By
Erik Matuszewski
-

Wed May 25 23:14:12 GMT 2011

The Los Angeles Lakers have an
agreement in principle to hire former Cleveland Cavaliers coach
Mike Brown as the successor to Phil Jackson, who won five of his
record 11 National Basketball Association titles with the Lakers.

“We’ve met with Mike and are very impressed with him,”
the Lakers said in a statement on their website today. “We have
an outline for an agreement in place and hope to sign a contract
within the next few days.”

Brown, 41, agreed in principle to a four-year contract with
the Lakers worth $18.25 million, ESPN reported, citing
unidentified league sources.

Brown was fired by the Cavaliers on May 24, 2010, after
recording a 272-138 record in five seasons as coach of a team
built around LeBron James. He guided Cleveland to the 2007 NBA
Finals and won the NBA’s Coach of the Year award after the 2008-
09 season. He emerged as the leading candidate after an
interview with Lakers executives over the weekend, ESPN said.

Brown, who has been working as an NBA analyst for ESPN
since he left Cleveland, would be the 22nd Lakers coach. Los
Angeles ranks second in NBA history to Boston with 16
championships and has missed the playoffs five times in 63 years.

In Jackson’s 11 seasons in Los Angeles, the Lakers had a
610-292 record and never missed the postseason.

Lakers assistant Brian Shaw and ex-Houston Rockets coach
Rick Adelman were also candidates to succeed Jackson, ESPN said.

Brown started his NBA career in 2000 as an assistant to
Gregg Popovich in San Antonio. He’s regarded as a defensive
specialist and his Cleveland teams ranked among the league’s top
10 in points allowed in all five of his seasons. The Cavaliers
allowed a league-low 91.4 points in 2008-09.

Brown was fired last year after the Cavaliers became the
first team in league history to post consecutive 60-win seasons
and fail to reach the NBA Finals.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Erik Matuszewski in New York at
[email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Sillup at [email protected]