Players and Coaches Reunited with Former teams

Mike Brown starting coaching in the NBA during the 1990s and veteran coach Bernie Bickerstaff would give him advice about moving up the ladder in the NBA. One piece of advice Bickerstaff gave him stood out over all the rest.

Brown said Bickerstaff told him to never burn bridges in the NBA or in your life. For Brown he said that advice was easy to follow since he appreciated any and every opportunity he was or is given and tries to make the best of each one.

This summer that approach reaped dividends for Brown. He was rehired by the Cleveland Cavaliers to head coach a team that he was fired from just three seasons ago, to get a second chance to turn the franchise around.

At first, Brown said it was weird back in the Cleveland offices and locker room, but overall it has been quite easy for him and his family to get back into a routine. Brown said it feels as if he were on vacation and is just returning.

Brown is not the only person this summer that is enjoying a reunion, as it seems to be the rage this summer around the league.

Flip Saunders was fired eight years ago as the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves and was hired this summer as their president of operations.

Larry Bird, the Hall of Famer, returns to the front office of Indiana after being away for a year.

The Lakers have been in talks with Kurt Rambis about returning as an assistant under current head coach Mike D’Antoni.

Chauncey Billups led the Detroit Pistons to an NBA title in 2004. He was traded by the team in 2008 and now has signed a contract to play for them again this year.

Metta World Peace will play for the New York Knicks. He never played with the Knicks prior to this season, but New York passed on the former St. Johns star 14 seasons ago in the NBA draft of 1999.

Much of the reason that the reunions can be made this summer is how both parties handled the exits when they took place.

Trades and firings in the league often times are more involved than just business. Egos are bruised, feelings get hurt and sometimes bridges are not burned they are blown up.

At times, mistakes are made, but owning up to them is not common for men in positions of power in pro sports. However, Joe Dumars the GM of the Pistons and Dan Gilbert the owner of the Cavaliers were candid about welcoming Billups and Brown back into their franchises.

Dumars admits he would not make the trade again that sent Billups to Denver in a package deal that brought Allen Iverson to the Pistons in 2008.

In Brown’s five seasons in his first stint with Cleveland, he led the team to the playoffs all five seasons. He led Cleveland, with the help of LeBron James, to the 2005 NBA Finals.

However, he was fired following the team’s loss to Boston in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 2010.

The thought of Gilbert at the time was to keep James pleased and in Cleveland, but we all know what happened.