With future Hall of Famer Steve Nash and All-Star center Dwight Howard joining Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol in the starting lineup, there is really no reason why the Lakers should not be the best team in the Western Conference.
Instead, Brown now finds himself in a quick 0-2 hole as his new-look team has lost to a Dallas Mavericks team sans Dirk Nowitzki and a Portland Trail Blazers squad entering a rebuilding mode. Just as soon as the Lakers' potentially dream season began, it is now in just as much danger of ending prematurely.
Simply put, Brown needs to dig his team out of this hole, as anything less than a trip to the Western Conference finals will probably be seen as a failure in the eyes of the L.A. fans. He has the tools to get that far and more, but if he can't get the Lakers to unite and start playing as a cohesive unit, he could be looking at a major strike against him career-wise.
Keep in mind that Brown's reputation as a coach is well-known and not exactly rosy. Bonsignore writes that Brown normally has a controlling nature and is a stickler for practicing, though he has loosened up a bit this year. While commendable for the drive behind it, his is a system that could potentially cause veteran players with plenty of playoff experience to become unhappy.
Still, the veteran Lakers are not the young LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers team with whom Brown gained his first head coaching experience in 2005. In six seasons there, Brown went 313-163 and went to the postseason every year, even losing to the San Antonio Spurs in the 2007 NBA Finals.
However, it was Brown's controlling nature that may have come back to b...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
