Yes, he had LeBron James. Yes, he had Kobe Bryant. But he wins games. Lots of them. There’s a reason he was entrusted to coach both the Mamba and (this is gonna hurt, but it’s for a purpose… Dammit, I can’t. I’m gonna censor it) K**g James.

If you follow Dan Gilbert on Twitter, you’ll know that he’s already been put on the defensive about the re-hiring of Mike Brown as the Cavaliers’ head coach. In his efforts, he’s already pointed out most of the reasons why Cleveland apparently just needs to relax. Here are a few of them.

Mike Brown: Only 43 years old. Man is not even near his peak as an NBA coach.

— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) April 24, 2013

Brown,the Coach: He & Phil are the only NBA coaches(5-years or longer)whom have never missed the playoffs in their entire coachingcareer.

— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) April 24, 2013

Mike Brown, is back in town: The coach with the 6th highest winning percentage in NBA history(4 yrs or longer).

— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) April 24, 2013

Mike Brown’s inability to win an NBA title in Cleveland hardly stemmed from ineptitude as a coach. Let’s all be honest with ourselves and realize that with the roster around LeBron and the stage in his career that he was in, a championship just wasn’t in the cards. That picture has become more and more clear since he left and played with two other star players.

The second important realization is that there were never any players next to LeBron in Cleveland that were nearly as good as Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, never mind the supporting cast Miami has beyond those players. Period.

The Cavs have made progress since that bleak episode, and Byron Scott was a huge part of that process. Kyrie Irving is an All Star and well on his way to being the best point guard in the league, and Dion Waiters is more than capable of being an effective starting shooting guard for a long time. Most impressively, Tristan Thompson has evolved from an extremely raw talent to a consistent force down low. What’s better about Thompson is that he isn’t done growing. As a matter of fact, nobody on the current roster is done growing. Cleveland sent FOUR players to the rookie/sophomore game at All Star Weekend.

The groundwork for Brown’s second tour as Cavs head coach is solid, and the attention will now turn to Chris Grant and his staff. They’ve done a pretty masterful job of building to this point, stockpiling a ton of high draft picks. This summer will be very important, and feels like the biggest turning point the franchise has had since the departure of LBJ.

Because the possibility of LeBron returning to Cleveland is nothing more than a hypothetical, even if he didn’t come back, this team is a few players and a year of good health away from being a contender. Counting on LeBron to come through for this city  really isn’t healthy for anyone at this point. It hasn’t exactly gone so well in the past.

The Oklahoma City model is a more sound way to build in the meantime, and while it has been somewhat slow, the Cavs are getting there.

Mike Brown knows how to get to the playoffs. He knows how to win once he gets there. He has one star in Irving, with a couple of more in the making/on the way. What’s more, he wants to be in Cleveland. Like Rob Chudzinski and Terry Francona, he’s determined to be successful because he feels a connection to the city. Maybe that has nothing to do with anything, but it feels good.

At the very least, he’s one of the best dressed coaches in any professional sport, so there’s that.

Ok, fine. He was just a really cool guy when he signed my poster for me back in middle school. Is that OK with you guys?!

Godspeed, coach. Go Cavs.