Not even two years in the past, Rick Carlisle publicly lauded Mike Brown for the job he did on the way in which to profitable the NBA’s coach of the 12 months award.
And on Friday, Carlisle was among the many coaches reacting with dismay that Brown was fired.
The Sacramento Kings dismissed Brown on Friday, with the group off to a 13-18 begin this season and mired towards the underside of the Western Convention — regardless of back-to-back profitable seasons, one thing that franchise hadn’t managed in practically twenty years.
“The firing of Mike Brown at the moment was simply stunning to me and I am positive all of the individuals in our career — women and men,” mentioned Carlisle, the Indiana Pacers coach and longtime president of the Nationwide Basketball Coaches Affiliation. “I had the privilege of working with Mike once I was in Indiana teaching the primary time. I view him as one of many customary bearers for integrity for our career. And I am simply completely shocked that that call was made.”
Carlisle — who provided these sentiments, unprompted, to open his pregame media session earlier than the Pacers visited Boston on Friday evening — wasn’t alone on that entrance.
Denver coach Michael Malone — who was fired by Sacramento proprietor Vivek Ranadive in December 2014, and Brown was the sixth coach to carry that job within the decade since Malone’s departure — didn’t maintain again in his response to the information.
“As an NBA head coach, finally, you are going to get the blame,” Malone mentioned. “After they win, it’ll go to (Domantas) Sabonis and (De’Aaron) Fox. And once you lose, it’ll go to Mike Brown. That is the way in which it really works.
“They’ve observe this morning, he does his post-(observe) media, and he is in his automotive going to the airport to fly to L.A,” Malone added. “And so they name him on the telephone. No class. No balls. That is what I will say about that.”
Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley mentioned coaches perceive that the job is usually thankless, and that when a group underachieves there is a threat of firings. He mentioned it is not his place to debate one other group’s decision-making — however made clear what he thinks of Brown as a coach and as an individual.
“He compiled a file of 107-88 whereas he was there,” Mosley mentioned. “He modified a little bit of that tradition in what he was doing. And I say these items not as a fellow coach. I say this as an in depth buddy. He is been a mentor of mine. And I understand how good he’s, and I understand how he cares, and I understand how he is helped pave the way in which for thus many people which are on this sport proper now.”
Brown was the unanimous winner of the NBA’s coach of the 12 months award in 2022-23, after his first season in Sacramento noticed the Kings make the playoffs for the primary time since 2006. All 100 voters from a panel of reporters and broadcasters had Brown atop their poll that 12 months.
Lower than two years later, he was gone.
“You hate to see it,” mentioned New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, who, like Brown, is a two-time NBA coach of the 12 months. “You already know, it is a part of what we undergo. Mike’s a terrific individual and an amazing coach. It is unlucky.”
The change in Sacramento is the ninth head-coaching change within the NBA in 2024 alone — and the three hundredth within the NBA since Gregg Popovich, the league’s longest-tenured present coach, grew to become coach in San Antonio in 1996. Popovich is at present away from the Spurs whereas recovering from a stroke.
Brown has had 4 completely different jobs in that span — he was head coach in Cleveland, then head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, then returned to Cleveland, and till Friday had the job in Sacramento.
“He’ll actually land on his toes,” Carlisle mentioned. “However in case you take a look at the job that he did and the turnaround that he had, it is simply actually exhausting to imagine that this choice was made. However groups have the proper to do issues like this, clearly. It is their choice. However Mike’s an amazing man and an amazing basketball man. Actually one of many pillars of our career. Anyway. Onward.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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