Source: Cavs, Mike Brown agree to deal

CLEVELAND — Mike Brown and the Cavaliers are getting back together.

Brown, who led the Cavs to the playoffs in all five seasons he coached them from 2005-10, has agreed in principle to a contract to return as their coach for a second time, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Brown has not yet signed his new deal, but has agreed to take the job, according to the person who spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations were ongoing. Brown’s hiring could be announced as early as Wednesday.

The sides are working through the length of the deal and other matters, but Brown’s back with the team he guided to its greatest successes.

Brown went 272-138 and went to the playoffs every season with the Cavs, teaming with LeBron James on a run to the NBA Finals in 2007. He was fired by owner Dan Gilbert after the Cavs lost to Boston in the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals, shortly before James decided he was leaving Cleveland as a free agent.

Brown spent one full season with the Lakers, but was fired by Los Angeles five games into this season.

The Cavs have been without a coach since firing Byron Scott last week following his third straight losing season.

One of the main factors in Brown’s decision to come back to Cleveland was that he had already planned to move his family back to the area, long before Scott was fired. Brown is also close friends with Cavaliers general manager Chris Grant.

Brown met with Gilbert and Grant on Sunday in Detroit and negotiations intensified. Gilbert reached out to a few other high-profile coaches, including Phil Jackson. But Jackson had no interest and the search quickly zeroed in on Brown, who was the only candidate to be interviewed.

After 21-61 season,

Bobcats fire Dunlap

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mike Dunlap is one and done with the Charlotte Bobcats.

The Bobcats fired Dunlap as coach Tuesday after a single season.

The Bobcats went 21-61 under Dunlap, finishing with the second-worst record in the NBA ahead of only the Orlando Magic. Charlotte won just seven games in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season, but tripling last year’s victory total and a three-game winning streak to close the season weren’t enough to save Dunlap’s job.

Bobcats president of basketball operations Rod Higgins said he and general manager Rich Cho met with players and Dunlap before approaching owner Michael Jordan and asking him to make a coaching change.

Dunlap struggled at times with game management, transitioning from the college game to the NBA and handling professional athletes, often benching veteran players for weeks at a time after they’d irritated him in some way.

During one point in the season Dunlap feuded with veteran guard Ben Gordon during a practice, and his micromanaging approach didn’t always sit well with some of the more experienced players on the roster.

“I just don’t think he was a great fit,” Cho said. “Probably best that we go in a different direction.”

Dunlap was unavailable for comment.

Pacers’ George named

Most Improved Player

INDIANAPOLIS — Pacers forward Paul George spent the past summer turning himself into a better player.

Now he’s planning to dedicate himself to becoming the NBA’s best all-around player.

A few minutes after accepting the league’s Most Improved Player Award, the 6-foot-9 swingman promised to work even harder to attain the biggest rewards of all — an NBA title and perhaps an MVP.

George has already emerged as one of the league’s top young players, which explains his runaway victory in the balloting. He received 52 of 120 first-place votes and 311 points, more than double the total of New Orleans’ Greivis Vasquez, who had 13 first-place votes and 146 points. Milwaukee’s Larry Sanders was third with 141 points and was one of three players to receive 10 first-place votes.

As part of the award, a 2012 Kia Sorrento will be donated to the Hawthorne Community Center, George’s hand-picked charity.