In a surprising and quick move, the Lakers ended their search for a head coach Wednesday by agreeing to hire former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown.

The decision to hire Brown, 41, to replace Phil Jackson was made mostly by Jim Buss, the team's executive vice president of player personnel who is the son of owner Jerry Buss, according to several NBA executives not authorized to speak publicly.

The Lakers released a statement Wednesday saying they have met with Brown and are "impressed by him," that an agreement is "in place," but he hasn't signed a contract yet.

As The Times reported Tuesday night, Brown is expected to sign a deal worth about $4.5 million a season over four years for a total of about $18 million. The last year is a team option, which means Brown would get paid $2.5 million of his salary if he is not retained.

Brown posted a 272-138 record in five seasons with the Cavaliers before he was fired after the 2010 season.

"I'm here to continue to try to help this organization carve a championship path that's already been laid," Brown said Wednesday on ESPN during halftime of the Dallas Mavericks-Oklahoma City Thunder game.

"I know I'm not going to fill [Jackson's] shoes…But I am excited to help carve my own path with this team going forward," Brown said. He worked this season as an ESPN analyst.

Derek Fisher, the Lakers' veteran point guard, in a Twitter message said: "Will miss Phil but excited to start a new chapter under Mike Brown. Looking forward to a different style and energy!!"

The decision to hire Brown caught many by surprise, even some in the Lakers' front office who anticipated a coaching change to take place near mid-June.

Brown may not sign his deal until early next week because there are still details to be worked out, possibly including how much he would earn if a lockout occurs after the league's labor contract expires June 30.

Brown could get up to 50% of his yearly salary while the lockout is in place, according to NBA executives familiar with the negotiations. However, the Lakers probably would like to negotiate that package down to $1 million, the executives said.

The Lakers' coaching search began May 17 when Jerry Buss, Jim Buss and General Manager Mitch Kupchak finally had their season-ending meeting.

Last Saturday, Brown met with Jim Buss in Minneapolis while Buss was at an NBA predraft camp, according to league executives.

Brown was very prepared and wooed Buss with his presentation about defensive schemes. Brown also talked about his experience working with a superstar in Cleveland in LeBron James, and how he would coexist with Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant.

Buss returned home Tuesday night around 7:30, and about two hours later the framework of a deal was in place, the executives said.

Brown was also in the running for the head coaching job with Golden State. However, Buss did not want to lose Brown to the Warriors.

Other likely candidates for the Lakers coaching job were Rick Adelman, Mike Dunleavy, Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw and Jeff Van Gundy. But Adelman, Dunleavy and Van Gundy never got an interview with the Lakers, according to various NBA officials.

Adelman had some support from Jerry Buss, but Jim's decision carried the day.

"What you can expect from a Coach Brown team is a family atmosphere, a defensive-minded team," Brown said on ESPN. "I want a hard-working team, but yet still I want a team-first team."

One year ago Wednesday, the Cleveland Cavaliers fired Mike Brown because they didn't think he was good enough to coach LeBron James.

The Lakers celebrated that anniversary by hiring him to coach Kobe Bryant.

When contacted by The Times' Broderick Turner about this development Wednesday afternoon, Bryant refused to comment

I've got a few, the first being, "What the …?"

When I heard this week that the Lakers were going to offer basketball's most celebrated and coveted coaching job to a guy named Brown, my first thought was Larry Brown. My second thought was Hubie Brown.

Not only did Mike Brown not seem to be the best available candidate, he didn't even seem to be the best available Brown.

Yet here he is, agreeing to a contract Wednesday that featured four years, about $18 million and Jimmy Buss' fingerprints. The owner's son, on the verge of inheriting the throne from his aging pops, was obviously trying to make a big splash in casting the deciding vote for this strange and unusual hire. And it worked, because today we're all feeling a little bit wet.

In other words, if it walks like a Del Harris and talks like a Rudy Tomjanovich, Lakers fans better duck. Following Phil Jackson probably will be a no-win situation for anyone, but, in big situations, Mike Brown has already distinctly not won.

