the season and the postseason as he did throughout much of it.

Hickson only gets 10 seconds. 10 freaking seconds?! Are you kidding me? One of your most promising young players who was getting better as the season went along and should be a key part of the future Cavaliers, and he barely gets any playing time this postseason?! So much for having experience playing in the postseason to draw upon in the future, sitting on that bench for 99% of the playoffs. He certainly could have provided some more scoring, size, and athleticism against the older Celtics.

Gibson, who was a key reason why the Cavaliers made the 2007 NBA Finals, has been a forgotten man while Brown has been the coach over the past 2 seasons. Arguably the best 3-point shooter on the Cavs, he was a non-factor because he didn’t play either. And as for the argument that he can’t play defense, he can’t improve if he sits on the bench throughout most of the season. The Cavaliers should be working to make Gibson more of a factor as the seasons progress, due to his youth, experience, and shooting ability, but instead, Gibson might be more likely to hook onto another team because Brown allowed him to rot on the bench.

Williams – this guy was a key contributor this season, providing solid defense and a solid jump shot, yet got virtually no playing time this postseason. Again, why?

Powe – I thought he was supposed to be a valuable addition Ferry picked up from the Celtics to provide an experienced big body – someone should have told Mike Brown that, as he obviously missed the memo.

Even West and Moon didn’t play nearly as much as you’d expect, especially since both can shoot and both can play defense. Yet, Brown left them pretty much on the bench as well.

The key point is that Brown doesn’t make good adjustments, doesn’t know how to get the most from a talented roster (the last 2 years at least, and possibly the last two years before that), and keeps going with matchups and set plays that have been proven not to work. Additionally, he is as much the reason for that constant 1-on-5 that analysts complain about – he trusts LeBron and wants LeBron to be the focal point of the offense, even when LeBron can’t deliver (just like he didn’t in the first half of Game 6).

I almost think that’s why Mo wasn’t much of a factor in the 2nd half of Game 6 – LeBron was handling the ball most of the time, trying to make all the plays himself, instead of trusting Mo and his teammates. If Mo had continued to be the focal point like he was in the 1st half, it’s likely there would have been a Game 7 on Sunday.

There’s no question that a more established coach who can adapt in-game would have likely won at least one championship for this franchise by now, possibly more. Almost certainly, they would have been in more than one NBA Finals and would have been more competitive than the one they were in (i.e. wouldn’t have been swept, as the games were close score-wise, but never where the Cavaliers could get a win in any of the games).

That’s why this argument that the Cavs should have gotten Stoudemire instead of Jamison really wouldn’t have made a difference – Brown focuses only on LeBron, his superstar, for offense and for “delivering” in the 4th quarter – the rest of the team essentially is forgotten. And when the rest of the team is supposed to step up for LeBron when he falters, they often can’t because they’re never really utilized consistently throughout the season – how can you expect them to for one or two games? It would have been no different with Amare – Brown’s philosophy is that LeBron is the first, second, and third option on this team and everyone else is forgotten – it doesn’t matter what these players have done before, their resumes, or anything else. Even the established, albeit older, Shaq, with 4 Championship rings, was essentially a non-factor, as it was constantly LeBron handling the ball, shooting the ball, and dribbling the ball until there was around 5 seconds before he puts up a fadeaway jumper. This again points back to Mike Brown’s philosophy and why he must go if the Cavaliers are to truly improve as a team – the talent is here, but Brown doesn’t utilize much of it beyond LeBron.

Even if LeBron doesn’t like the idea of Mike Brown leaving and decides to leave, Coach Brown must go – he’s been outcoached for too long, doesn’t utilize a talented roster well enough mutliple times, and can’t even get his team to play his speciality, defense, consistently on a regular basis throughout this season. Not only did they not play good defense in most of the playoff games, but even throughout most of the second half of the season, they were giving up triple digits repeatedly.