With the end of the season in the distance, it’s never too early for the Phoenix Suns to set their sights on the franchise’s next head coach.
The Phoenix Suns recently released head coach Earl Watson from his coaching responsibilities and have named Jay Triano as their interim head coach. The Suns front office will have to make a tough decision when the season ends about which direction they may want to go with the head coaching position. One option the club should seriously consider is the Golden State Warriors assistant coach Mike Brown.
Fans will most likely have recent memories of Brown being the interim head coach for the Warriors during last year’s playoffs when he led the team to a 11-0 record. Brown’s coaching history is much more extensive than that.
| Regular Season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Age | Lg | Tm | G | W | L | W/L% | W > .500 | Finish | G | W | L | W/L% | Notes |
| 1997-98 | 27 | NBA | WAS | Assistant Coach | ||||||||||
| 1998-99 | 28 | NBA | WAS | Assistant Coach | ||||||||||
| 2000-01 | 30 | NBA | SAS | Assistant Coach | ||||||||||
| 2001-02 | 31 | NBA | SAS | Assistant Coach | ||||||||||
| 2002-03 | 32 | NBA | SAS | Assistant Coach | ||||||||||
| 2003-04 | 33 | NBA | IND | Assistant Coach | ||||||||||
| 2004-05 | 34 | NBA | IND | Assistant Coach | ||||||||||
| 2005-06 | 35 | NBA | CLE | 82 | 50 | 32 | .610 | 9.0 | 2 | 13 | 7 | 6 | .538 | |
| 2006-07 | 36 | NBA | CLE | 82 | 50 | 32 | .610 | 9.0 | 2 | 20 | 12 | 8 | .600 | EC Champions |
| 2007-08 | 37 | NBA | CLE | 82 | 45 | 37 | .549 | 4.0 | 2 | 13 | 7 | 6 | .538 | |
| 2008-09 | 38 | NBA | CLE | 82 | 66 | 16 | .805 | 25.0 | 1 | 14 | 10 | 4 | .714 | |
| 2009-10 | 39 | NBA | CLE | 82 | 61 | 21 | .744 | 20.0 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 5 | .545 | |
| 2011-12 | 41 | NBA | LAL | 66 | 41 | 25 | .621 | 8.0 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 7 | .417 | |
| 2012-13 | 42 | NBA | LAL | 5 | 1 | 4 | .200 | -1.5 | 3 | |||||
| 2013-14 | 43 | NBA | CLE | 82 | 33 | 49 | .402 | -8.0 | 3 | |||||
| 2016-17 | 46 | NBA | GSW | Assistant Coach | ||||||||||
| Career | NBA | 563 | 347 | 216 | .616 | 65.5 | 83 | 47 | 36 | .566 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/29/2017.
Several notes need to be added to Brown’s coaching stints. He has worked under the San Antonio Spurs head coach Greg Popovich, who is arguably one of the greatest coaches in NBA History.
More from Valley of the Suns
- Ranking the Phoenix Suns’ 5 holiday games in 2023-24
- Zion Williamson gets compared to Phoenix Suns legend
- Suns player preview: Bol Bol can be the perfect role player
- Former Suns’ guard shows he is officially done with Phoenix
- NBA insider guarantees Suns’ rival won’t make blockbuster trade
In 2007 as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Brown helped guide a young LeBron James to his first NBA Finals. There is a reason why Brown should get almost as much credit as LeBron in getting the team to the finals. As great of a player as LeBron is, he has only won championships with other great players. Back in that finals, the next three best players the Cavs had were Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes. All three players averaged in either 11 or 12 points per game in those playoffs. To say that a 22 year-old LeBron carried that team to the Finals with no good coaching at all is just not realistic. About two years after that Finals series, Brown won Coach of the Year. The Cavs eventually fired Brown even though he had a 60 plus win season that year.
After being let go, he joined the Los Angeles Lakers a year later and was the last coach that coached Kobe Bryant and the Lakers past the first round of the playoffs. Brown was let go a season later after a slow start to begin the regular season. To be fair, Brown had the burden of the Lakers’ legacy of being a great team and the addition of Dwight Howard which ended up being bad for all parties involved.
Brown had a brief reunion with the Cavs that ended after one season primarily because of the young team’s poor play and his lack of connection with Kyrie Irving. Brown does deserve some blame on this, because no one should ever return to an ex; it never turns out good for anyone involved.
Next: Contrasting Earl Watson and Jay Triano
Mike Brown may not be the flashest name on the markets, but if the Phoenix Suns hire him they know they will get a coach that can handle star players and get his teams to the playoffs. The Suns could greatly benefit on bringing in Brown as the head coach after this season.