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Mike Brown on First Season with Lakers: ‘I Could Have Done Better’

By | May 26, 2012|

After officially being hired as the successor to Phil Jackson, former Coach of the Year Mike Brown was immediately put under the microscope in Los Angeles.

With the tradition of winning and being perennial NBA title contenders in the Kobe Bryant era, the Lakers were expected to bounce back from the ugly loss to the eventual NBA champion Dallas Mavericks in the NBA playoffs and become a force to be reckoned with in the Western Conference once again; despite the retirement of the Zen Master.

That being said, no one in the Lakers organization had more pressure to succeed during the 2011-12 NBA season than Brown. As if taking over for an 11-time NBA champion wasn’t enough pressure to deal with, Brown also had to deal with critical Lakers fans and the distinction as being the wrong choice for the storied franchise’s leader on the sidelines in the post-Jackson era.

Despite the tremendous pressure to produce results in his first season in L.A., Brown exceeded expectations leading the Lakers to a 41-25 record and clinching the third seed in the West.

Regardless of an impressive first season, there has been talk of Brown potentially being on the hot seat in Los Angeles. It seems that nothing short of an appearance in the NBA Finals would’ve been sufficient enough to clear Brown of any blame for the Lakers failing to win an NBA title this year.

Brown talked about his first season in Los Angeles.

“I feel like I could’ve done a lot better,” he said during his final press conference.

Even though Brown says that he isn’t satisfied with the results of his debut with the Lakers, the head coaching position in L.A. seems to be of little concern to Lakers’ front office with the GM Mitch Kupchak and company impressed with Brown’s performance considering situation.

With that being said, Brown is safe for the time being as the Lakers have no intention of making a change at head coach. The same may not be said after next year if the Lakers don’t improve in the regular season and most importantly during the NBA playoffs.

If the Lakers’ front office is able to make the right moves through free agency and or via trade to upgrade the roster in the off-season, Brown will have even more pressure to succeed next season. The challenge of filling the Zen Master’s shoes in Los Angeles will only get tougher from here on out for Brown as that seat on the sidelines in the Staples Center may get hotter and hotter without results.

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About the author

Ryan Ward

Ryan is a senior writer for Lakers Nation and Examiner.com with an undying passion writing about the Los Angeles Lakers. Follow Ryan on Twitter: @Lakers_Examiner

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  • Lebron

    He Choke!

  • http://www.facebook.com/samuel1129 Samuel Pérez García

    How did he “exceeded expectations”? He barely met them as it was, with the emergence of Bynum and Kobe not playing hurt they should have dominated. How many huge leads did they botch during the season? The offense at an all time low to boot. The lack of a proper bench was nullified by giving Kobe, Bynum, and Gasol huge minutes.

    No, Brown is right when he said he could have done better. He should have done better.

  • GBERTOLINI

    He is a worthless coach!  To give him another year would be a sin for the Lakers….especially Kobe.  Deb, you are right, we need to get players who actually WANT TO PLAY!

    • Will

      Did you read the article? they got swept in the same round last year and without Fisher and Odom, they win one more game under a whole new system that is just starting to take route. Stop trying to drown your voice in the crowd. No other team in the NBA points fingers and plays the blame game after a second round playoff performance. We were almost up 3-1 in the series. You cant get pissed at Brown. He didn’t make that buzzer-beater 3 that Durant did. It’s up to the players to make those clutch plays. Is it that hard to believe that two youngsters like Durant and Westbrook (who are VERY talented all-stars) want an NBA title more than the Lakers? We’ve had more titiles in the past 12 years than any other team. It’s hard to reach the top. It’s even harder to stay on top.

  • Lindasngltn

    I hope I am wrong, but I don’t know how much better Brown is going to be.  Management should have left the team intact and let him deal with what they had.  They surely missed Odom and Fisher should have come off the bench because he is a true veteran that has battled with Kobe in the playoffs.  So management should shoulder some of the blame, which they won’t, and Jim Buss needs to confer with somebody that knows how to make a deal.  They let Ariza go and he helped them win against Orlando.  Bynum should be made to realize who pays his salary.  Gasol wants to be there, but I believe Brown’s “system” is confusing … even he called different plays according to Kobe while the players were on the floor.  I have no faith in his ability to coach a “Laker” team.  Phil Jackson just had the know-how and his approach was different.  I went back and replayed the 2009 Orlando championship round and the 2010 Celtic championship round, and the Lakers had some pretty good defense.  I don’t know what Brown is doing … I have yet to see.  He couldn’t make his “system” work in back-to-back playoffs with LeBron James and I don’t see what he is going to do here.  Management made a mistake, and the only way they are going to get rid of him, they will see what he does in the middle of the season with the players.  He made the Lakers look worse than the “elite” status they had with Phil Jackson to the “rough and ready” appearance they looked like under him.  Nobody feared the Lakers coming into town like they used to.  The Lakers have fans everywhere and on the road, they were just embarrassing because management threw in a coach that had no direction of what he was going to do differently than Jackson.  Jim Buss should have begged Jackson to stay instead of wanting a change from what worked.  I was exasperated as a fan and I know the players were exasperated, and management may not admit it, but they shot themselves in the foot.  The only good thing that Brown had was Marvin Hamm that knew how to work the players, because he did a good job on Gasol, and Chuck Persons, who worked also with Phil Jackson.  The rest of his staff was a joke.