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The Los Angeles Lakers introduced new Head Coach Mike Brown on Tuesday afternoon in front of owner Dr. Buss, Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Jim Buss, General Manager Mitch Kupchak and the assembled media.

“I have great admiration for the success that the Lakers organization and the Buss family have had throughout the years,” said Brown in his opening statement.  “I’m thrilled to death to be working with Mitch Kupchak.”

“Every organization strives to have sustained success.  The Lakers are one of the rare few in all of sports, not just basketball, all of sports that have attained that level,” continued Brown.  “My goal is to continue the course; is to continue to help build upon the very strong championship foundation that has been laid here already.”

Brown came off as enthusiastic, confident and extremely organized in what he plans to do as coach of the Lakers.  It’s easy to see why the Buss family was impressed.

Mike undoubtedly makes a nice presentation.  Whether that’s relevant in 11 months (if the season isn’t torpedoed by the lockout) is impossible to say.

“The decision was based partly on the interview which we felt went very, very well,” said Kupchak.  “It was also made on the results of his body of work as a coach – five years as a head coach of a high profile team with great success in Cleveland, Coach of the Year voted on by members of the media and certainly his pedigree as a basketball coach.”

Mitch noted that the team interviewed Brian Shaw, someone else (unnamed by Kupchak but Rick Adelman) and Brown.

Dr. Buss challenged that if anyone else thought through the decision, they’d come to the same conclusion that Brown was the right choice for the job.

“I would be surprised if everybody didn’t come up with the same guy,” said Dr. Buss.  “It’s tough to second-guess that choice in my estimation.”

“When we started the process, I didn’t think that he would be the man,” continued Buss.  “When he started talking to us and said how he would handle this team, he was very prepared.”

Is a concern that Brown was never able to deliver a title in Cleveland?

“We took all the championships.  Very few other people had that chance,” laughed Buss.

Dr. Buss would later note that Mike’s run as a head coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers was a significant factor as to why Brown had the edge over Shaw.

“I think when it finally came down to it, experience played a big factor,” said Buss.

As to who made the decision to hire Brown and to any of the prevalent negativity surrounding the notion that Mike was a Jim Buss hire:

“I could not understand that.  Where everything came from was beyond me,” said Dr. Buss.  “Jim and I and Mitch Kupchak made that decision jointly.  We were all in every meeting from the beginning to the end and suddenly it was all on Jim’s shoulders.”

“Very few people understand that our job is to try to remain on top forever,” said Dr. Buss.  “[Mike] likes that philosophy.  I like that.”

Brown has a clear plan on what he intends to do in Los Angeles.{AUTHOR_BOX}

“I’ll define the culture.  I’ll define roles and I’ll hold people accountable,” said Brown.  “The makeup of the culture will be one of trust, communication, defense, no-excuses mentality, a family environment and a determined work-ethic.”

Mike was reverential to the existing culture of winning in the Laker organization but noted he wasn’t around to see what former Coach Phil Jackson did internally.  He can’t aspire to fill Phil’s shoes . . .

“I’m here to help this team and this organization carve our own path to success,” said Brown.  “That’s something I’m looking forward to.  My responsibility as a leader of the Los Angeles Lakers is to provide a platform for this organization to achieve maximum success . . . on a yearly basis.”

“Anybody who’s followed a legendary coach has always had a tough time,” said Buss.  “I expect Mike will have the same tough time.  If anybody is prepared for it, it’s him.”

While his predecessor Phil Jackson came across as wise and measured, Brown is somewhat folksy.

Brown stressed the importance of family over and over.  He detailed talking to the wives of Derek Fisher and Kobe Bryant; to Andrew Bynum’s mother when the team’s center wasn’t there to take the call.

He shared an anecdote from his year off from coaching, helping out his son’s eighth-grade football team (primarily and humbly as water-boy and injury caretaker).

While intelligent himself, Brown’s style is to try and gain an advantage against equally or even smarter opponents with better preparation, focus and work ethic.

It remains to be seen how much of the Phil Jackson era remains moving forward.  Interestingly Jeanie Buss was absent from the proceedings although siblings Jim, Jesse and Joey were in attendance.

“We’re not going to run the triangle offense but we will have bits and pieces of it that will be incorporated,” said Brown.  “It will be based on the skill set and comfort level of our players that will determined how much of it will be a part of our offense.”

“A lot of what I’m going to take offensively will stem from the time that I was in San Antonio,” continued Brown who earned a championship ring with the 2003 Spurs.  “We had two big skilled seven-footers in Tim Duncan . . . and David Robinson.  We’ll do something similar to what they did with a little sprinkle of the triangle offense and then a little sprinkle of what I want to bring to the table also.”

“I think you have to tailor your offense to your personnel.  You can’t take your offense from team to team to team.  Whereas defensively, I think it’s the opposite,” said Brown, “as long as you have effort and want from your group of guys.”

So do the Lakers have the players to win again?  While there hasn’t been tremendous turnover since the 2010 title team, the current squad fizzled out dramatically against the Mavericks.

“I’m excited about this roster.  I still believe that this core group of guys can go get it done,” said Brown.

Brown was reluctant to get into any true specifics on personnel, noting that he had just signed his contract about 10 minutes before the conference.  He needed to get up to speed with Kupchak and the rest of the organization.

Later he would tell Fox Sports West that in the draft the Lakers do need to get younger at the point guard position.

