I find it exceptionally funny and sad at the same time that the very folks who once flayed a certain talented G-F (after he abandoned his home state and all his rabid local basketball fans) are now imploring him to return.

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The 2012-2013 Cavaliers season officially ended after a particularly tough loss to the Charlotte Bobcats on April 17th. With that loss, the Cavs finished the year with a 24-58 record. The third straight sub-30 win season was enough to cost head coach Byron Scott his job and sent him to the golf course where he will likely spend the rest of his summer. After Scott was let go of his duties, the team issued a press release that had the following statement:

"It has been our strong and stated belief that when our team once again returns to competing at the NBA's highest levels it will be because we have achieved our goals on the defensive side of the court."

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Each season the Cavaliers do not make the playoffs, the more likely it is that Kyrie Irving will want to play somewhere else. The Cavs started a miniature rebuild in the middle of their rebuild. They fired Byron Scott and rehired Mike Brown, the man they fired to hire Byron Scott. Makes sense, right? It will be up to Mike Brown to instill a defensive minded philosophy into the minds of the young Cavaliers on the roster and it will be up to General Manager Chris Grant to get Brown more defensive minded players. The improvement will have to come through the draft and through trades, as free agency does not appear to be the most attractive option.

The Cavaliers have four out of the top 33 draft choices, which will work to their advantage.  Cleveland can pick as high as No. 1 and as low as No. 6 in the lottery. They also have the Los Angeles Lakers’ draft choice, No. 19, and No. 31 and 33 in the second round. There are minimal reasons for the Cavs to go into next season with four new rookies on their roster, so the logical court of action would be for Grant to wheel and deal these picks to get veteran players on this team.

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You always think you can do better than Mike Brown. Maybe that’s why fans around town have been resistant to the idea of Brown returning as head coach of the Cavs, which reportedly will be made official on Wednesday. Brown and the Cavs agreed to a five-year deal on Tuesday.

Brown’s coaching style is far from Showtime, which is perhaps why his brief stint on the Lakers sideline seemed to have an oil/water dynamic to it. He preaches defense as the be-all, end-all in the game of basketball. In Brown’s system, the offensive opportunities you get are predicated on converting defensive stops into points. Offense is still the end, but defense is the means, and to Brown, the end justifies the means.

His offensive sets are generally lacking in creativity. He tolerates stand-and-dribble stagnation for way too long at times. He lets the offense stall out. He relies on star players to freelance their way to points, as opposed to running intricate play sets.

In short, offense simply matters less to Brown. He’s primarily concerned with keeping the other team off the board. He figures if that happens, it will lead to transition points, and the offense will take care of itself.

For five years, it was a maddening approach to basketball for a fan base that wanted to see LeBron James unleash the full wrath of his talents on the opposition. For a fan base that wanted to see what the most talented player in the history of the game could be like in the hands of an offensive visionary. Or at least a coach who would run the offense through a point guard and force LeBron to move without the ball.

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