Cavaliers sack head coach Brown

Cleveland: Mike Brown`s second spell as coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers ended after one season on Monday as he was sacked by the NBA club.

The move came on the same day the Cavaliers announced David Griffin was to be their new general manager. Griffin had been Cleveland`s acting general manager since owner Dan Gilbert fired Chris Grant on February 6. Brown had coached the Cavaliers for five seasons from 2005-2010 -- when the lineup included superstar playmaker LeBron James prior to James`s departure for current club Miami. Upon his return this year the team amassed a record of just 33-49. "This is a very tough business," Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert said in a statement. "It pains all of us here that we needed to make the difficult decision of releasing Mike Brown. "Mike worked hard over this last season to move our team in the right direction," Gilbert added. "Although there was some progress from our finish over the few prior seasons, we believe we need to head in a different direction."