“When you look at Derek Fisher, the age that he is, he’s one of the older players that I was talking about, he still has years left but pretty soon he’s going to need to be replaced.  So you now you’ve got to start looking at that.  You’ve got to start looking at some of the wings and so on and so forth.”

That doesn’t mean Fisher will be out of a starting job this coming season.  It’s not a watershed to note the Lakers to a certain extent need to euthanize at the one (an obvious misuse of the term).

“That’s the challenge of Mitch to continue to build upon.  This thing for us is not a one-year deal.  We want to be at the top forever,” said Brown.  “In order to do that, you need to have a nice balance [between players in their primes, veterans and younger athletes] and that’s what this team has.”

Owner Dr. Buss had a lot of confidence in the group the team put together prior to the season.

“I really felt at the beginning of the year that we had more accomplished personnel than we had ever had.  I thought our bench was a lot stronger and things didn’t work out that way.  You know, sometimes things jell; sometimes they don’t.  I think what I didn’t take into account was how difficult it is to go to the Finals four years in a row,” said Buss.  “We played like 100 more games than other people and I think it took a toll.”

But even with a longer offseason, can the Lakers bounce back to a championship level?

“We certainly have the core of people that can win a championship,” said Buss.

“This is a very good team with a terrific core that’s very talented but I don’t want to sit up here and play Monday-morning quarterback about what happened and what they didn’t achieve or attain last year,” said Brown.

“There are things, yes, that I have taken from watching the playoffs and watching the regular season,” continued Mike.  “And I will use some of that information that I come up with to move forward.”

“Everything is correctable,” said Brown, giving a glimpse of his overall philosophy.  “If you have the determination and the will and the want, everything is correctable in life.”

Brown listed three defensive staples he wants his team to live by:

“Shrink the floor.”

“Not giving up middle drives.”

“Multiple efforts and finish with a contest.”

Offensively he had a similar list:

“Attack the clock” (early offense).

“Ball reversal with paint touches.  We want to drive and kick.  We want to go inside out.”

“Spacing.”

Like Jackson before him, Brown recognized that coaching is more than just mapping out x’s and o’s.

“I feel like one of my strengths is to manage people,” said Brown.  “For me, it’s about managing people and managing egos.”

As far as getting his players to buy in?

“I’ve got to preach it.  I’ve got to talk it.  I’ve got to teach it,” said Brown.  “I’m going to hold everybody accountable.”

From a distance it seemed like Mike lost control in Cleveland as the team fell short each year of their championship aspirations.

It appeared like there was a lack of either discipline or respect but again, that’s from afar and possibly a superficial interpretation

“Any time you’re in a position of authority and you’re dealing with talented individuals, they’re going to have their own views and opinions on certain things, which I welcome.  I hope that every once in a while Matt Barnes, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol or whoever questions me,” said Brown.  “I welcome that because like I said, they’re not going to like everything that comes out of my mouth 100%.  When they do question me there will be a time and place for it.  As a coach, my job is to be the filter but at the end of the day it stops with me and I’ve got to make the decision for what’s best for the team.

“So I don’t have a problem if anybody is a little upset or wants to question me or anything like that.    Hey come on, my door is open.  We can do it in front of the team, we’re all family here.  I’ll listen but then like I said, I’m going to make the final decision on what’s best for the team.”

Coaching in Los Angeles with a star like Kobe Bryant can’t be easy.

“Who can handle this?” said Buss of the Lakers, given the high expectations.  “I liked the vision that Mike laid out for us.”

Brown said he met with Bryant personally and that the Laker star is on-board.  He chose not to compare and contrast LeBron James with Kobe although he admitted he knows that question will be asked of him constantly.

“This is still [Kobe's] team,” said Brown.  “His role will not change.”

Brown said he respected people with a negative opinion of his hiring, saying the only way to address that is by winning.

“We don’t play for second here.  It’s as simple as that,” said Brown.

As far as putting together a staff, Brown said he has a number of people he’d like to bring in.

“I have a list guys,” said Brown who noted he and Kupchak would sit down and try to nail it down shortly.

Of renowned Italian coach Ettore Messina linked to Brown, Mike said “Give me a couple of days . . . and there’s a chance he may be part of our staff.”

Brown listed his mentors as Rick Carlisle, Bernie Bickerstaff, Tim Grgurich and Gregg Popovich.  Of the four, Mike said if he had to be nailed down, his style is most like Popovich’s.

“[Mike] was very prepared and he seemed to me to know what to do with this team,” said Buss.

As constructed, the Lakers have the pieces to win 50-60 games.  To climb back into championship contention, the team needs some rest, roster tweaks and a greater dedication to playing defense.

Brown said all the right things Tuesday to suggest he’s the guy for the job.

“I’m very excited, very excited to be here in LA, working with these players and helping them build upon the past successes that they already have,” said Brown.  “Now I’m ready to get to work.”

While he may be an earnest, hard-working family man, Brown will be facing serious scrutiny as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

He may very well be the exact right coach for this team but following in Phil Jackson’s footsteps will be a tall-order – one that Mike will have a difficult time living up to.

The word “core” was mentioned so many times Tuesday, it appears the roster will undergo minor not major changes before next season.

Ultimately Mike’s legacy may rely more on the advancing ages of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, Kupchak’s ability to fortify the lineup and a rather large heaping of luck – than on Brown’s own merits as coach.

Hopefully for everyone’s sake, the expected lockout won’t last long enough to cut into his first season with the Lakers.