Mike Brown’s Return Should Mean Defensive Improvements for Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers shocked their fans and a lot of the NBA community when they fired Byron Scott a little over a week ago. Though this had been an unsuccessful season for Cleveland, all of the blame surely couldn’t fall on Scott as his team was riddled with numerous injuries and the inexperience of a young team. That’s going to hurt a team’s season no matter who the coach is.

Now the Cavs have brought in Mike Brown to take the helm as the head coach of their team, just three years removed from the last time that he was the head coach of the Cavs. With this young team that has a ton of offensive firepower that comes relatively naturally to them, Brown might be exactly the coach that Cleveland needs.

Though they have a ton of promise on the offensive end of the floor, the Cavaliers need a ton of work with their defense. The Cavaliers has the fourth worst defensive rating in the league this past season, allowing 106.9 points per 100 possessions. There are a lot of factors included in this, one of them being that Anderson Varejao missed most of the season. However, it also must be said that the defense of guys like Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson was lackluster at best this season.

That’s where Brown will be a major asset for this young team. Though his offensive schemes have been called into question at time, he has oft been praised for his defense and how defensive-minded he is. Coupling that scheme with the young athletes that the Cavaliers have and this team seems like they are definitely set to improve on that end of the floor. If Brown has his way and the players buy into his defensive philosophies, there’s no way they are at the bottom of the league in defensive rating again next year.

Cody Williams is a Senior NBA Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20 and like his Facebook page.