What can Brown do for you? Hopefully more than he did in Cleveland.

He guided James and the Cavaliers to consecutive league-best records in 2009 and 2010. But he is best known for being badly outcoached in both postseasons as the Cavaliers failed to take the top seeding into the Finals, last season losing in the conference semifinals to a Boston team that made them quit.

He also led the Cavaliers to a surprise appearance in the Finals in 2007. But he is best known for getting schooled by his former mentor Gregg Popovich in a four-game sweep by the San Antonio Spurs.

Yes, Brown is a defensive schemer who helped teach James the sort of stopper skills that he has successfully used this postseason for the Miami Heat.

"He definitely helped me to become who I am today," James told reporters Wednesday.

But Brown is also the guy who feuded with James about the offense and was openly questioned by James about substitutions and, in the end, was dumped by the Cavaliers in an apparent attempt to keep James from bolting town.

"I was surprised to see Mike Brown's name [as Lakers coach]," acknowledged James, later adding. "I was more surprised like, 'Wow.' I'm happy for him."

James says wow, while Bryant is surely saying, how?

How does an organization that has climbed on Bryant's back for parts of five championships shove him into a dark corner while searching for his next head coach? Bryant wasn't consulted on this and, if he had been, he would have given them names such as Brian Shaw, Rick Adelman or Jeff Van Gundy.

Bryant's refusal to comment says volumes about his feeling on this hire. The actual hire says volumes about Jimmy Buss' feelings about Bryant's future.

I think Bryant has another two good years remaining as the Lakers' leader, two years that could result in at least one more championship if he stays focused and the roster around him is upgraded. By not taking Bryant's advice about the guy who will control those next two seasons, Jimmy Buss might feel different.

It will hard for Bryant to initially view Brown as anything other than LeBron's leftovers, and can you blame him? The most compelling part about Brown's halftime interview on ESPN on Wednesday night was the revelation that he had been hired as Lakers coach without ever actually speaking to Bryant.

"Kobe and I have exchanged texts," he said.

How warm and fuzzy. I can't wait for that first benching. Jimmy Buss should know that in the NBA, even $18 million can't buy credibility.

In Buss' first publicized move as the Lakers' prince, he insisted on drafting Andrew Bynum, and then refused to trade him for another scorer this winter in a move that eventually led to the Lakers being steamrolled by the Dallas Mavericks.

This second move is even riskier. If Brown doesn't work, the Bryant era could end amid the sort of steaming rubble that could take years to clear. If Brown doesn't work, the Lakers could not only lose their place among the NBA hierarchy, but also find themselves in a struggle for the local buzz with the surging Clippers, the newly purchased Dodgers and perhaps even the incoming NFL.

The next few years represent an important bridge into a new Lakers era. This hiring has left that bridge unnecessarily rickety and swaying.

Mike Brown is reportedly a great guy, and he is probably a great defensive basketball coach, but for a franchise whose successful leaders have all possessed pedigree and star power and big-game savvy, he doesn't seem to be a great fit.

bill.plaschke@latimes.com

twitter.com/billplaschke

The triangle has been shuttered and closed for business — and it won't be reopening under the watch of Phil Jackson's successor with the Lakers.

One of Mike Brown's former players was asked whether they ever tinkered with the triangle offense in practice in Cleveland, even a moment or two of curious experimentation.

"Uh, no," said Clippers point guard Mo Williams, who played for Brown and alongside LeBron James for two seasons in Cleveland.

"He had his own style. Like I said, he's not Phil [Jackson]. Obviously, he'll put his mark on the team. Knowing him, as a coach, I think he'll come in and do a great job. He'll bring his stuff and be good at it."

That style was a direct one, according to those who have known Brown for years. ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy called him a "straight shooter" and "realistic," saying: "He's not like, 'Everything is OK' if it's not OK."

An NBA official, not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, suggested what might have tipped the Lakers into hiring Brown.

