5 Signs Mike Brown Was the Right Coach for the L.A. Lakers All Along

When Phil Jackson retired after the 2010-11 NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers were left with a huge hole to fill.

Their head coaching search eventually ended with Mike Brown, the former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach.

Though Brown is currently 1-2 as the Lakers coach, there are plenty of signs that he was the right choice to lead the Lakers in 2011 and beyond.

Let's take a look at five reasons Brown is the right guy for the Lakers.

5. He's Calm and Collected

Much like Phil Jackson, you won't see Mike Brown lose his cool very often.

He's very even-keeled and keeps his emotions in check on the sideline.

That's a good thing for the veteran-laden Lakers, who don't need any big displays of emotion to get them fired up to play.

4. He Knows How To Maximize Talent on a Shallow Team

In 2008-09, Brown led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 66-16 record.

The surprising thing was that he did it with a shallow team that had just one star player in LeBron James.

Take a look at the other four starters on that team:

C: Zydrunas Ilgauskas

PF: An aging Ben Wallace

SG: Delonte West

PG: Mo Williams

That team had no business being 66-16, but the power of LeBron and some shrewd decisions from Brown got them the No. 1 seed in that year's Eastern Conference playoffs.

3. He Knows How To Win

Mike Brown was 272-138 in five seasons as the Cleveland Cavaliers head coach.

He was fired in 2010 despite winning 61 games.

The problem was that he didn't win in the playoffs, in large part because LeBron James disappeared in the series against the Boston Celtics.

Quitting during the playoffs won't be a problem for Brown with Kobe Bryant as his star player.

Speaking of star players...

2. He Has Experience with Superstars

Brown coached LeBron James for five seasons and got the most he could possibly get out of James.

The reason Brown's Cavalier teams never won the NBA Finals was that the front office didn't put enough talent around LeBron.

The fact that Brown and LeBron won as many games as they did was a real testament to LeBron as a player and Brown as a coach.

James and Brown got along well, and that should be the case with Brown and Kobe too.

1. He's Good with Veterans

Take a look at that 66-win Cavaliers team again.

It was loaded with veterans: Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Mo Williams, LeBron, etc.

Now, take a look at this year's Lakers team: Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, Metta World Peace, etc.

Both rosters are loaded with veterans, which seemingly plays into Brown's strengths.

He should be just fine dealing with the Laker vets this year and into the future.

Because of these five reasons, Mike Brown was the right choice for the Lakers. He just needs a little bit of time to get on the same page as his players—then the wins will start coming.