Brown and Brown

Reports Saturday said the Cavaliers are close to signing Indiana Pacers assistant Mike Brown as their new head coach. Combine that with rumors that owner Dan Gilbert is going to chase Pistons coach Larry Brown for the general manager's job once Detroit's season is over, and the Cavs might soon have more "brown" than Cleveland's footballers.
The selection of Mike Brown would make a heck of a lot more sense than the Shangri-La rumors of hiring Phil Jackson or Chuck Daly as the Cavs' bench boss. Mike Brown is 35 years old and one of the main architects of a Pacers defense that was among the league's best this season.
The Cavs, no secret, had a defense that made wet tissue paper look like reinforced steel plating many times.
Mike Brown also studied at the foot of Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, usually regarded as one of the league's top coaches.
(Carlisle formerly coached the Pistons, so there's your Gilbert-Pistons connection).
If Mike Brown is in place during or shortly after the Memorial Day weekend, that is one major load off the Cavs' back. But getting a general manager in place could take a bit longer, especially if Gilbert is dead set on giving Larry Brown the right of first refusal.
If Gilbert wants Larry Brown, he'd better have a plan B and C in place. He's tried to make inroads on Grizzlies GM Jerry West (nice try, but no dice) and Nuggets GM Kiki Vandeweghe (ditto). Larry Brown is a nomad, the basketball world is his oyster, and there is simply no telling what is going to catch his fancy once the NBA season ends.
If you're waiting at the altar for Larry Brown, have a Game Boy in your pocket and ice water in your veins, because there's no telling when or if he'll show up to marry you.
Personally, I'd rather see Gilbert hire a top front-office assistant as the new GM, such as Indiana's David Morway or Denver's Jeff Weltman, who have both been mentioned in connection with the Cleveland job.
As I have mentioned before, Larry Brown is 64, has accomplished just about everything a basketball coach can, and might not be as motivated as Gilbert would like to believe to put a winning roster together for the Cavs. He might let off the gas pedal is soon as the road is bumpy. The only thing that could probably be motivating Larry Brown to take a look at the Cavs GM position right now is the belief some hold that Brown was a lousy shot-caller during his time running the roster in Philadelphia. Brown might want redemption for selfish reasons, and with Joe Dumars in Detroit, he's not going to get that chance with the Pistons.
But with LeBron James' desire to stay in Cleveland at stake, and riding a seven-season playoff drought, the Cavs' success means more to Cleveland fans than just Larry Brown's ability to say "See, I told you so."