"What he is not is a politician and a psychologist," said the official. "Maybe that's what attracted them. They want to get away from the triangle. They went far away from the Phil model. I think they're trying to find their [Tom] Thibodeau and that's the thing du jour now: defense, defense, defense."

Thibodeau, a longtime assistant known for his defense, was hired last summer as the Chicago Bulls' coach.

Williams used the same words when he was talking about the mantra in Cleveland under Brown.

"As long as he's in L.A., you'll hear: defense, defense, defense, defense, defense and that's going to create a lot of offense for them," he said.

"At the same time they have arguably one of the best players [Kobe Bryant] to ever play the game on the team. You can't forget that either."

Williams thought it was a major mistake when Cleveland dismissed Brown a year ago and criticized the Cavaliers for making the move. Now he remains just as supportive of Brown joining the Lakers.

"There's going to be pressure on him," Williams said Wednesday. "But he's dealt with pressure for five years in Cleveland. So pressure is nothing new to him. The pressure in Cleveland has prepared him for the ultimate pressure of coaching the Lakers."

Said Van Gundy: "I thought he used LeBron great. They didn't have a lot of great weapons offensively. It was LeBron, Mo Williams and the shooting of [Zydrunas] Ilgauskas. It wasn't like a high-powered team, but I thought they executed well.

"Everybody talks about style. With Mike, I know this — they'll play a winning style. They're going to win and win big."

Additionally, Williams thought that Brown would work effectively with a veteran Lakers team.

"He knows how to prepare veteran teams, when he's got guys up in age and needs their rest," Williams said. "And at the same time, even though you are a veteran, he still coaches you. He still teaches you… I was vocal about the departure in Cleveland because of one reason: He's a great coach."

Williams said Brown was equally adept at listening to input from all sides: the starters and the bench.

"Sometimes with veteran teams it's hard," Williams said. "But he did a great job with us as far as the ego aspect of it. He's a coach that listens to the Kobe Bryants, LeBrons, the Lamar Odoms, Pau [Gasol]. Not only those guys, it could be a Steve Blake and Shannon Brown, if they have something they see, he will listen"

Williams, and others, have described Brown as someone who would stand up for his players, that he would take the heat, or a bullet, if you will.

"Oh man. He'll take it," Williams said, laughing. "Without a bulletproof vest on."

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

twitter.com/reallisa

Times staff writer Mike Bresnahan contributed to this report.

The Lakers have put together a deal to hire former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown as their new coach, an NBA official who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter said late Tuesday.

If Brown agrees to the deal, he'll sign a contract worth between $4 million and $4.5 million per season, the official said. Brown would sign for three years, with a team option on the fourth season that would give him partial pay if he was not retained.

Brown, 41, became the front-runner because Jim Buss, the team's executive vice president of player personnel, was impressed with his defense-minded style.

Former Houston Rockets coach Rick Adelman also was in the mix for the job and will remain a candidate to replace Phil Jackson if Brown turns down the deal from the Lakers.

Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw also was considered for the head position.

The Lakers had to wait until General Manager Mitch Kupchak and Buss returned from pre-draft camps in Chicago and Minneapolis on Tuesday night before they could get a deal done.

Lakers owner Jerry Buss did an interview with Sirius XM Radio on Tuesday, saying the team was "very close" to filling its coaching vacancy.

It now appears as if Brown is that person, something that could be announced in the next 24 to 48 hours.

Brown was with the Cavaliers for five seasons until he was fired in 2010, leaving with a 272-138 record.

He was named the NBA's coach of the year in 2009 for leading the Cavaliers to a 66-16 record.

Brown led the Cavaliers to a 61-21 record during the 2009-10 season, another league-best record.

But after the Cavaliers lost to the Orlando Magic in the 2009 Eastern Conference finals and to the Boston Celtics in the conference semifinals in 2010, Brown was fired.

Brown led the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in 2007, but Cleveland was swept by the San Antonio Spurs.

