Bob Finnan: Mike Brown is the right coach for the Cavs

Like many observers, I was dying to know how Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert was going to explain how he fired Mike Brown in 2010, only to have him emerge as the top (only?) candidate three years later.

Gilbert didn't try to spin it, as is often the case in professional sports. He lived up to the controversial move and admitted it was a mistake.

How refreshing. I thought billionaires never made mistakes, or at least rarely owned up to them.

He admitted he screwed up.

The Cavs hired Brown on Wednesday as their 19th head coach, five days after firing Byron Scott.

Gilbert talked about the tumultuous time in the summer of 2010.

The Cavs had just been roughed up by the Celtics in the second round of the playoffs. They were on edge. It was go-for-broke time with the Cavs. They had traded for Shaquille O'Neal and Antawn Jamison and thought they had the necessary ingredients to win an NBA championship.

The Celtics had other ideas.

All-Star LeBron James became an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2010. The Cavs were optimistic they could re-sign him, but rumors were floating around he wanted Brown replaced.

I've written this before. I had a strong suspicion Brown would be replaced before I left TD Garden that day in Boston after the Game 6 loss. I also had a terrible feeling James was going to bolt for greener pastures. He seemed so business-like in the postgame news conference, as if he was seriously going to look for a better option.

Up until then, all of us thought the hometown factor would give the Cavs the decided edge in negotiations. He became hardened. He was obviously listening to all the noise around him.

Gilbert said the franchise had never experienced any of those growing pains before. They felt firing Brown was the right move -- the only move -- if they wanted to hang onto their franchise player in James.

They wanted to find a replacement who had success, but was also a former player. The affable Scott eventually emerged as a candidate, but only after the Cavs flirted unsuccessfully with Tom Izzo and Brian Shaw.

Scott took the job thinking James would re-sign. It must have really been a major blow to his psyche (and career winning percentage) when he found out he'd have Jamario Moon manning the small forward position rather than one of the game's all-time greats.

Scott's tenure is over. As the season wore on, it was apparent a move had to be made. Cavs general manager Chris Grant felt the same way. The defense was non-existent. The blown leads were atrocious. The outline for success wasn't there. The urgency to win wasn't there.

That will change with Brown. If his team was lit up and allowed the opposing team to shoot 57 percent from the field, he'd be up half the night studying video and trying to find answers. In practice the next day, the players would know what went wrong, what they're going to do to fix it and then implement those changes.

I never saw that improvement on the court under Scott's tutelage. He knew there were problems. Heck, he talked about them freely. For whatever reason, he wasn't able to fix them, which led to loss after loss.

Once the Cavs started their search after Scott was fired, Grant brought up Brown's name to the ownership group. They never really veered off it.

It was the right fit.

Some fans don't think it's the right move. To them, I ask who is a better choice?

This time next summer, talk is going to focus on trying to re-sign James, who is expected to opt out of his deal in Miami. I'm not saying he's going to come back to the Cavs, but they are going to make a run at him.

Having Brown at the helm certainly wouldn't prevent James from coming back. I believe Brown helped shape James as an NBA player. As someone said on Wednesday, James didn't go to Miami to play for Erik Spoelstra. He went there because he thought it was his best option.

And that's why he'd return.

The Cavs need to get a lot better. They need to upgrade their roster, see some success in the won-lost column and get back in the playoffs. Luckily for them, they have the right coach in charge, and the right man to lead them where they want to go.