Cavs Coordinators Help Unlock Brown’s Genius

Mea culpa, late pass, whatever you want to call it: I missed something key to the Cavs success this season. Though to be fair, I was supposed to.↵
↵
↵Last week, I praised Mike Brown, including the changes in the team’s offense -- presumably his doing -- as one of the reasons LeBron’s likely serious about staying. However, it turns out Brown isn’t behind the new look when Cleveland has the ball. He’s discreetly hired an offensive coordinator. Take it away, Mr. Windhorst:↵↵⇥In his second season as Brown’s assistant, Kuester has taken over much of the detail operations of the offense. He has brought some new concepts to what the Cavs call their “early” offense, an effort to make them more effective in transition and less bogged down.↵⇥
↵⇥
↵⇥It was part of a mini-makeover Brown made to his staff in the off-season. He didn’t publicly announce it because he didn’t want to add any undue pressure to his coaches.↵↵

There’s also a defensive coordinator now (Mike Malone), and that’s Brown’s specialty. So it’s not as if this means Coach has no hand in what happens on offense. But reading Windhorst’s piece -- which, I know, is over two weeks old -- you do get a sense for just how instrumental Kuester’s been in this season’s improvements. Frankly, that version of things is a lot more plausible than Mo Williams and Delonte West suddenly unlocking Brown’s inner offensive genius.↵
↵
↵With the exception of the whole secrecy thing, this reminds me of the role Tom Thibodeau played in defining the 2007-08 Celtics as a defensive squad. That doesn’t mean, though, that he deserved more credit than Doc Rivers, or that Kuester’s the real brains behind the Cavs. There’s a big difference between having the ideas and leading a team. Or knowing how to pick, and use, your assistants if you’re the head coach. For further evidence of this symbiotic relationship, look no further than the saga of Phil Jackson and Tex Winter.↵