Brown coached one of the NBA's superstars in former Cavalier LeBron James.

In his radio interview Tuesday, Jerry Buss said that he expected the Lakers' core roster to return next season, with a "tweak … here or there."

Buss was interviewed by Playboy Radio's Michael Eaves and Bonnie-Jill Laflin.

Buss did say there would be changes in the Lakers' offense.

"We're not going to continue exclusively with the triangle," Buss said. "Certainly, there will be facets of the triangle incorporated into any modern offense."

Various Lakers, including Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher and Luke Walton, have publicly endorsed Shaw to be the next coach, in part because of his familiarity with their personnel.

Lakers owner Jerry Buss said in a radio interview Tuesday that the team is "very close" to hiring a coach to replace Phil Jackson and that he expects the Lakers' core roster to return next season, with a "tweak … here or there."

Buss was interviewed by Playboy Radio's Michael Eaves and Bonnie-Jill Laflin on Sirius XM Radio.

The Times has reported that the Lakers' coaching candidates include Rick Adelman, Mike Dunleavy, Jeff Van Gundy, Mike Brown and Lakers assistant Brian Shaw.

Buss was asked whether the Lakers would hire a head coach within a week. "I don't know exactly when, but a week is a long time," he told Sirius XM. The Lakers' owner didn't mention any candidates by name.

One uncertainty about the Lakers' next coach is whether he will utilize the triangle offense, as Jackson did.

"We're not going to continue exclusively with the triangle," Buss said. "Certainly, there will be facets of the triangle incorporated into any modern offense."

Various Lakers, including Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher and Luke Walton, have publicly endorsed Shaw to be the next coach, in part because of his familiarity with their personnel.

"We really don't consult the players on these matters," Buss said. "Obviously, we have to select somebody who has a reputation that players would be happy with. But to ask a direct player to select a particular coach, that's general manager territory."

The Lakers' quest for a third consecutive title ended more than two weeks ago when they were swept in the second round of the playoffs by the Dallas Mavericks. Buss called the Lakers' 122-86 loss in Game 4 "very disappointing and humiliating."

But he sounded upbeat about the Lakers' prospects next season.

"We may have to tweak it here or there, but as far the core is concerned, we have some of the best players in the NBA, if not the best players in the NBA," Buss said. "I don't think there's going to be any drastic change."

The Lakers for now have the NBA's largest player payroll for next season, with a guaranteed $87.6 million committed to eight players.

Buss added that he and Bryant "have formed a mutual admiration society. I think he realizes that of all owners in the NBA, I want to win more desperately. …That gives us a certain relationship that perhaps other owners and players do not have."

Among the many uncertainties for the NBA, however, is whether there will be a 2011-12 season. The collective-bargaining agreement between the league and the players expires on June 30, and a lockout remains likely.

"I don't think we can allow it to affect our planning," Buss said of a potential lockout. "Everybody is aware of it, but everybody is hoping and praying. Both sides … are saying we don't want this. We'll keep our fingers crossed. But in terms of selecting our coach, we are neglecting a potential lockout."

sports@latimes.com

Medina is a correspondent for The Times.

The Lakers have yet to pare down a short list of coaching candidates but one thing is certain.

The winner of their coaching derby won't make anything remotely close to what Phil Jackson earned the last several years.

Jackson topped out at $12 million in 2009-10 before taking a pay cut last season to about $10 million.

The new Lakers coach can expect an annual salary of $3 million to $5 million, according to people who are familiar with what the Buss family is thinking. That is barely half what Jackson made in a best-case scenario for the new hire.

Photos: Phil Jackson through the years

It still projects to an increase from the average NBA head coach salary range of $2 million to $4 million. Candidates for the Lakers job include Rick Adelman, Mike Dunleavy, Jeff Van Gundy, Mike Brown and Lakers assistant Brian Shaw.

One of the reasons for the pay cut is the Lakers' desire to conserve money as the NBA owners' lockout moves closer to reality. The deadline for a new collective-bargaining deal is only five weeks away, and there is little to no momentum in negotiations between players and owners.

The Lakers have already informed more than a dozen employees from their scouting department, athletic training staff and video department that their contracts will not be renewed.

The Lakers have typically paid their coaches well, understandably rewarding Jackson for his years of success but also handing Rudy Tomjanovich a five-year contract worth $30 million when he took over in 2004 after Jackson's first tour with the team.

The high-spending trend officially ended with Jackson's departure after his second run with the team.

The Lakers already have the NBA's largest player payroll for next season, committing a guaranteed $87.6 million to eight players as their roster stands now. Not included are Matt Barnes and Shannon Brown, who have player options for next season worth a combined $4.3 million. Also not included are team options next season totaling $1.6 million for Devin Ebanks and Derrick Caracter.

The Lakers aren't expected to interview any outside candidates for their coaching job until next week at the earliest.

Photos: Phil Jackson through the years

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

twitter.com/Mike_Bresnahan

As Casey Stengel, who could have qualified for a doctorate in youth studies managing the expansion New York Mets, once said of a hot catching prospect named Greg Goossen:

"He's 19 years old and in 10 years he's got a chance to be 29."

That was the 1960s, the age of peace, love and flowers, but Woodstock or no Woodstock, growing up was hard to do.

Fifty years later, growing up is harder, if anything, with cable, the Internet and tight camera shots reading your lips as you engage the fans behind the bench in a little homophobic banter, as Chicago's Joakim Noah did in Game 3 in the Eastern Conference finals against Miami.

Amid the subsequent feeding frenzy before Tuesday's Game 4, which the Bulls must win or go home feet first, it was hard to remember there will be a Game 4.

Noah handled it professionally — after the fact, of course — apologizing before and after the NBA fined him $50,000.

"I think that with the comment to the fan, I just want to apologize about that," Noah said Monday.

"I had just picked up my second foul. I was frustrated. He said something that was disrespectful toward me and I lost my cool.

"People who know me know I'm an open-minded guy. I'm not here to hurt anybody's feelings."

Off the floor, Noah is as personable as quotable. On it, he's a great high-energy, selfless young player, who does for the Bulls defense what Kevin Garnett does for that of the Boston Celtics.

Of course, Noah is also Out There, as you may have noticed, watching him put his shoulder-length-or-longer hair up in a bun coming out for pregame.

Former Bulls great Dennis Rodman actually said Noah "runs around without his head sometimes."

The Bulls still are trying to figure out if that's grounds for concern, or high praise from someone who kept his head just long enough to show off that night's dye job.

As an incident, this one was most significant for its lesson to the young Bulls:

At this level, when things go wrong, they go really, explosively wrong.

If Noah hadn't said anything, the media would have landed on Derrick Rose, who took only two shots in the fourth quarter Sunday, shot 15 for 42 in the last two games, and — inadvertently, he claimed — was just quoted calling steroids a "huge" issue in the NBA.

Reprehensive as Noah's outburst was, let's not be too shocked.

It's true, Miami fans are vicious ... as are Chicago fans and most others, although in New York and Los Angeles, local sophistication — and astronomical ticket prices — act as a buffer, surrounding the court with wealthy people who are no longer fast on their feet.

After the 2004 brawl at a Detroit Pistons game in Auburn Hills, Mich., the New York Daily News' Mitch Lawrence was asked by an editor whether it could happen in Madison Square Garden.

You still here?

Everyone knows the Miami Heat's Big Three — LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and . . . uh . . .

Chris Bosh!

Whatever he is, third of the Big Three, or King of the Other Guys, Bosh scored 34 points Sunday night, leading the Heat to victory in the battle of supporting casts as Miami beat the Bulls, 96-85, to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

"There's absolutely nothing easy in this series," Miami Coach Erik Spoelstra said. "It's a battle, it's a scrap, it's a fight every single possession."

Now, it's win Game 4 on Tuesday or go home in a hole for the young Bulls, getting a crash course in life in the fast lane.

Derrick Rose, their star and the NBA's MVP, was bottled up for the second game in a row.

Joakim Noah, their unofficial MVP, was caught on camera appearing to say something to a fan like what Kobe Bryant was caught on camera saying to a referee.

Noah later apologized. The NBA had no comment but will surely fine him.

Oh, and Rose had been quoted as saying steroids are a "huge" issue in the NBA, then recanted before Sunday's game.

As for the Heat, fame isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Showing what this series has degenerated into — er, become — this turned into a shootout between Bosh and the Bulls' Carlos Boozer (26 points) as both defenses continued to load up for Rose, James and Wade.

James (22 points) and Wade (17) combined for 39 points, shooting 12 for 30.

Unfortunately for the Bulls, who would gladly concede those numbers and take their chances, they have only one superstar for Miami to contain, or as Spoelstra put it, "Try to get your chest in front of that tornado."

Rose was held to 20 points, shooting eight for 19, taking only two shots in the fourth quarter.

"I thought Bosh was terrific from the start of the game," Chicago Coach Tom Thibodeau said. "I thought we allowed him to get his confidence early. And then he's hard to slow down when he gets going like that."

Of course, that's what happens when you try to load up for two superstars, not just one.

Since Bosh isn't chopped liver, himself, he's the hole in Thibodeau's theory. He made 13 of 18 shots Sunday.

"Obviously you have to commit to Wade and James, but that doesn't absolve you of covering the others," Thibodeau said. "You have to have the ability to do both. You have to go in with a multiple-effort mind-set."

I begin with a contradiction.

I don't think an inexperienced New Yorker like Don Mattingly was the correct choice to be the Dodgers' manager. Still don't.

But I'm beginning to think the risk might be one the Lakers should seriously consider when evaluating a very raw Brian Shaw.

Here's the problem. I understand why the Lakers' brass might be looking at short-term answers with retreads like Rick Adelman, Mike Dunleavy and Jeff Van Gundy.

The Lakers still have expensive three-year deals on the books with Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Pau Gasol and Steve Blake; two-year deals remaining with Luke Walton and Derek Fisher. Not much financial room for a makeover.

That puts it on a coach to squeeze what he can out of Bryant, who is closer to the end than the beginning, while asking more from Bryant's supporting cast.

Lamar Odom has two years remaining, but the second year of his contract makes him more attractive as trade bait. Andrew Bynum has one season remaining, the team's option to keep him a second season for more than $16 million.

That makes Odom and Bynum the best candidates to be traded, a veteran coach charged with introducing a new offense and maybe new players as well.

The names of retreads mentioned to replace Jackson, though, do not offer much excitement or assurances of success.

Rudy Tomjanovich was just such a veteran, one who had actually won a pair of NBA titles, in contrast to the veteran list the Lakers are said to be assembling.

He lasted 41 games, the reason stated for his abrupt departure never made clear. Those close to the situation, though, still talk about the times Rudy T. would draw a play on a board during timeouts only to have Bryant wipe it away and start drawing up his own.

Rudy T. never did get a handle on Kobe, which made him no different than Phil Jackson, who chose to allow Kobe to do as he pleased most of the time.

The next coach is going to have it worse. Kobe is slipping, and whether it is only slightly or much more, he is never going to be the same.

Kobe will be the last to admit as much. Take a look around sports and as soon as a great player begins to lose it, it seldom goes well. A great player is convinced he can overcome anything, including time.

There will be clashes between star player and new coach.

Bryant is also still owed $83 million, including a whopping $30.5 million in 2013-14 — the final year of his deal.

So who handles that best?

Probably not Kobe, so that leaves the new coach. Does Adelman at age 65, and then 66 and 67, have such energy? Jackson ran low at 65 and worried the gap in age between player and coach was hurting his effectiveness.

Does Dunleavy, who seems more intent on running the teams he coaches as personnel director, have what it takes? Check with Corey Maggette and Baron Davis.